HYDROTHERAPY LAMP.

Brain storming on a lamp idea has been on my mind for a while after going through some other instructables, i really wanted to try something that will even blow my mind. so i went to my trophy room (junk room) and started picking out possible stuff i may want to use or may have some connection to lighting, plumbing sculpting, and abit of weaving and voila this dream lamp of mine became a reality. Many people love the sound of running water, its satisfying soothing effect is well know. Its said to make people pee too. Even babies are not left out of the therapuetic effects; by making a PISS sound for few seconds keeps a baby calm and makes the baby urinate. Hence my effort to replicate a slow flowing spring. So on this note what ever your jinx is, if the sound of water un-nerves you makes you want to PEE /WEE please avoid making this lamp for you bedside.

******************RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK !!! WARNING ELECTRICITY AND WATER DO NOT MIX PLS IF U ARE NOT AN ELECTRICIAN AND YOU ARE NOT PRIVY, PLS CONSULT EXTERNAL HELP. ************

This instructable will walk you through how i created this wonderful piece even though lots of estetics is still lacking in this work hope to get their with more time.

list of tools are

• sharp knife
• screw driver
• saw
• glue gun
• plier
• wire cutter
• soldering iron and lead solder
• rubber gloves
• hammer ruler

the materials are;

• electrical aluminium cable
• plaster of paris cement
• bits of wood
• small vase
• aerosol pipes
• led bulb disco rgb led
• switches
• paint sprayer
• thinner
• old head scarf
• cardboard
• thread
• step down psu
• pebbles
• tissue paper
• cement
• epoxy

honestly i dont have a particular sequence of what i wanted to acutally build but i knew i wanted a lamp stand with a water fountain of some sort. So i decided to build on the go as the work progressed. Starting with peeling the electrical wire loose from its coating that was abit hard since the wire was exposed to the elements the rubber hardened and was difficult to peel away so i decided to harmmer it lose and it worked out better than using a knife, infact i was able to take it of with my hands with little plier assist. After the peeling i dis-entangled the wire into two strands which i wove into each other to form the top ring for the lamp shade and another for the lower part of the base ring of the lamp shade, choose a circumference of your choice. since i was not ready to do some maths, i simply used the circumfrence of the small ring to determine how to weave the two circles together. Using my hand as a curved ruler, to keep the distance accurate. The base was also woven in a basket or mesh form since many other parts will be put their. The lamp rod was also weaved into the base also. Using card board sheet i made the mould for the casting of the base(the inner and outer cast moulds) using staple pin to hold the leaves together. Mixing the caked up pop(plaster of paris) was abit hard, but wit vigorous turning it formed a smooth paste pouring the mix into the mould was quite easy and voila there u have it. I used a small spatulla to dress the suface although there was lots of bubbles. Sprinkling water on intervals helped with the curing. when it dried (after 4 days) i peeled of the paper mould to reveal the base. Using a piece of movie plate i shaved the surface of small debris here and there from all parts of the piece.

Using the same aluminium wire i made a wire frame for my maniquin and it worked out fine. Starting out with a base measurement from google i proceeded to build my doll. its quite easy to make if you have the patients to twist and twine rope over tisse paper. Starting out with the head, since i used four strands of wire i was able to make a bulb like head then twisted the neck into place made one hand, and used it as a template for the other. The torse should be about half the arm length (i bet u know that am trying to adjust for the short hands). twist the base make the hip extend the legs and the loop feet and twist back to the calf. based on the above tip i built the main miniature. Tissue wrapped it and started tying away till the final product.

The beauty of a diy is in the improvisation. Finding your way around problems and possilbe obstacles you meet as you build. The basic schmatic of making a pump is availble but making a gud one using a small motor was actually the problem. so i decide that i wud make a small pump so that the volume of water pushed would be small but with pressure as expected, since the art work has an incline through which the water will travel. But i failed because my motor wasnt powerful enough and it was a brushed motor. The design was very good but it lacked power. From the images you will see step by step of how i built this wonderful pump that failed woefully. In linear pumping it worked but raising the pipe 1cm up and the flow stops.The motor starts heating up too, had to give up; sorry i didnt record the flow but you can see my design.

IF YOU EVER CONSIDER MAKING A DIY PUMP MAKE SURE TO USE A 775 MOTOR. i had to use the slavaged water sprinkler i had from my old peugeot 504.

From the rings i had made earlier two where meant for the shade. The truth is that this is my first time making a lamp shade so i took the easy way out. I started making the harp from the small rings which will extend to the large or base ring and it worked out fine. I used my hand as a spacer and i did not tighten the wires all the way gave some slack for final adjustment and there we have our own lamp shade skeleton. Remember just weave when your done you can adjust to the final shape you want.

When i was a kid we use to make gum from styrofoam pieces. So i decided to seal my work since the base will be the water tank as well. Pouring some petrol into a container i proceeded to dump as much styrofoam into the liquid as it could take, till i almost consumed the whole solvent. leaving behind a thick liquid which i used to smear all over the inside of my base. To get an even paste and finish dip your brush in petrol as you work, this will help in your strokes and a smooth finish.

I had a broken led bulb which i fixed for this purpose. The base broke of like it became brittle, slavaged the base of another dead bulb to restore it.

Honestly guys i believe this should be a five day multi contest entry because all the hard work you saw was done in just five days. My initial entry got bad so i switched over to this entry since its on my to-make list.

So bringing all the parts together wasnt easy but it turned out better than i thought. The lamp pipe athough twined aluminium didnt have the tensile strength for the led bulb plus the shade. A little shove sent the entire unit shaking and whirling in circles so i used a 1/2 inch pvc pipe to sheath the wire put some wooden block for support and the lamp pipe was good to go. Using wire to hold the lamp holder in place at the top and bent the remaining piece of the lamp rod that was unsheathed as the shade hook. The electrical was a bit dicey but i still did it; using the case holder for the car radio front panel i cut it into two, made holes for the switches. one for the lamp one for the pump. soldering the terminals for the switch i assembled the box and sealed it with my soldering iron. A little glue and i fastened to the base of the support piece for the the rod. Now it would have been bulky running 2 wires to the power outlet so i interfaced the wiring into the dc power supply. having created a switch box, i now extended the power cable to the dc power supply.making a hole on the top i passed the wire into the box and attached it to the main line of the dc power supply line. The ouput of the dc power supply was connected to the terminals of my pump via the switch box i made. I wanted to hide the supply line for the water but i eventually gave up and ran it on the body hope to improve on that since am on a deadline already and i also need support for the repurposed vase i used which was actually very heavy for my manequin to hold on to. Using a flat screw driver i was able to create a hole for the pipe since the ware was not glazed. So basical with all this hassles taken care of, it was time to power up and see the beauty athough the shade was not ready yet but i stiil took some pictures hoping to see what the final effect may be.

honestly it took me a while to cut my shade cos the frame wouldnt let me roll and the fabric kept moving. if u want to cut your shade pls dont use the same side of the template as i used because it will skew the work. use a tailor's chalk. I also decided to wrap the pipe with the remaining cut away materials from the shade.

HOW TO:

• cut out a strip of material corresponding to the length
• you can wrap round to the end or wrap in a sheath method.
• apply small glue to the top and bottom of the pipe attach the top and bottom ends to the pipe and start wrapping till the end. Concealing my lamp wires gave the piece a better finish.

oh yes it does!

if you love this instructable dont forget to vote for me and comments or ideas are welcome. comment below and i will be sure to get back to you asap thanks for reading, time to take a nap with this hydrotherapy lamp. will update you guys on the soothing effect..........cherioo