Hexagonal Plant Light Growth Sphere

In this instructable, I will create a hexagonal sphere like thing to create more light (and room) for plants to grow. The supplies are super cheap and easy to get, so you can create a lot of these for a VERY small price.

Mesh tape (used for putting up dry wall)
Deck of playing cards
1/4 a roll of aluminum foil
High temp hot glue (and sticks)
Egg carton (used as a drying rack)
Seeds
Plant pot
Some sort of base for your pot
Sharpie
Scissors
Sand block/ paper
Ruler

The template is made out a playing car. You can fit approx. 4 clones of the template on one playing card. It is crucial for the playing card to be glued on to the tinfoil, because the tin foil is the surface reflecting the light source. Be careful when cutting out the template though, if you are not careful, you could rip the tin foil.

After you have collected all your supplies and glued your cards and tin foil together (and traced out the stencil) now you have to cut the trace out. If you want to make and cut out all of the cells at the same time, you will need to make a grand total of 76. Once again, be careful cutting the tin foil cards, they tear easily if you aren’t paying attention.

Now, this is probably the worst part of the project. The issue I had was ,the fact that using high temp hot glue to create the cell orientation, the fact that high temp hot glue is SUPER hot and you have to be careful not to burn your fingers while holding the cells steady. In the end I used a skewer to create the proper cell angle. You need to make 13, 6 sided hexagonal shapes. After you finish the hexagonal shapes, glue (about 2 inches) worth of mesh tape to the smaller end of the hexagon. This will prevent any unwanted substances from entering: exiting the base of the plant.

Next you plant the seeds. I usually leave some seeds overnight in water and then transfer them into the soil. It helps the seeds rehydrate after being dehydrated to store.

In this step you glue all of the hexagonal cells together to create a 3D spherical figure, you glue the sides of the cells together so that 3 sides line up. It looks like a y when you look it it from a birds eye view. This is the conclusion of the project.

Now put your planter underneath the open part of the sphere and watch you plants grow!

Materials
I would use a carbon fiber sheet and spray on reflecting paint. I would cut the shape out using a laser engraver or CNC. Or I would use resin printing to create the shape and spray on reflective paint