Infinite Candelabra

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I have an above-average interest in cheap visual effects. During my time building displays for the California State Fair under Richard Bay, I was taught dozens of simple, cheap stage effects that could make a big impact.

The effect in this photograph is the infinite tunnel effect. A ring of lights seems to extend beyond the back of this dark framed mirror.

This effect is created a ring of lights sandwiched between two mirrors. The front-most mirror is one-way, allowing some of the light to escape towards the viewer. The other mirror is a regular mirror, which shows a reflection of the lights, a reflection of the second mirror, and so on to infinity.

 

 

My infinite candelabra project started off as a really large candleholder that would fit inside of our fireplace.

I planned on crowding 100 tea lights inside our 2x2 foot fireplace. On pedestals of varying heights.

I didn't come up with an easy way to make 100 individual candle pedestals, so I opted instead for strips of wood.

This would create two different heights for the array of candles.

I had some red satin left over from the Fandango costume, so I draped it over the wood. I used Super 77 spray adhesive to keep it in place. 

My candelabra was made of wood and fabric.

Most candelabras are made of metal, and in just one hour, I would understand why.

 

With the red satin in place, I broke open the bag of tealights.

Ikea sells a 100-pack of GLIMMA candles for $2.99. Almost every girl I know loves candles and is amazed by this price. Raise your hand if you have one of these bags of tealights in your closet right now.

But what good are 100 candles if you aren't going to use them? 

Gluing down the tea lights only took about 20 minutes.

 

 

I had nine rows of nine candles. It looked great!

I was starting to think I might be able to barbeque on this thing.

 

The next step was to arrange mirrors against the inside of the fireplace.

I have a bunch of mirrors left over from the parabolic mirror experiment. 12x12 inch tiles from the bath and tile department at Home Depot.

I leaned six mirrors up against the back and sides of the fireplace, where they would surround the giant 81 candle fireboard.

please continue reading page 2 of the Infinite Candelabra.

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July 4th, 2006.  

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