Home projects
Alternative uses for light bulbs.
So what do you do with your old light bulbs? Like most of us, just throw them away! Look through this gallery and perhaps you might have second thoughts! There are definitely a few options to choose from.
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Here are a few guidelines to re-create some of the above.
- Light bulb 'Green House'
- Light bulb 'Salt and Pepper Shakers'
- Light bulb 'Lamp'
5 Incredible Uses for Old Light Bulbs
Light bulb art
A variety of art forms and installations using light bulbs..
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Exploding light bulbs!
Chemist and photographer Jon Smith fills light bulbs with unusual objects like chalk dust, candies, sprinkles, or even beer caps, shoots the bulbs with a pellet gun, and captures the moment using high-speed photography.
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Smith is a scientist and did not turn to art until 2010, when, in an attempt to ‘balance out the analytical part of the brain’, he became a self-taught photographer. His signature creation process however bears heavy traces of the exploratory sunshine of the scientific mind, through ongoing and considerable experimentation. 10-second delay shutter (just enough to turn off the light and aim), sound-sett trigger, shot, and there goes the flash. Distance of 6 inches or so needed. Glass everywhere. ‘By shooting them [the light bulbs], having them explode and filling them with different materials creates an interesting juxtaposition that I’m really drawn to’, says Smith. ‘That one brief moment when it’s breaking apart that really captures the beauty and destruction…helped me realize to focus on the now – not the past or future.’
More examples of Jon Smith's work can be found on Flickr.