Cloud lamp and telephone
We really wanted to include an ‘old school’ analogue telephone as part of the audience interface to make connections to telecommunications networks that underpinned the early Internet infrastructure. If you use the telephone, you’ll also hear the familiar modem call of the 90s and early 2000s.
We initially scoured the second hand market including social media listings and eBay. However, the universe answered instead and, though luck, we heard that the UTAS media school had an old black bakelite phone available. It was perfect for our project and Bill adapted the phone microphone to be used for viewer input. Bill did consider replacing the microphone and speaker with a brand new structure, but opted in the end to maintain the crackle and audio quality of the analogue phone for added authenticity. He did replace the front dial with a HyperPixel screen to showcase a little blue character based on the combined features of Bill and myself.
Here’s a DALL-E 3 mockup based on the description - I could not get it to remove the dial. You can see the ‘real thing’ at the Simulated Selves launch in March.
DALL-E 3 mockup of the phone based on the prompt “Create an image of a black bakelite analogue phone but remove the numbers and dial replace with in a circluar screen with a blue skinned female avatar with a short red pixie haircut”.
As quid pro quo, I was responsible for the cloud lamp. In our initial design, we suggested a cloud puff, as there are number of simple cloud lamp instructables using LED lights and cotton - see: https://www.instructables.com/The-Cloud-Lamp/.
However, my concern was that visitors might be tempted to pinch a bit of the cloud fuzz - who could resist right! So, I decided to use the same basic principle and encase the LED and cotton in a transparent casing. Initially, I thought I could create the lamp using layers of laser cut Perspex, but the UTAS digital fabrication tech Murray Antill had the brainwave to use the vacuum former instead. This tool uses heat and pressure to bend plastic around a specific shape and can create a more seamless form.
The use of a vacuum former does require the production of the appropriate shape first without any undercuts (areas that prevent you removing the shape from the plastic after it has been formed). Murray and Nic (UTAS wood technician) helped me create the basic cloud shape from MDF layers. This served as the base for clear plastic to be vacuum formed around the structure.
Vacuum formed cloud using transparent plastic.
We then used laser cut acrylic to create the base for the structure including holes for M3 screws to allow the interior to remain accessible in case of LED failure or minor modifications to the cottonwool padding.
Laser cut acrylic base for the cloud lamp.
A neat thing that I learnt from Murray is that you can actually bond acrylic seamlessly with acrylic cement solvents such as Weld-on. It works very well to quickly bond acrylic sheets, but you do need to be careful working with the liquid and needle applicator to avoid spilling too much of the solution.