Sankara Stones, a new idea (ie: thinking out loud)

[jlee562]

So, I guess the new, new age thing are these Himalayan Salt lamps, carved from natural pink rock salt and exported en masse from Pakistan. They carve out a space in the center for a light bulb and screw on a wooden base.

Well, of course my first reaction to seeing them was that they reminded me of the Sankara stones from TOD.

So I get to thinking, maybe these can be used as sort of a base for a Sankara stone, sculpting on a layer of outer material (is there anything that's opaque enough to hide the inner "crystals" but that light can shine through from the center?) to complete the "inert" Sankara stone look, but one that can also glow.

Thoughts?

 

[Idaho Jones]

Cool find, what kind of material is rock salt is it hard or soft enough to carve itself?

 

[Jedi Reali]

Can the lamp not be carved down and painted to become the stone itself?

 

[jlee562]

I have one sitting on my desk at home, but I've never really tried to cut into it. It's just rock salt however...I can't imagine that it wouldn't be workable with a dremel.

 

[serenade]

This isn't a bad idea!! Mmmh cool idea indeed... I will take a look into this!!

 

[jlee562]

Well, I scraped my pocket knife against a piece of the salt, and it looks like it should be easily workable with hand tools.

The smaller sized lamps (less than $20 most places) look a little big bigger than the original sankara stone props, but the material seems workable enough that you could get it down the right size.

What might one put on the outside that would appear opaque enough unlit but be let light through when you turn it on?

 

[NEKROFANATIC]

couldn't you just mist the proper colour paint on top of it? With the light off, it just might appear dark enough. Is it possible to put these on a lathe and gently shape 'em?

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Cool find, what kind of material is rock salt?

It's.................salt. :confused


Don't bother buying these for ridiculous prices in stores or in new agey shop type places. Find rock dealers online. They know the stuff isn't worth anything, and sell it for a couple dollars a pound.

That's how I got a 5 pound lumpy pile of petrified dinosaur poop for $10 at a rock shop in Utah. They had mounds of the stuff.

 

[Lightning]

I've had this idea myself but I haven't pursued it. I hope one of you guys actually gives this a try. I've seen these carved to smooth surface so I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

 

[jlee562]

I'd love to try it out as soon as I find out what kind of paint would actually stick to the salt and not dissolve it. I'm assuming some sort of primer will be needed (which was why I was thinking that you might want to sculpt something transluscent over the salt itself).

 

[kdawg1]

Why not make a mold of the stone and suspend the lamp in it, pour a tinted resin in around it?

 

[tim]

Can the lamp not be carved down and painted to become the stone itself?

That was my first thought. The block of rock salt could be turned on a lathe and worked to the right shape pretty easily.

Maybe some sort of clearcoat on the finish product to prevent dissolution?

 

[Droidboy]

Why even use rock salt at all?

Years ago Wayne (Propreplicator...god I miss him) made castings of the stones that were made of a clear tinted resin with a hollow inside big enough for a plug in light to fit. It's amazingly simple and really well done. Definitely one of my favorite pieces. My only regret is that I didn't get all three of them to sit lit up together.

Gregg

 

[Ramiel]

Actually I got a similar idea not long ago, but with a "twist"...
Instead of using just resin or a rock salt lamp, I thought of using old glass pieces put inside the resin with a "hole" for a bright led to be put inside it with the small positive and negative contacts left outside to be used on a "base" that would be used to conduct the electricity to turn on the led... And the circuit could be closed maybe by putting all the 3 stones on the base... You know, to simulate the effect of the stones being put together to "light up"... Yeah, probably silly...:lol
Anyway I thought of glass (or pieces of clear acrylic) to save some money on resin and to help the "crystal" effect a little more...
So, a very bright led and a very dark tinted resin (to look a little more like a painted stone when "off")...
I don't think the rock salt idea would work really well, due to the... Well... SALT!
Maybe another kynd of stone like quartz, but that will be harder to work and shape I guess...

 

[jlee562]

Regarding the salt, thats why I was thinking that the salt would be sort of the "core" of the stone, with something else on top so that whatever you're painting/finishing doesn't dissolve the salt....

 

[TridCloudwalker]

Actually I got a similar idea not long ago, but with a "twist"...
Instead of using just resin or a rock salt lamp, I thought of using old glass pieces put inside the resin with a "hole" for a bright led to be put inside it with the small positive and negative contacts left outside to be used on a "base" that would be used to conduct the electricity to turn on the led... And the circuit could be closed maybe by putting all the 3 stones on the base... You know, to simulate the effect of the stones being put together to "light up"... Yeah, probably silly...:lol
Anyway I thought of glass (or pieces of clear acrylic) to save some money on resin and to help the "crystal" effect a little more...
So, a very bright led and a very dark tinted resin (to look a little more like a painted stone when "off")...
I don't think the rock salt idea would work really well, due to the... Well... SALT!
Maybe another kynd of stone like quartz, but that will be harder to work and shape I guess...

Unless you can construct a spherical cluster of LEDs, it's not going to light the stone the way you're hoping with their limited degree of light distribution. Believe me, I'm all about solid state electronics, but this is one prop where (economically at least), you're just going to want to use a plain old 40 watt light bulb on a dimmer switch.

However, if you have the financial resources to get one of our circuit board designer guys on here to make a circuit for you, here's what you would want:

Your board would need to be shaped like a pyramid or a cube (or a sphere if one could be constructed) with super bright 5mm LEDs hooked up all around it, and in between the 5mms, you'll want some smaller 3mm or surface mount LEDs. All LEDs should be of the warm white and/or amber variety. The circuit should be designed so that the 5mm LEDs fade up to full intensity, while the smaller ones subtly shimmer.

The hero glowing stones always looked to me like dark amber resin with gold leaf, silver or irridescant mylar, tin floil, or some other type of crinkled reflective material mixed in. If you mix broken glass into resin, it'll just disappear and not scatter light very well, or at all. And of course, to make them look like real stone when the lights aren't on, you'll need to hit them with a clear flat coat, and then mist with some brown or nutmeg spray paint, but ideally, a custom brown through an airbrush. They won't look 100% like the hero NON-glowing stones, because those were a completely different prop than the glowing ones. But it will look pretty darn close.

 

[Ramiel]

Unless you can construct a spherical cluster of LEDs, it's not going to light the stone the way you're hoping with their limited degree of light distribution. Believe me, I'm all about solid state electronics, but this is one prop where (economically at least), you're just going to want to use a plain old 40 watt light bulb on a dimmer switch.

However, if you have the financial resources to get one of our circuit board designer guys on here to make a circuit for you, here's what you would want:

Your board would need to be shaped like a pyramid or a cube (or a sphere if one could be constructed) with super bright 5mm LEDs hooked up all around it, and in between the 5mms, you'll want some smaller 3mm or surface mount LEDs. All LEDs should be of the warm white and/or amber variety. The circuit should be designed so that the 5mm LEDs fade up to full intensity, while the smaller ones subtly shimmer.

The hero glowing stones always looked to me like dark amber resin with gold leaf, silver or irridescant mylar, tin floil, or some other type of crinkled reflective material mixed in. If you mix broken glass into resin, it'll just disappear and not scatter light very well, or at all. And of course, to make them look like real stone when the lights aren't on, you'll need to hit them with a clear flat coat, and then mist with some brown or nutmeg spray paint, but ideally, a custom brown through an airbrush. They won't look 100% like the hero NON-glowing stones, because those were a completely different prop than the glowing ones. But it will look pretty darn close.

That's the kind of info that could make this thing happen!:thumbsup

 

[azuma]

Here is one I did recently.

There are more info at COW.
http://www.indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41194

Azuma

 

[Contec]

Sorry, can view the topic....Needs to login to see it.

This is the way i would want the Sankara Stones to look.