# Pagoda Light & Shadow Box



## Walney Col (6 Sep 2014)

Hi.

I've just started cutting my latest creation. It's a light and shadow box around in a roughly 8" cube featuring a pagoda top and traditional japanese themes on all four sides. This is what the sketchup plans came out like.





The vertical and horizontal box frame is going to be made from some bits of beech I had laying around that were too bent to do anything else with. I've planed them down to 12mm square and will be grooving them with the router to accept the panels.




The panels are cut from 3mm ply from the local model shop and measure 170mm square.








When mounted the panels will by backed with tracing paper and back lit probably with a good sized LED setup in order to cast shadows of the cut-outs on the walls. I'm toying with the idea of colouring the tracing paper on the front panel just to highlight it but need to experiment with some LEDs first to see if colouring the paper will drastically reduce it's ability to cast shadows.
The pagoda top is probably going to give me a spot of bother. I'm no joiner by any stretch of the imagination so making a 4-way compound mitre joint is going to be quite a challenge. I plan on attaching the top with dowels that are a loose enough fit to allow it to be lifted off to get access to the light which I plan on running off a phone charger type power supply.

Thats it for now. In theory I'm routing 16 off 3mm wide 4mm deep slots slap bang down the middle of the frame pieces tomorrow which ought to be fun. 

That's all I've done so far. Hopefully more to come soon.


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## Stooby (6 Sep 2014)

Good luck Col, looks like a great project. Well be checking for your updates.


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## Claymore (7 Sep 2014)

Excellent Colin! regarding tracing paper ... you can get very thin opaque plastic sheets from Hindleys (www.hindleys.co.uk) might last bit longer than paper, they also sell other goodies that might be useful for your projects aswell as tools/machines.
Cheers and look forward to updates
Brian


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## RobinBHM (7 Sep 2014)

You could consider an octagonal centre boss for the top, then your hips would then not require compound cuts. The boss could also act as a finial. Timber roof lanterns are generally made this way.


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## Walney Col (7 Sep 2014)

Thanks for the tip Brian. I've got an e14 (screw in) mains powered LED Bulb and holder on it's way to me but I'm going to have to experiment a bit with backing for the panels to see what projects the sharpest image possible onto the walls. My guess is that tissue paper would give the best results and the setting it's in ( a little old ladies bedroom haha) it's not likely to get damaged.


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## Walney Col (7 Sep 2014)

RobinBHM":2790ny0r said:


> You could consider an octagonal centre boss for the top, then your hips would then not require compound cuts.


Thanks Robin. That's not a bad idea, most real pagodas have extraordinarily elaborate finials on top so it'd not look out of place in the least.


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## lanemaux (7 Sep 2014)

Hi Col, nice idea amigo. Regarding any colouring , it has always struck me that Japanese decorative art is at it's finest when it is at it's most stark. A pure black and white approach would serve best to evoke the touch of sadness that the Japanese excel at showing up beauty with. Sort of a yinny-yangy thingy if you follow, just my opinion of course. 
As far as a finial is concerned , I wonder if mirroring the pagoda roofline and ploughing a cross on the underside to attach the beams to might not serve as a solution to mitering lapping or other such. You would have to relieve the middle some , or you could level off the peaks of the beams to form a flat top. Again , just my two cents.


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## Samfire (7 Sep 2014)

This looks like an interesting project, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished article.
Sam


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## Walney Col (8 Sep 2014)

lanemaux":38eyz946 said:


> Hi Col, nice idea amigo. Regarding any colouring , it has always struck me that Japanese decorative art is at it's finest when it is at it's most stark.
> snip


I know exactly what you mean and for bowls and vases etc. I'd agree 100%, but pagodas almost seem to have an unwritten exemption to that rule in how elaborate and brightly coloured they often are.


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## boysie39 (8 Sep 2014)

Lovely Idea , cain't wait to see the finished piece . 

Good luck


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## Walney Col (8 Sep 2014)

Been doing a bit more today.
































Next up is to thoroughly sand seal and finish all 4 panels. The reason I'm doing that now in is so I can avoid any tricky last minute sanding once they're fit into their frames.


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## Claymore (8 Sep 2014)

looks great so far Colin!


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## nadnerb (8 Sep 2014)

That looks brilliant, great idea
Regards
Brendan


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## Scrollerman (8 Sep 2014)

Col.
I like the idea and am really looking forward to how well the lighting element (pun intended lol) works out for you.
Your update posts/pics are like watching an episode of a TV series which leaves me wondering what's to come next having enjoyed the last episode !
Looking forward to the next episode. =D>


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## Walney Col (9 Sep 2014)

Started glueing up all the panels today.


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## Walney Col (11 Sep 2014)

I've now glued the 4 panels together and done a bit of experimenting with different light sources.

A 15w incandescent clear light bulb gives a reasonable amount of light but gets incredibly hot which probably isn't such a good idea within inches of tissue paper. Also, having quite a long filament the shadow it casts tends to be blurred in a sideways direction so it's not exactly ideal.





A 5W LED candle light runs as cool as cucumber and gives of almost the same amount of light as the 15W incandescent but having multiple separate interior LEDs quite a distance apart it casts multiple shadows on the wall that look even worst than with the incandescent bulb so that's no good either;





The next photo was top-lit by a 12v LED with 24 separate diodes all facing downwards. Being top-lit it wouldn't be able to cast shadows upwards onto the walls although there might well be enough light shining out from the sides and under the bottom to light up an entire display cabinet quite nicely.

A couple of overview shots of what stage it's up to. There's still no sign of the roof but at least I think I've figured out how to make the central joint so it won't fall apart the first time it's taken off.









BTW: Tissue paper over any given side completely eliminates any chance if it casting shadows (it diffuses the light too much). So assuming the lamp would be be located say on a dresser within 2 or 3 foot of a light coloured wall the general idea is that only back would be left open for use as a shadow caster otherwise all 4 sides would probably be given the tissue paper backing.

I'm toying with the idea of giving the light box away complete with a range of coloured (and white) tissue paper plus a sheet of instructions giving tips on tailoring it to suit your own particular taste.

I'm now going to have a play with combining some individual 10mm dia LEDs so there's 4 of em situated low down in the middle (with one LED facing directly at each wall), at least with that sort of setup any of the 4 cutouts could be used to cast a shadow without having to mess about with the location of the light source.


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## Walney Col (11 Sep 2014)

Just started on the roof by cutting the curved beams on my bandsaw the doing the joint detail on the scroll saw.









This is what it'll look like when it's finished.





And this is how it's put together to give the strongest glue area I can think of without adding a central post or any kind of bracing.


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## Scrollerman (12 Sep 2014)

*Quote : "There's still no sign of the roof but at least I think I've figured out how to make the central joint so it won't fall apart the first time it's taken off."*

I must say I quietly agreed with others suggestions of adding a boss to solve the roof beams jointing problem so was looking forward to what you would come up with.
Your solution for joining the roof sections is very clever indeed and the wedge design adds to the strength overall.
If you make it as the drawing, I doubt it will fall apart unless you forget to glue it lol !
Looking good.


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## boysie39 (12 Sep 2014)

Must say that from what I have seen so far that this piece is going to be a must try for many . 
Your design for the roof looks fantastic and will no doubt be copied by many.
Your Wip will be a great help to others ,I look forward to seeing it when you have it finished .

Thank you for taking the time to give others Ideas ,and others like me pleasure .


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## Walney Col (12 Sep 2014)

Thanks Eugene.

I almost went with a halflap joint for the roof but really wanted to see if I could come up with something a bit more interesting.


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## Walney Col (13 Sep 2014)

The roof joint ready to be assembled and glued;





How it'll fit together;












A quick try on top of the light box before I lay it on the bench with a weight on each corner to keep it flat till the glue cures.
Note that the very top of the roof joint still needs to be sanded to blend in with the curve on the top of the side pieces;




The roof is cut from oak while all the rest is pine (I scrapped what little bit of beech I had to start with trying to route slots in it) so I think I'll oil the roof after final cleanup to deliberately accentuate the difference.

Next job is tarting it up a bit/adding splashes of colour for which I'm using the following photos and the japanese equivalent of relevant words for inspiration. (From the recipients point of view this is probably the point at which I either look really clever or fall flat on my face. )




Oh yes, and most of the LEDs arrived in the post this morning but not the ones that I thought most likely to succeed to that's going to have to be put off til monday now.

Col.


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## Walney Col (13 Sep 2014)

After sanding;




After Oiling;




It's only a short time till a wee while from now...


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## Scrollerman (14 Sep 2014)

Good result on the roof Col. =D> 
Looking forward to maybe the most important part of this project, the lighting.


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## Walney Col (14 Sep 2014)

I'm pretty confident I can sort the lighting out scrollerman but I'm now toying with the idea of using acrylic paints to enhance the cutouts on the panels and it's that bit that I'm most worried about. Nothing ventured nothing gained, or so they say.. but on the other hand it isn't half looking pretty just the way it is eeek!


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## Walney Col (14 Sep 2014)

I got a bit more done today.
First up was adding the Japanese words that describe the scenes which all illustrate one aspect of traditional Japanese culture;




I then used acrylic paint to highlight some of the edges in the panels;




Using a prit stick I then tacked some tissue paper crudely to the back of the two sides featuring Geisha just to see how they'd look with an ordinary tea light candle in full daylight with the curtains drawn and I was quite pleased;












I've got a pack of about 20 different shades of tissue paper so next up will be trying to use it to colour the illuminated cutouts. If it works it works and if it doesn't then I'm still pleased with how it looks now with just white tissue.




The bad news with tea lights is that in order to cast a half decent shadow the back of the box has to be well within a foot of a wall (which might be ok) so I'm still planning on modding a couple of LEDs when they arrive tomorrow which I know will give a much brighter (not to mention safer) light. It'd be nice is I could give it away capable of working straight out of the box with tea light candles OR an LED setup to make it more versatile so that'll be in the back of my mind also when the LEDs arrive.

Col.


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## Walney Col (14 Sep 2014)

Added a touch of colour to the front panel and still running on one candle power 








The shadow casting panel (the crane) has no tissue paper in it and looked a bit sharper in real life than it does in this next photo in which it was probably around 2" from the wall which is painted light green matt emulsion.





Col.


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## Scrollerman (16 Sep 2014)

That added colour makes the world of difference and gives a really nice contrast !


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## Walney Col (16 Sep 2014)

One final update on how I attached the roof.
There's a peg on all four corners but only the front two do anything, the back two are just for show.












There's still no sign of the LED bulbs I ordered last wednesday and my sister's coming to on friday so I may have to give her it just running of a night light.








Thanks for all your interest and don't forget if you want to download the free plans just follow the link in my sig.

Col.


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## lanemaux (16 Sep 2014)

My earlier post was wrong , the additional accent of the colours is just right. I doff my cap mi amigo, bravo!


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## Claymore (16 Sep 2014)

Excellent Colin and i'm sure your sister will love it! what's next project?
Brian


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## Walney Col (17 Sep 2014)

lanemaux":hjxsxre7 said:


> My earlier post was wrong , the additional accent of the colours is just right. I doff my cap mi amigo, bravo!


That means a lot to me. Thank you, and have fun!

Col.


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## Walney Col (17 Sep 2014)

Claymore":3e1la5ef said:


> Excellent Colin and i'm sure your sister will love it! what's next project?
> Brian


Next up is a bit of turning. I began a small mahogany bowl a few weeks ago when I bought a charnwood mini lathe but it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding so I sent it back and bought an axminster instead which I've barely had time to look at yet. Not sure if I'll be posting about it though, I'm not even sure which end of the chisels I'm supposed to hold yet.  

Col.


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## Walney Col (17 Sep 2014)

Scrollerman":3684poc0 said:


> That added colour makes the world of difference and gives a really nice contrast !


Thanks scrollerman, personally I think it could do with just a wee bit more colour but the lacquer's on now and I'm _still_ waiting for those damn LEDs and my sister's due here friday so it'll have to do as it is.

Col.


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## Walney Col (19 Sep 2014)

30 minutes long and wall to wall Japanese music so if that's not to your taste I apologise in advance 

[youtube]a48QPViryS4[/youtube]


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## tony (19 Sep 2014)

Hi Col , greetings from across the bridge in sunny Barrow . I have been reading your posts for a while now & really enjoyed them , I assumed you were also a turner as well as a scroller , anyway I don't know whether you are aware but there is a woodcraft club in St Matthews church hall on Hartington St . They do scrolling , turning , pyrography & carving , I mention it firstly just to make you aware if you don't already know & secondly to let you know that there is a woodturning demo on at 18.30 tonight with Nick Arnull , professional turner . The rooms are on the 1st floor though & there is a steep staircase to climb , I was not sure how you were health & mobility wise . You would be very welcome to attend, but clubs are not everyones cup of tea , cheers for now , Tony


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## Walney Col (19 Sep 2014)

tony":om1w2qpz said:


> You would be very welcome to attend, but clubs are not everyones cup of tea , cheers for now , Tony


Hi Tony.

That's amazing. I was just talking to the wife the other day about how far it was to the Kendal club. I'd no idea there was one just over the bridge but if you're going tonight hopefully I'll see you there and thanks for the heads up!

Col.


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## tony (19 Sep 2014)

Hi Colin , im not sure whether I will make tonight , but im sure you will enjoy it if you get there & hopefully we will meet up in the future. There is normally a small door charge for these demos , it could be £3 to £5 & you will get a brew + biscuits , cheers Tony . ( The church I am talking about by the way is on the same block as the kings hall & just up the st a bit )


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## Scrollerman (19 Sep 2014)

Hi Col.
Just watched the video, really enjoyed it and I'd like to thank you for taking the time and effort in making it for the benefit of us all. =D>


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## scrimper (20 Sep 2014)

Walney Col":s3mu33i6 said:


> 30 minutes long and wall to wall Japanese music so if that's not to your taste I apologise in advance
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a48QPViryS4



Absolutely brilliant video, and a lovely item at the end of it. Very well done indeed.

FWIW The music on the video is excellent too, (I know the first track it's the hit song Sukiaki by Kyu Sakamoto) 

How do you manage to make the video as well as making the project? I would find doing either one difficult without trying to do the two together!

The light is really effective 10/10 IMHO.


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