Newtonian Light

By C. Anderson Miller on August 2008, Day 2

I wanted to see what photographed bouncy balls would look like if they were made of light.

So, I had to make my own.

Step 1: make a mold of a ball shape. I chose racquet balls.
This was the mold container:

These are the balls: (with little legs to support them, so they don’t touch the bottom of the container:

Balls in mold:

The first half of the molding process: (they look like a fruit I don’t want to eat)

The Second half: (it looks like they are snorkeling! )

Then the mold dried.
I broke the mold casing:

And here was the result:

Step 2: the light
I made super bright LED throwies that I would embed in the silicone balls.
For those unfamiliar with a throwie, it’s just an LED taped to a battery.

Then I put them in the mold, with convenient wires to keep them in the center of the balls:

Step 3: making the balls

I poured the silicone into the mold, and waited several hours:

Then the silicone got stretchy:

And I popped them out, and they were light balls!
(photo credit: Ameya Mhatre)

Step 4:
Photos!

Finally Foosball, with Rob Moon!

July 30th, 2008