Hello AT,
As a writer, I have long been a collector of quotations that inspire me. I have a blank wall that I'd like to use to display a collection of my favorite quotes. I face this wall when I sit at my desk. I think being able to see these quotes while I write would be a great source of creativity for me...
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Any suggestions on how I can use technology to project a rotating collection of these sayings on the wall? Conveniently, there is a small window directly across from this wall space. It's about ten feet away and has a windowsill that measures just shy of six inches deep. There's even an electrical outlet nearby. Oh, and did I mention I would like to do this as economically as possible?
Thanks, Denise
Dear Denise,
This is definitely a question for our new Home Tech editors that are warming up in the background. We are going to send them each an email to see what they have to say.
From our perspective, the easiest and cheapest way to do this would be to use a slide projector and your quoation turned from a jpeg into a slide. You could easily create your quotations on your computer and turn them into images using a screenshot or photoshop.
The other way to do it is to hook your compute up to a digital projector and show it as a slideshow. This is more involved and the projector will run you @ $800.
It might be more fun to simply construct a large paper tablet that hangs on your wall and has a different quotation for each day - similar in scale to the Pentagram calendars we sell. If lettering was a challenge for you, you could use adhesive letters from a place like Wonderful Graffitti.
Anyone else??
Somthing like this, but customized.?
http://www.thinkawesome.com/rotating-projectors.htm
I've seen children's toys like this at educational toy stores, too.
Check out this battery operated build your own magic lantern kit. You would still have to diy your slides but that would be easy enough with some overhead projector film and an inkjet printer.
http://www.online-relics.com/acatalog/Hands_on_Science_Series.html
Denise, I would think that maybe it would be distracting to have it rotate right in front of your desk? What about the AT favorite, blackboard paint? Paint that in front of your desk for immediate inspiration and ease of adding to your growing collection of quotes (slides can become expensive)? It's easy and cheap. Buy magnetic black board paint and you could write on the wall or hang up things you write down other.
Do it with LEDs. The energy costs of most projectors (slide or digital) will make this a very expensive source of inspiration.
I think a better answer might be to create images with the quotations sized to fit your monitor. Set your desktop to randomly select an image every 15 minutes or so. You could also set your screensaver to this.
Blackboard paint (if you don't like black you can get green or other colors.
Alternatively you can add magnetic stuff to any color paint and get magnetic letters and write out your own sayings (you could get the larger version of magnetic poetry for example.
I think the blackboard is more straightforward and has other uses as well down the road (and can be painted over (and is cheap!).
I used Wallwords on one of my MO episodes and was very pleased with them. They are easy to apply just using a burnishing tool. Plus, they are available in a whole lot of fonts and colors.
~Monica