apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm afraid I can't help with the paint, but sell me one!

You need to keep the light from going through the balls, so try a black coat of paint under the white finish coat, will absorb light and keep the balls from going yellow. Do a test ball before you repaint it all though!

Dear Jeff,
I think the pendant is fabulous! I can understand your dilema though, Ping Pong balls naturally have a slightly yellow tone to them when lit and even though you have 15 coats of paint applied, sometimes the brightest of white paints can appear slightly yellow when they are high gloss, like a laquer effect.
Have you tried the blue tinted "day light" bulbs? I think these are also Chromalux... The blue in the bulb should conteract the yellow tinge, while the bright white bulb may be reflecting it and emphasizing it.

Our company, Zia-Priven Design, did a 10ft tall chandelier made of 3000 ping pong balls last year, so oddly enough, we have a little experience with the topic.
You can see it here:

http://www.ziapriven.com/thetroy.html

Good Luck!
Marcia Zia
Zia-Priven Design
www.ziapriven.com

Here's what the problem is. Your light is losing a lot of energy as it passes through all that paint and light, and thus is turning yellow. Part of the problem is the 15 coats. But even then, I'm not sure if eliminating all the paint would work.

You could always build another and don't apply any paint. See what it looks like. Then, start adding a coat at a time, let it dry, and see what it looks like with the light on.

I'm not sure why you painted the white in the first place, unless it was to make it from the matte finish a ping pong ball normally is to a shiny finish. If it was because of the text on the ping pong ball, you can remove that fairly easily with a little acetone or paint thinner I would imagine.

I can't help, either, but that is truly aweomse (and gorgeous!)

Looks like the color of toasted marshmellows. Cool idea, just not a fan of the "light on" look.

Love the look, but how did you apply them? Are they glued on? Wouldn't that melt with time?

marcia is right. a bluer bulb should solve your problem.

I know this doesn't help you at all, but if they were painted a color, I think it would look really nice and then I don't think you'd have any problems with yellow light (unless the color was yellow or greenish).

The blue-tinted bulbs are not a bad idea though. I've got these in my apartment now and you can definitely see the difference from regular bulbs. No idea what the full-spectrum bulbs look like though.

Sorry I can't be more helpful!

hi guys!

wow! my shade is "the shit" on AT!!!! thanks for all of the compliments and comments!!!

in order to test the shade, before hanging (i wanted to make certain it would hold together), i hung it for a few days and the ping pong balls were very yellow.

the bulbs are glued with superglue (yellowish tint to the glue, another reason for spray painting).

the black on the inside is an interesting suggestion, but woo hoo!, the work involved there!!!

i am using a chromalux full-spectrum (as you said "blue bulb")

any other thoughts? a florescent bulb (althought i'm certain these are even more yellow than the full-spectrum blue?

Marcia,

did you experience the yellow color when you did the chandelier? did you paint the chandelier? i have found that my shade is less yellow with the paint, but still too yellow?

yours most truly,
jeff

oh! another thing...

next time, i would like to create the same shade with clear plastic balls. would anyone happen to know if canal plastics sells these?

of course, i have to be difficult, and add that i don't want seams inside the balls, so i doubt i'll be able to find them, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

then, i need to find a glue that will remain clear, yet hold the balls together.

is anyone chuckling at how often i'm using the word balls?

If you were in the mood to try another color, how 'bout silver?

Balls...uh huh huh huh

Since the light shows, unshaded, in between the balls as well being shaded by them, I wonder if the blue bulb might be making it worse by creating a contrast? Like when I accidentally put two different types of compact fluorescent bulbs in one fixture and they each made the other look tinted.

Of course, using a yellower light source would still be yellow.

Jeff,

Here is a source for white/translucent spheres:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=usplastic&category%5Fname=9362&product%5Fid=20538

Unfortunately, the way that these spheres is made is by doing two halves then fusing together, so you will always have a seam.

As for a glue that is clear, look into getting some glue that is used for plastic models. One brand is Testor and they make a glue that can be a little runny, but you can deposit it in very tiny amounts. It take a bit to set, but you get a perfectly clear seam. The one thing is, it is not recommended for vinyl, polyethylene, polypropylene, and phenolics. So, if you do find a clear plastic, then make sure it is not one of these. You will see names like Lexan, Plexiglass, etc. Here's a quick breakdown of the differences, along with suppliers, glue methods, etc:
http://case-mods.linear1.org/acrylic-lexan-and-plastics-faq/

Good luck

Hi Jeff,

Yes, we did notice a slight yellow glow, but very slight. Check out our photos and you can see it. The difference is that our chandelier was so huge that the light source didn't affect the balls that much, it appeared more like a white glow with a slight yellow tinge, not very noticable and actually really pretty.(I totally get the agony and humour in saying balls so many times- we worked on that piece for about a year. I swore I would never use the word again!)
The light source had a considerable distance from them. In your case, they are right up near the light. I'm glad you used the heat resistant paint, but please test it. The balls will melt. And I am a little concerned about the glue eventually melting or cracking, not such a bad thing if it just falls off, but very bad if it falls within the chandelier and could cause a fire.
Also, I don't know about clear balls (!), but I can tell you where to get seamless ones, which is what we used. I had to special order professional grade balls(!), no seam, no stamp, from a Ping Pong ball club. They're called Wang Chen and are on the Upper West Side near Broadway and 98th.
We did also make a 4 ft one but neither time did we paint them. The piece was more of a novelty and we really loved the glow of the unpainted balls(!).
I would recommend using an acrylic like you were thinking of to be on the safe side. Great design, find a safer material to be so close to your light source and you will have a winner!
What did you use for your frame? Do you design lighting often? If not, great start.

Marcia Zia
Zia-Priven Design
www.ziapriven.com

Whoops! Sorry for the double post!

Jeff,
This is great! Please talk more about how you constructed it. Did you use a mold or frame when building? What is securing it to the fixture?
Thanks!

How about wiring an LED light in each ball? That would be hugely tedious, but lighting each ball from within should make them look white all the time - lit or unlit. At least me thinks it would, but I have no scientific evidence of this.

Jeff,

Your lamp is amazing! Can you post some sort of DIY guide? Or even better, an instructables.com?

Really interesting - the lamp and everyone's comments. I would also like to see Jeff post a DIY set of instructions.

One thought of mine: Heat resistant paint and glue warming up - ooh, toxins. Just a thing a worry about. Otherwise, I agree with Marcia that part of the problem might be that the light source is so close to the balls. In color theory, the blue should soften the yellow light. Also, simply because the light inside is such a brilliant pure white, anything outside if it has to look yellow by contrast. You can only get so white...However, have you considered (if you redo this) not painting the lighted side of the balls at all and just painting the outside a flat, flat, superwhite and as tedious as it might be, find a non-flammable fabric and cover the balls with a safe glue. Light doesn't reflect off a matte surface as much.

If you build a wire structure first, you could also sew the balls together (hence, no glue) with monofiliment line.

Really nice lamp. Good luck.

Very good for diy, but I've seen this exact same light fixture before & almost used it in a project. I can't remember the name of the vendor though, but using ping-pongs is a very creative way of making it yourself w/o paying the high end cost.

Very good for diy, but I've seen this exact same, identical light fixture before & almost used it in a project for a client. I can't remember the name of the vendor though, but using ping-pongs is a very creative way of making it yourself w/o paying the high end cost.

okay...

step by step...

1. i had a handyman install a hanging bulb on a plastic arm (spray painted silver) with a hoop above it to support a lampshade.

2. purchase a spherical paper chinese lantern with wire as the base of the structure. wood will not work as you will have to remove the Chinese lantern after you have created your ping-pong sphere. the wire unravels easily.

make certain that the hooks on top of your lantern will attach to the spider or hoop attached to your hanging arm if not, leave more space, at the top of your lantern, for the hoop and you will attach hooks later on.

make certain you take into account how much size the ping-pong balls will add to your lantern. an 18" round lantern worked well for me as my foyer is high and rather large.

2. buy seamless ping-pong balls. although they say they are seamless, there is a seam on the inside, which will be visible (i’ll let you know how to deal with these in step #3). i needed a bit over 435 ping-pong balls for my 18" lantern. google "table tennis" or "ping pong balls". i purchased mine from www.robbinstabletennis.com. they come 144 per bag

3. begin gluing the ping-pong balls together around the bottom of the chinese lantern. continue gluing, using a small amount everywhere the ping-pong balls touch. starting at the bottom, you can determine if you would like a small opening or if you would like the sphere covered completely. in addition, by starting at the bottom, if you end up with an odd space at the top... who cares? who's going to see it?

if you do not want to paint the ping-pong sphere after assembly, i suggest testing some of the clear glues brian (above) suggested. i used superglue, which yellowed as it dried, but made for a very strong sphere. if you do not paint, your shade will be have a yellow hue as the ping pong balls themselves are off-white.

make certain that the seams of the ping-pong balls are parallel to the sphere so that they won't be visible. this sounds like a pain, but it's really worth it. i learned as i went along... i didn't match up the seams or make certain they were parallel to the sphere and you can see them. in other words, look at the ping-pong ball from the direction it is facing out... you shouldn't be able to see a seam from that angle. once you get going, the process moves along quickly, especially with a fast-drying glue.

4. when the sphere is complete:

start delicately removing the wire from the lantern. the wire and paper will come out easily.

if the top ring of your lantern (with the hooks) attaches to your spider or hoop, keep that top ring and glue it to your top ring of ping-pong balls.

if the opening of your shade is still too small for your spider or hoop, do what i did. take an exacto knife and start removing ping-pong balls, cutting at the glue between them until you have a gap large enough to place over the hoop or spider. take that top ring of the chinese lantern, cut it with wire cutters and size it to your new opening and glue it to your top ring of ping-pong balls

5. if you want to paint the sphere. buy some type of high heat resistant paint meant for radiators, etc. (i used krylon). i was lucky enough to be able to use an empty apartment in my building that was being renovated. if you don't have a space available, find a large box, buy some clear plastic. hang your sphere inside the box attached to a dowel so you can turn it. spray in very light coats, multiple times. maybe you can find an auto body shop? i'm certain they could do a great job.

sorry if any of this is unclear. it's difficult to explain this without illustrations.

let me know if you have any questions.

good luck!!

jeff

There are bluer lightbulbs than "daylight" bulbs out there. Look for "actinic" - they are used for keeping salt water corals in aquariums. You can probably find them on aquarium supply websites, maybe stores.

Most will probably be fourescent, but you should be able to find some incandescent ones.

jeff you are amazing and inspiring! As far as coloring the light, how about putting a professioanal film grade lightin gel -( basically a sheet of colored plastic ) on the inside of the sphere to filter the light before it hits the balls? this is a varaition on painting them black, but a lot less work. Gels are of course rated to deakl with being close to heat producing light so they should be OK, and there are millions of collors to try You can buy them at Kits and Expendables in NYC.. and again I stand in awe of your work...

Jeff,

This light fixture and your instructions rock! Love the shadows on the walls too.

As far as the yellow light, regular incandescent bulbs have a lot of yellow in them so it's not really the ping pong balls that are the culprit. You want to play with a cooler bulb, one with a lower Kelvin temperature (maybe between 3000-4000?). Compact fluorescents and halogen bulbs are not all the same temp, so it will probably take a little experimenting to find a great cool enough white light. If you do, would like to see!

Hope you don't mind me posting your DIY on my eco-style blog. Your light is just too good!

Steph Z.

Just a thought, but a person could use the seams as a subtle design element. You could try running the seams vertically from top to bottom. (Morning first-cup-of-coffee idea....) Tell us why you painted the balls in the first place? You just wanted light to shine out between spheres? I'm looking at the picture, and the color seems to reflecting/refracting from the light source itself, so I suspect the folks suggesting a bluer light source are right.

Jeff,

I think your light fixture is so cool! I agree with what everyone was saying about the bluer bulbs too. And I LOVE the ping pong ball idea. I checked out Zia-Priven's ping pong ball chandelier too and think it's awesome! Thanks for the link Marcia, also love your driftwood lamp.

Jeff, you have to let us know if you do a clear one too.

thanks all!!!

i guess i have to compromise here.

as i said, i am using a chromalux full spectrum bulb (with a bluish caste) 150 watts.

if i start going with lesser wattage, i'm not going to get the dramatic effect on the walls... no? i'll look into the actinic and florescents, although i think the florescents will be more yellow than the full spectrum. i'll look around, try some variations and post a pic.

regarding the seams on the balls, i love the idea of using them to create a design. for this first try, i wanted a clean simple atomic look. the reason i painted was 1. to cover up the ugly florescent yellow caused by supergluing the balls together and 2. to whiten the balls themselves.

thanks for all of your suggestions!! i'll let you know how other lighting works out. let me know if you have any other ideas!!!

thanks!
jeff

and, hell! since i'm going to be on other blogs, may as well get some credit... i'm jeffrey j schneider... nice meeting you all!!!!!

Hmmm... From looking at the picture, I think what may be happening is this:

The light is nice and white INSIDE the chandelier ...

The light is being mostly blocked from showing THROUGH the balls, but is coming out only through the spaces between the balls.

This is creating a shadow on the outer side of the balls, as the light comes through the gaps, but does not effectively light up the balls themselves.

Regarding flourescents... The screw in flourescent bulbs are often yellow tinted. However, if you buy the screw in flourescent bulbs made for aquariums, they are VERY blue, as they are in the higher color range designed for making plants grow better and showing off fish colors. They also make Actinic screw in bulbs, which are VERY high intensity bluish white.

those are excellent options.

i will be growing a tall thin rectangular pot of rush grass (looks like very thin bamboo) in the foyer and it will need the extra light. i'll try them both and let you know how it works.

thanks!!

Why don't you e-mail zia/priven studio who did their fabulous ping pong ball lamp design last year. Maybe they will give you a few pointers in finishes.

http://www.ziapriven.com/thetroy.html

Victor -

Did you read the whole thread above? They DID give some pointers.