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element14 presents Forum What to do with 60+ glass bricks?!
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What to do with 60+ glass bricks?!

lorrainbow
lorrainbow over 2 years ago

Hey folks,

I saw these glass bricks on Facebook marketplace and just had to have them!
Facebook post selling 70 retro glass blocks/wall bricks with phot
It turned out the person selling them is a friend whose website I updated lately so she was happy to give them to me for free! There's about 68 of them. They're covered in expanding foam and paint. I've started to clean them up using a scraper and some nail polish remover for the tough bits.
A single cleaned glass brick with a banana on top for sale
But the question is - what to do with them!?! They're 19*19*8cm. They're hollow in the middle so not too heavy. 
I'm going to get 9 cleaned up and stack them in a grid and light up the centre one from different angles. I want to see what's the best way to light them up. And then.... ??
  • A giant wall for Tetris? 
  • An igloo? (Thanks for the idea mayermakes !)
Also, how do I stack them? And where! I don't want them to fall on anyone but I also don't want to permanently stick them together. So a frame of sorts? It feels like an outdoor display to me.. so how do I waterproof the electronics?
Any ideas are welcome! 
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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago

    You could use them for edge lighting outdoor paths or steps (which might be in-keeping with your rainbow staircase).

    Similarly, you could use then to edge light garden decking or perhaps a stage, or a slightly raised garden border.

    Could make a cube shaped planter out of them 4x4 on each side.

    Or a round wishing well with an apex roof that has solar panels to charge batteries during the day for powering the lights in the evenings.

    61 of them would stack into a hollow 6x6 pyramid (it worked for the Louvre in Paris).

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago

    You could use them for edge lighting outdoor paths or steps (which might be in-keeping with your rainbow staircase).

    Similarly, you could use then to edge light garden decking or perhaps a stage, or a slightly raised garden border.

    Could make a cube shaped planter out of them 4x4 on each side.

    Or a round wishing well with an apex roof that has solar panels to charge batteries during the day for powering the lights in the evenings.

    61 of them would stack into a hollow 6x6 pyramid (it worked for the Louvre in Paris).

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

    "...61 of them would stack into a hollow 6x6 pyramid (it worked for the Louvre in Paris)..."

    I was thinking that with the hollow pyramid idea you could place lights / reflectors / diffusers within the hollow space rather than within the bricks themselves simplifying the construction. 

    Another take on this might be two 570mm wide by 1900mm high columns with lights boxed in-between to create some sort of a monolith type sculpture. 

    "The thing's hollow -- it goes on forever -- and -- oh my God! -- it is full of addressable LEDs!"

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

    image

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

    If you want something a bit more glass-like, then here you go.

    image 

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

    Not quite 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' but you get the general idea...

    image

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  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 2 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

    image

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