lighting for your stuido..

[santagibbs]

Here I am again screaming for help.. I am in the process of moving my studio downstairs. It's a slow process, but have bought a great new work table and ordered a large desk matt for the chair on the carpet, so it will catch most of the chips..hopefully.. Now the room has a big five by six foot sliding window in front of the table but the overhead light is not that good..I thought the light from the window would be what I need but now there is a glare on the top of the table. I don't want to put a table cloth on it to stop the glalre as I am so happy to have a wooden top oak table to work on after a glass table top..What kind of lighting do you suggest that is a floor type light . I receiced a big catalog from Office Depot with lots of lights but I don't know much about the new liglht. I also saw an advertisement in the new Woodcaving Illustrated .. Page nine . I think... but it's pretty expensive and the bulbs are around thirty dollars and it doesn't say how long they burn.
If it gives off sunlight like it says " or like it" then it would be worth it compared to hiring an electriction to but new lights in t he celing. What are some good sources of light that you have in your studio? I would apprediate some knowledge here.. Thanks so much.. Charlotte

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

I carve directly beneath two common 2-48" tube shop lights available at Walmart. I hung them about 4' apart and then ran a wire from the reflector to the hanging chain that tilts them to focus the light at the point where I set. That way there are minimal shadows and light coming from just about every direction. More or less the same principle as the Surgeons lights. Cheap and effective!.

[mark yundt]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

I too use flourescent lighting,,wired in banks to control intensity,,and location.But for actual carving I need to have shadows, for that I use common swing arm lamps clamped to the table. Two is great for two sources of indirect lighting to throw the proper shadows, and constant moving of the lights allows me to better see how the carving reads and how the shapes are evolving. There are floor versions available as well.Another thing I do , depending on the piece I'm working on , is to screw the swing arm base to a board and then clamp this board to the table to give me different options and positions.

[santagibbs]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Thank's Lynn and Mark.I have a shop light over my table upstairs and fan liglhts to the left of it but I also had another window besides the five by six one..Mark I have noticed at different times of the day that I see things I did not see on the carving due to the light changing through the window. I imagine that Office Depot has the kind of lamps you are talking about . I live in a small town and have to order so many things through the mail. What watt bulbs do you use in them? I might have to add another shop light over head also. I have a square light with two curved bulbs but that just isn't enough liglht. Thank's Charlotte

[mark yundt]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Any of the "MART" stores should have them,,I use 60 watt bulbs. No shadows from regular light is why you need directional light you can control..

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

I believe the name of the one I have is "UltraLux" and its supposed to be 55 amps and the equivalent of 200 wtts...I like it alot...I did a lot of searching, you can find them from 17 amps 27 amps, 36 amps and 55 amps...get the biggest you can afford in my opinion....helps with colors to as it is a daylight!

http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com/ultralux_floor_lamps_58_ctg.htm

look along the left side for the ultralux

[santagibbs]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Dave, is this where you ordered yours? I see it is a seventy watt . Is this the one you have? It's a floor lamp? This one say's dimable . It sells for around one hundred and eighty dollars..Is that a life time bulb? That sounds great if it would be the only light I would need.. Do you stand it by your table? This is all new to me but sounds great and maybe that's all the light I will need unless I would add lamps for shadows.. I am not for sure just which one you have as there are several and different colors.. Charlotte

[Eddy-Smiles]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

I try to carve mostly during the day and work outside but if I am able to get some evening carving in I have the 4-foot fluorescent shop lights in my shed like the other guys. For general carving they work pretty well. While waiting on my wife at JoAnn's one day I ran across a close-out sale of the "Ultralite's" or "True-lites" like Hi-Ho was describing and between the sale and the 40% off coupon I had I got the equivalent of a 75 watt bulb light and fixture for almost nothing. I use this light when I'm painting or doing detail work. I don't know how long the bulb will last but I do know that they aren't cheap. Needless to say I'm very careful about leaving it on when not being used.

[santagibbs]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Thank's Eddy, I am going to give these people a call and see what information I can get on the floor lamp..I will surely need more light. but if it is too expensive to leave on the whole time I am carving , then I will have to look at another source. Charlotte

[Callynne]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Charlotte, the lighting in my carving room isn't too great. There are two regular sized windows and a centered light. My solution was to buy a wall mount, swing arm type of light. I purchased it and the matching floor style light (at K-Mart). I mounted the wall one to the left of my carving table, positioned the floor style one to the right. On my portable carving table I have a Daylight brand of light, it's comparable to the Ott lights, just a bit less expensive. Thing is, I pretty much only use the Daylight light when I'm carving out in the living room, when I'm in my carving room I find the two K-Mart lights along with the centered overhead light to be enough. I do have the fluorescent type bulbs in the K-Mart lights, couldn't fit one in the overhead light or I would have added one there also, I think they give a better light. Talking Deborah
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[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Sorry, my lamp doesn't have a name on it and I don't remember, but I do remember it is either 150 or 200 watt equivalent......the others were too small for me, not enough light. And really, whichever one you get, many times you still need a light source from the opposite side to avoid shadows. I think we paid about 149.00 for it....you can do a google search and find all kinds ..look at the equivalent wattage...and stick with the 150 to 200 range. there are several names for these type lamps too...Daylight, Ultralux etc etc..it does take a little looking but worth it.

[santagibbs]

Re: lighting for your stuido..

Thank's Deborah and Dave.. I think I have got it figured out now.. One 4x6 in the ceiling and one of the Blue light that Dave got.. They have one that is $189. 00's That one should give out the most liglht .. I hope.. It's a floor lamp and Dave has had his for three years so that sounds good to me.. The wall mount sounds good too, but I have shelves on each side of the table so I am not sure where I can put a wal mount.. I might could put one on the table with an adjustable arm.. Thank's to everyone.. you have helped me a lot as you have told me things I needed to know.. Thank you so much..Charlotte