Cthulize a small lamp

August 2, 2012 11:43 AM

MakerFilter: at work, I have a couple of LED lamps we use to monitor build status. Help me Cthulu-ize them.

These are the color-changing USB lamps that we use to monitor build status. They're about 3" tall and 2" diameter. They rise off the desk on 4" posts.

I want to make them glow through some kind of Cthulu mask so it's not just a boring light. I could just whack a hat over them, but it would probably have to be custom made (or shrunk) given the size difference.

I could wrap something like this fanny pack around post, but then it would just be a light on top of a thing.

I could cut up one of these dice bags, but I'm dubious.

Any bright ideas?

posted by colin_l to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

Best answer: Check out some of the online tutorials for making cthulhu Jar Specimens. Here's a random one, I've seen others. The murky liquid can be illuminated from underneath by the lamp recessed into a base, or from above with the lamp disquised as a lid or wax-and-twine wrapped giant cork stopper.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:50 AM on August 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

I always thought the glowing crystal skull effect was super creepy or talking dead head in a box. But anything that involves tentacles or the look/feel of murky water would be a step in the right direction. Lovecraft was terrified of the ocean so those and other fish-like references were big themes in his work.
posted by Michele in California at 12:04 PM on August 2, 2012

What about using a mug or candle holder (2) as a base for the light?
posted by aimedwander at 12:42 PM on August 2, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks - I think some kind of clay (fimo?) could well be part of the final solution.
posted by colin_l at 7:14 PM on August 2, 2012