Multiple Hourglasses Bases

As shown in the previous post, the hourglasses have been set into pieces of gourd scraps from another project long ago forgotten.  Initially, they were settled into four scraps with E6000 and allowed to dry overnight, then turned over to nest into the second set of scraps.  Ultimately, these will be put together into a frame to secure the tops and bottoms so all four can be turned over at one time.

Once secured into one unit, and turned all at once, the sand will run
out in succession from left to right.

Multiple Hourglasses Expose Variations

These commercial hourglasses purchased at a home interior store were labelled 30 minutes, but visually the amount of sand varied....at least when eyeballing the amount of sand inside the glass bellies. Upon timing them with a stopwatch, it was found true that the times are all different by as much as a minute or more. They were put in order, left to right, by time. The finished multiple hourglass unit combining all four will have to be named something akin to 30 Minutes, Give or Take!

Left to right: 32 min., 11 sec.; 31 min., 45 sec.; 31 min., 40 sec.; 29 min., 45 sec.

a Multiple timer

The plastic fluorescent tube cylinder project is on the sideline temporarily while things dry and a broad base is being made to support the height. For now, the idea of timers combined with Dollar Tree supplies and gourd scraps has been conflated to do multiple times at once. Here are four purchased timers (not Dollar Tree, but purchased from the Home Goods store). They are the same height but with different sand amounts. Three appear to be similar but really are not. The goal is to construct a frame using gourds so all four can be turned over at once. This is a situation when a snake gourd would be handy since it is long and, after being sliced in half length-wise, could be used to cradle the hourglasses.

Plastic Tube hourglass

The plastic tube and the gourds in the garage have inspired an hourglass based on snow and snowmen. Initially, the tube was just too tall even after it was cut in half. To keep it stable, the base would have to be too broad and/or heavy to maintain balance once it had been turned over for the particles to descend into the lower chamber without tipping over.  [Eventually, the particles would collect in the lower chamber, thus making it bottom heavy but until then the whole structure would be unstable.]

Using bottleneck gourds as snowmen and cannonballs for snowballs around the snowmen to widen the base, the tube can be made structurally sound. Since the particles will be white sand, the snowmen's expression can be made to express surprise at the descending 'snow' and thereby offer the view a little levity.

From Colored Sand to a Fluorescent Tube Carrier

Having a bag of colored sand in the car tugged at my thoughts as I visited Lowe's to buy a new water softener system. On the way to the plumbing department, there were 7.5 foot clear plastic tubes intended for carrying long fluorescent light tubes. Normally these would not have caught my eye except I was stopping to compare the prices for chandelier light bulbs I have been using [FAR more expensive there than at Dollar Tree - a package of 6 came to a little more than a dollar each versus the 2-for-a-dollar package at Dollar Tree].

Of course, the light bulb came on about using the tube for an hourglass! The plugs at the end have a hole in them already. Although there is a small horizontal field at the hole, it is far smaller than other situations where the end is cut off and a hole is punctured into a flat piece of board glued to the end. Upon arriving home, the tube was cut it in half and sanded for a small edge

.

Trying Different Dollar Trees..

As work continues on this project which focuses on how can hourglasses and gourds be combined using materials purchased expensively at Dollar Tree, it has been discovered different Dollar Trees have different products.  The store usually frequented only had one color of sand, a neutral color. However, while visiting another area Dollar Tree to pick up more light bulbs with the broader end I found colored sand!  I purchased three colors, but there were others. This opens a new avenue of excitement in the hourglass studio!

Taking the Light Bulbs Vertical

Once the light bulb connection dried, several trials were needed to ensure the stability of the connection. The light bulb wall is thin enough that, even though the tip of the bulb could be ground to make an opening, there was not enough surface area to maintain a connection. Eventually, this led to using a connector between the light bulbs for added surface area for contact.



The connector turned out to be a Dremel sanding cylinder. It served not only as added surface area holding the light bulbs together but as a stronger element for the wire used to turn the hourglass over.

In hindsight, the glitter was not as good a choice as the sand due to static cling on the inside of the light bulbs. Suggestions have been made to toss the glitter with a dryer sheet before putting into the bulbs but, wow!, there is glitter everywhere now so adding another step involving tossing does not sound inviting at all!  The next attempt with the other light bulbs will use sand instead of taking this one apart. It does work, but the video seems to be too big to include on this blog.  Until that piece of technology is figured out, the moving action of these experiments will have to be imagined.

The Experiment With the Play Sand

Once the glue was dry and the new set of light bulbs were a stable unit, it was clear the play sand flowed easily without clogging. No jiggling needed to be done at all for constant flow. A piece of gourd was cut to surround the center and miniature bottleneck gourds were glued to the ends. This is not part of the structural integrity of the connection between the two light bulbs. There is no particular expectation except clearly the place where the two meet may be the issue to address as the project moves on.

The entire unit is propped up at this point for drying.

Clogging Up the Works

The bulbs were half filled so they balanced horizontally into grooves dug into Styrofoam so they could sit tip to tip for gluing. Using E6000, the tips were sparingly touched with the glue so they connected and, when set, the seam was reinforced.  This procedure worked and the bulbs became one sturdy unit. However, even though several trials were made beforehand to make sure the Dollar Tree sand would flow freely, it did not. The bulbs needed to be jiggled to encourage the flow to restart from time to time. Highly irritating!


Looking around the classroom, a different kind of sand was found - from the zen garden. (For the reader's  convenience, a zen garden is easy to make and inexpensive if made this way!)  The one in the classroom was made by pouring Lowe's play sand into one of the bookshelves' bins so it could be pulled out and used when needed.

The left is the Dollar Tree sand;
the right is the play sand.

A side by side comparison is a clear illustration of the point presented in an earlier post - the particle size matters! This factor was discussed but that particular post listed the factors as an intellectual piece of information, not as a piece of hands on wisdom.  Now there is wisdom.

Good knowledge for the next experiment!

Metaphors that Work

Talking with others, a metaphor about keeping the light bulb filament and combining it with the concept of time became the challenge. The points of focus are light and time - light reflected by the filament left behind as the sand descends inside the bulb and time reflected by the fact the whole project is an hourglass. A. Lynner, another blogger working on a magnetic car project, suggested When the time is right, the idea is bright. Love it!  Variations could be....

As time passes, the light is revealed.

With time, the light becomes apparent.

With time, all is revealed.

Over time, the light shines through.

Now, back to Dollar Tree for more light bulbs and into the gourd shed for some scraps!

The Problem with Chandelier Light Bulbs

The holes are made in the tips of the chandelier light bulbs. Now, getting the filaments out of the interior is another story.  A online tutorial prompted the technique for carefully breaking the black tip to open up the end.

This worked fairly well initially, but the wrestling the filament became more of a problem because, although part of the filament could be broken and shaken out, the biggest part could not escape through the hole.

So now the question is what is a way to broaden the hole at the socket end of the bulb without cracking the glass or should the hourglass be made with the filaments left inside the bulbs?  Is there be a metaphor to explain the presence of the filaments in an hourglass, something about light and time?

Making Holes in Glass

A visit to the local hardware store with chandelier light bulbs purchased at Dollar Tree and a hourglass plan raised some eyebrows among the staff. Eventually, after some brainstorming a purchase was made.  The plan was to rub the tip of the light bulb against a series of progressively very fine sandpapers: 220, 320, and 400 grit. Initially, double stick tape was put on a board and the pieces of the sandpapers were stuck onto it for stability.

The double-stick tape is put on the board, then pieces of
3 types of sandpaper stuck to it for a stable surface
to grind the light bulbs against.

The light bulb tip is rubbed on the
220 grit sandpaper in circular movements.

Eureka!  A simple way to make a hole in the tip that can be matched with a second one to make the hole for particles to pass through the center of hourglass.

Captivated by the Light Bulb Option

Staying on the recycled theme, there are several YouTube videos as shown in previous posts inspiring the idea of going with Dollar Tree items as the common denominator.  Light bulbs are more appealing than plastic bottles or hummingbird feeders because of the crystal clear appearance and the fragile nature of glass.  However, light bulbs present two problems.


#1 - The practical obstacle of opening a glass light bulb without breaking it is daunting.Opening the bulb, according to online tutorials involves a knife or heat or, frankly, danger. I am a chicken.

#2 - Then, there's the angle of the walls of the bulb leading to the hole through which the particles will descend.  It can affect the rate of flow, especially if there's a horizontal plate inserted between the bulbs as a connector. The type of bulb - a regular incandescent bulb, a round bathroom mirror bulb, or a more flattened shop bulb - can be vital for a relatively accurate hourglass.  Chandelier light bulbs have a steep angle wall, especially on the pointed end.  How can a hole be put into the end without breaking the bulb?

I avoided the whole glass issue by using round plastic Christmas ornament balls mounted into some pieces of gourd scraps. As is apparent in the video, the roundness of the ball makes an almost horizontal area where the particles have to flow into and through the hole to the bottom part of the unit.

(the unplanned background music is by Kenny Rogers - oops!)

Long-handled dipper gourds

After looking over the gourd options, it appears the long-handled dipper gourds may be the better choice for making stands to support the hourglasses. As arms holding the top and bottom together, the curvy-ness would add visual interest and emphasize the fact they are an agricultural product.  That is a nice contrast to the glass of light bulbs or the plastic of the re-purposed water bottles to be used as the hourglasses.

For the top and bottom, leftover scraps from other gourd projects can be used. In this case the hole cut for the those old projects serve nicely as secure places to put the hourglasses bellies. Here is an example/sketch of what a hourglass might look like using these components. The curvy arms may be a bit of dance to get evenly applied, but careful sanding will work.

Going for the recycle and fun aspects...

In this project, the goal will be to enjoy the fun aspects of using recycled materials combined with gourds - one is good use of man-made materials and the other is good use of an agricultural product.

So, what is a gourd?  The gourds used for this project will be hard shelled gourds, the inedible part of the squash family.  Gourds have been used for  years, in many cultures, as grain carriers, dippers, bowls, jars, and even musical instruments!

Here are charts of gourd shapes available from the American Gourd Society. All are hard shelled gourds useful for making projects. Once dehydrated, they have a wall structure similar to wood whereby it can be cut, sanded, painted, etc., much like what a person could do with wood. As shown, there is a wide variety of shapes. For hourglasses, they cannot be used for the sand containers, but the handles of the long handled gourds could be used as separators for the top and bottom (is that the right word? - what are the parts of an hourglass called?).

Recycling stuff and hourglass accuracy

 Many online videos show how to make hourglasses using recycled plastic water bottles and clear light bulbs.  It seems all of these options, though laudable, use a horizontal discs to separate the two bottles' or bulbs' openings. The sand or other particle material loses momentum as it descends toward the hole since the angle of the container does not continue directly to the hole so the stuff just piles up on the horizontal surface surrounding the hole.

This is not necessarily a bad situation if the desired end result is a fun timing device. However, if accuracy is the goal then the pile up on the horizontal surface surrounding the hole is a problem. The weight of the sand initially pushes particles through the hole combined with gravity but since the piles can potentially vary in size with each turning of the device, the time it takes the sand to travel from the top to the bottom could be different, making the time inconsistent.