You've met Glow! And Lyle? Now meet Gene.

Gene!: a watter bottle turned into a lamp with eyes drawn on Gene!: detail of a water bottle lamp mounting point

Gene does things differently. Wacky. Off the wall. Watches classic 80's cartoons whilst drinking Irn-Bru Aperol Spritz' for breakfast, fire-dances at Beltane alone on the villiage green, collects Poggs, has lived on every continent, only likes songs that last more than ten minutes.

There was really no need for more bedside lumination but sometimes the junk talks to you. I took the LEDs and bendy bend off a broken LED lamp, a new USB switch cable, a bit of ply and a cracked Nalgene water bottle and turned them into a completely imperfect lamp. Impefect because the bendy is too, and the orange is far too. I once again got to use some random bolts from my papa's toolbox and it once again made me happy to remember him and a bit sad that I wasn't into the idea of making things enough when I could have learned more from him... what would he have made of the maker community on sites like YouTube and the wealth of knowledge on blogs? He certainly would have had things to learn and advice to share. Again, the lamp needed a face so some Posca penwork did the job. Another interesting experiment.

And also, I've made a hanger for a lampshade which came from my wife's great grandmother's shop in Wick. It might not be the forever home for it but it sure beats it being stuck in some bubblewrap in a forgotten corner. More practical than any of the little lamps I've made so far!

a wooden lamp fixing with a glass lightshade