Lichtenberg!

My Lichtenberg machine came today and I had a great time playing with it! I stood on a rubber mat, I wore rubber soled shoes, I worked on a wooden table with no metal or other conductive material around, and I kept my phone and electronics on another table. I even took off the silver pendant I always wear and I didn't have any other jewelry on except my wedding ring. The LM has two probes that conduct the electricity, and it doesn't have an on/off switch. Instead it has a foot pedal that you must depress in order to have current. The second you take your foot off the pedal, the power is cut. This post shows three quick tiles I did before dinner.

As has been the case for me lately (I swear I am having more and more senior moments!), the first baking soda and water solution I mixed up (it's the electrolyte solution that facilitates the arcing of the electricity) had the wrong proportions of baking soda to water. It still worked, but not as well as it did with more baking soda in it. I worked primarily in pine today though I also tried a hardwood piece (birch, I think), and I experimented using both one probe or both at a time. I can definitely see the potential of this tool for making some very cool art, though it doesn't seem to create as dramatic pieces (deeper wider burns) as the homemade, microwave transformer-based LB's. But my spouse is already dubious about me using this one, there's no way on earth he'd go for one of those.

Today was also a bee day so I'd better mosey on over to the bee blog--which, by the way, is getting a new name: Misbeehiving. Thanks, Uncle Ed, for the great name.

I'm saving the best photo for today's 365 Project image.