Nyssa

Antler Head is finished!

I carved a big wooden bone, hollowed it out, filled it with electronics and then affixed the Antler Head stone to the wood. I also deepened the grooves of the teeth to make them more pronounced.

The eyes are marbles glued to washers. It was important to have translucent eyes so that the lights from the LEDs would make them glow.

I’m really happy with the result. It looks great with the lights on… and it looks great with the lights off! The sequencing LEDs make the eyes glow and it makes the space behind the sculpture glow as well. It sequences between dramatic lighting, gentle fading, and blinking. It’s really cool!

There are 6 LEDs on the board, and 2 for the eyes. This give off a lot of light in a dark room and the effect is mesmerizing. It runs on 3 AA batteries. The board is homemade with an attiny22/44/84 chip running the LEDs.

The board is held in with a homemade bracket. The bracket allows me to remove the board in case I need to fix anything. The stone head is removable from the wood. I did this so that I can replace the LEDs, if they ever quit working.

I got to play with so many tools when making the different elements for this guy. Table saws, files, moto-tools, drill press, and various sanders and grinders. I even got to use an angle grinder with a blade that looks like a chain saw! What started as neat natural objects (stone, twigs & rock) are now a fabulous sculpture.

To see another video of the lighting effect, please watch this below or here: