For years it’s been a hobby to turn old bits of junk into things of beauty, particular when it comes to lighting. These are a small selection of projects over the years.

Propeller Lights

With these old boat propellers I turned them into touch sensitive LED lights. You can get the propellers shot blasted to take them down to the bare metal, but I kind of like the straight-off-a-boat look.

You start with something like this! Most are made of aluminium, brass or stainless steel. Not always to find, but I’ve found quite a few!

Handlebars

A nice one for the cyclising enthusiast! Given that this was destined to be outside it uses 12V LED lights and a controller that allows it to come on when a variety of sensors think it needs to.

Traffic Lights

Hundreds of these traffic lights were being thrown away as part of a council project to apparently making it more difficult for the every day person to cross the road. I rescued a few and transformed them into lighting for various clients, including one for myself. The 4-channel smart controller inside allows the light to be activated by remote control, a key-fob or any of the smart sensors dotted around. The project incorporated both RF and Zigbee low-power sensors to drive a smart controller with the traffic light.

Desk

This is my desk. Pretty much every bit of furniture you see here is made from reclaimed wood. The desk includes a glass top (made from an old double-glazing panel), multiple power sources including USB charging points and a smart lighting system that is Alexa enabled.

Pub Lights

As part of a much larger project, I was given what appeared to be a medieval candle holder and asked what I can do with it. Well, here is the result that can be found in the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Strumpshaw, Norfolk.

It was an interesting project to remove the melted wax candles and install 12V LED lighting and transformer, but worth the effort to see how it lit up a particular part of the pub..

Extension Leads

I never quite understood why extension leads have to be boring, and made of plastic. So, I started making these ‘extension leads’ which include USB charging made from layered pallet wood. I never understood either why many extension leads are so stiff-so I made mine with super bendy cable and a plug that made a statement too.