China Ball Question

M

mobiledeli

Well-known member
I did some browsing... actually like an hour of browsing... through previously made topics about china balls and im not totally fully understanding them...

If I were to buy these things:
http://www.filmtools.com/chinlansocas.html
http://www.filmtools.com/nehoba2532qu.html (how many? 3?)
http://www.filmtools.com/24whitchinla.html

would that be the right stuff to give me a china ball? id also have to get a stand to hook it up i know that, but is this everything i need for it to actually work?

thanks a lot!
 
Basically, yes.

Just make sure the bulb is in the center of the lantern, and away from the sides.
 
thanks - useful stuff - it was a question I was going to ask about the chinese balls/ lanterns as I heard them referred to a lot for indoor lighting on this forum.

mobiledeli - you beat me to it :-)

So they are really the cheap standard paper light shades but using simple halogen light fittings (and bulbs) then hooked up to a stand...

It all seems to be here http://store.filmtools.com/chinlan.html

Am in Uk so I will have to do my own localised research now :-)
 
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mobiledeli said:
okay thanks, but is there anything else possibly?
Click to expand...


After using this type of light on more than one occasion, I wanted a little more versatility. So, I got a couple of these as a birthday gift... http://www.lanternlock.com . Rather than just hang them straight down, I can now put them in several locations without complicated rigging.
A little pricey, but a perfect project for a DIY'er (Do it yourself) More rigid than the standard wire within a standard lantern.
You may also want to consider using a fabric lantern (nylon) as these will last longer than a paper version. I don't have the web address handy, but a search for "Nylon chinese lantern" on this site, will more than likely produce an address..
.
 
After I posted his site, I double checked to make sure that it worked. Yeah, I too found that note. He must just be busy on other projects . He's not around much to answer his phone, but he's a great guy. I don't know any details as to why sales are currently suspended. But these are a very nice tool. Not to hard to figure out how to make your own version. It may not look as professional as his version, but easy to emulate, if your handy..
 
but the bulbs that i ahve at the top of the page, how many should i get? cause it says that 3 are in the picture, so should i buy 3?
 
I second going the nylon route from paperlanternstore.com, although I know a couple of people on here like the diffusion from paper better. I'll go with the durability.

You may want to consider going the CFL route. I did the whole y-adapter fandango and stuff 8 27w CFLs into a 30-incher for nearly 800w-equivalent of light. Cool light. Bought both tungsten- and daylight-balanced bulbs to use. I did it, even though my setup is a bit unweildy since I didn't buy those sockets from Filmtools. I may have to grab a few -- looks like it'd be much easier to keep everything on center with those.

The lantern frame will have a spot in the center for putting the cord through -- that's what keeps the bulb(s) centered, relatively speaking.
 
mobiledeli said:
oh finally, how do i make sure the bulb is CENTER in the lantern? does it just hang ther?
Click to expand...

It's definitely better if it doesn't hang there. The whole point of the lantern locks and some of those other kinds of solutions is that they lock the bulb in place. They are a bit pricey though. The china ball, as it comes has a rectangular wire frame that goes from one end to the other inside to keep the lantern open and "inflated" so-to-speak. One way is to fashion something that attaches to that. Actually, the lanternlock replaces that piece of hardware completely with something a bit more stiff -- but you do pay for it.

What Jason did was take a bunch of Y adapters and plug them all in to each other and then put bulbs in the sockets not taken up. Then what you would do to be sure would be to tape (electrician's or gaffer's tape) one or two of the sockets to the rectangular wire frame. Then you've got something that's not dangling in there.

Another option is to use one of the 200w 8U bulbs that I really like:

http://www.servicelighting.com/catalog_product.cfm?prod=MX35871

Like that one from Service Lighting and use a mogul base fixture like the mogul lantern lock or my softbox fixture:

http://www.coollights.biz/softbox-fixture-p-33.html

If you use my softbox fixture, you just fashion a chinese lantern "speedring" as I call it using an adjustable hose clamp like this (home depot plumbing dept):

http://www.plumbingsupply.com/clamps.html

Take a hose clamp that will go up to 6" in diameter (more than large enough for my fixture) and then attach it to the china ball with either some fine metal wire (through the small holes in the clamp and into the nylon material and around the inner china ball metal skeleton)

OR actually sew it on there with some good thread right into the nylon and around the steel wire around the top opening.

Then you have a speedring that can fit around lots of different kinds of fixtures and a good way to attach the china ball to them.
 
Yo miracom, why don't you make your version of lanternlocks..your so damn handy.. I'd buy a few, if you made them.. Can you charge, say 30-35 bucks for it ?
 
filmat11 said:
Yo miracom, why don't you make your version of lanternlocks..your so damn handy.. I'd buy a few, if you made them.. Can you charge, say 30-35 bucks for it ?
Click to expand...

With "the Chinese miracle" as they call it, anything's possible. I'll look into it. Now, I wonder if I can find a Chinese lantern anywhere over here that isn't red?
 
went to home depot today, bought the stuff used in AFTER CLASS cause i liked it, went home and made one: results!

(no actual lantern yet)
1173402937.jpg

1173403025.jpg


and then of course i dropped it by accident....

1173403058.jpg


lucky i bought some replacement bulbs! haha im getting the actual.. ball and a stand next week!
 
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