Phillip's Galleries
The morning of the assembly
I managed to collapse the entire structure to a size small enought to fit in a car.
Don’t worry, it’s going to get a *lot* bigger...
Assembling the interior framework.
I used an icosohedron as an interior structure, which made the star much easier to assemble.
I secured the inner framework with a polyurethane glue, which expanded to really lock together the joints.
And it was a lot of fun to work with the stuff while wearing latex gloves.
A friend suggested that I use "Gorrilla Glue", but I needed something different for the porous materials we were using.
It didn’t matter...Disney *still* calls my glue "monkey glue".
I guess it’s easier than saying "polyurethane".
The inner framework complete...yay!
Inside the icosohedron are a pair of tetrahedrons, which serve as the framework for the interior wiring and lights.
Each one wasn’t
difficult, but every
small task had to
be performed
sixty times...
Whew...
This seemed to
take forever!
The topmost point
was attached first,
so that the wiring
and inner support
could be secured.
Right now, it sorta
looks like a
jack-in-the-box
head to me.
Meanwhile, Disney was
running the upper light
and fabric crown.
That’s him on the
upper ledge.
Hi, Disney!
He ran twelve strands
of lights and eight swaths
of lame’ after we hoisted
a central support.
There was no central winch
or lifting mechanism, so we
had to get this stuff up
there by ourselves.
Whee....
The top half of the
star is nearly
complete, and ready
to be lifted.
Please
ohplease
ohplease
don’t break...
A view up the
top point.
We selected a
textured gold
lame’ fabric
for its metallic
sheen and its
translucency.
In other words:
"Pretty!"
The star nearly complete,
I check the wiring one
last time.
The space in there was
*tight*!
While working inside, I
could neither raise nor
lower my arms, or even
pivot my torso. I needed
to drop down to
reposition myself in any
way.
And I was very careful
to *not* drop anything
down into the lower points.
It works...yay!
In order to attach the
lower points, Disney
would hold them in
place while I cinched
them to the framework.
We had to connect
three at a time because
of the wiring, which
meant holding and
connecting all three at
once.
And then do it two more
times, for all nine points
on the lower half.
Yay...
All but the bottom
point attached now...
Aren’t we done yet?
One of the security
guards came by
every half hour or so
and really enjoyed
our antics.
With the last point secured,
I tighten up the
attachements and check
for exposed lights.
One challenge with working
with a translucent material
like this is there’s no room
for error--everything is
visible.
Even the interior light
distribution needs to be
even, so the outside will
look balanced.
And we’re ready
for liftoff!
Now...imagine what
it’s like to try to center
*this* baby while
lifting it three stories
in the air...
Once the star was
in place, we hung
the four ornaments
around it.
This is the view
from the third floor.
That poor ten-foot
tree just doesn’t
stand a chance!
And here’s the view
from the second floor.
The day *after* we
finished the star I went
and looked up what the
"official" name of the
shape is.
Ready for it?
It’s an "irregular greater
stellated dodecahedron".
yah, yah...
But *I* made it this way
’cuz I thought it was pretty!
I like the way the ornaments
came out. Their interior lights
give them a strong "jewel"
look, and their glittery
exterior add to the effect.
We hung them on diagonal
cables that spanned from the
second to the third floor, and
positioned them to "wrap" the
star.
This is the view from
directly beneath the star.
Once the tree was in
place, no one else is
able to see the star
from quite this perspective.
But there are plenty of
other nice viewing angles.
:-)
Want to see how I came
up with the design for this
star? Select the "Design"
gallery and see my process.
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