Growing and shrinking orb

Catherder

Well-Known Member
For our fall play, the main conflict is a group of thieves who steal a magic orb from the villagers. My original idea for the orb was to get one of those electro-ball things, rig it to a battery pack, and call it good. Tonight though one of my crew kids had the idea of the thieves shrinking down the orb before they steal it. She is super withdrawn but really good - her sketches for set ideas were easily the best of the group - so I want to give her a confidence boost and do this.

So, Booth, my question to you is: how can I make a glowing magic orb that shrinks and grows on demand? Limited budget and minimal resources, of course.
 
Shrinking is easy. Use a balloon with a valve. Growing is trickier. One way to do it is using more than one orb with some misdirection to swap them out. Swapping could happen offstage, or behind a piece of scenery, etc.

A somewhat cheesier solution is to use a followspot and iris in and out as needed. It needs a surface to bounce off though so blocking would have to take that into account.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G5PF1MA/?tag=controlbooth-20

Doesn’t grow but changes colors when thrown. Thief could throw it up you do some lighting trickery and it lands in his bag/pouch falling as a different color.

Other thing you could do is mod one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000E6I1F/?tag=controlbooth-20

Another idea is slight of hand sponge balls
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Doing this with two different size balls one big from the villager and one small from the pocket.

My favorite would be the sleight of hand trick cause if done right it just makes the thieves look that much cooler.
 
Thanks for the ideas, y’all. I like the sponge balls, but all the thieves are 3rd and 4th grade girls with tiny hands. I’m sure they could learn the move I just wonder how much size difference I could manage. Messing with the intensity is interesting too - maybe it flares, goes dark, and then flares again to be relit in the dramatic finale. Hmmm...
 
With practice they could do it like anything else. Those balls shrink pretty tight so you could prolly go 5x the size of a small ball and get away with it.
 
Ok, It might be complicated, but not necessarily expensive. How about a Hoberman Sphere covered in Lycra with a small motor acting as a Linear actuator. since at it's smallest diameter it will still have enough room inside to accommodate a small project box you could incorporate a small wireless remote control into the build. The rest is easy; piece of small threaded rod, a small motor and a little ingenuity.

Man I wish Wacky Willies was still around they always had stuff for projects like this.
 
Is that like a knock off hobby lobby?
 
Is that like a knock off hobby lobby?
Wacky Willy's was a store, here in Portland, that was a surplus tech store. Imagine an Army Navy surplus tore that crashed into an electronics recycling store, that crashed into a Computer manufacturing facility, that crashed into a Medical supply house, that crashed into a specialized tool warehouse.... It was a prop builder/Makers Dream. On one aisle you could find parts from an EDI control board the next aisle over there were Pipettes, test tubes and Lab glass. I once bought a bag full of Roller balls from old trac-ball mouses; The best Massagers you've ever seen gave most of them away as Christmas presents. I'd spend an hour in there every two weeks just to keep up on their stock.
 
I've lived in PDX for 20+ years and had never heard of Wacky Willy's ... so much I don't know :(

Not to get off topic - although it is my thread - I do most of my scrounging at the Goodwill bins (although they're even getting pretty hard to keep up with) or Ralph Miles (a recycled building materials/scrap place near my house). Hey CBMods - potential sticky - where I go for cheap, weird stuff in my hometown?

Thanks for the ideas, @Van
 
I've lived in PDX for 20+ years and had never heard of Wacky Willy's ... so much I don't know :(

Not to get off topic - although it is my thread - I do most of my scrounging at the Goodwill bins (although they're even getting pretty hard to keep up with) or Ralph Miles (a recycled building materials/scrap place near my house). Hey CBMods - potential sticky - where I go for cheap, weird stuff in my hometown?

Thanks for the ideas, @Van
Oh, but there is Surplus Gizmos! It's way out on Cornelius Pass road but if you need electronics components, switches, buttons, weird stuff... it's cool. Not as cool as Willy's but really cool. They have a really bad website www.surplusgizmos.com
 
Ok, It might be complicated, but not necessarily expensive. How about a Hoberman Sphere covered in Lycra with a small motor acting as a Linear actuator. since at it's smallest diameter it will still have enough room inside to accommodate a small project box you could incorporate a small wireless remote control into the build. The rest is easy; piece of small threaded rod, a small motor and a little ingenuity.

Man I wish Wacky Willies was still around they always had stuff for projects like this.
@Van Do you remember Edmund Scientific from somewhere on your side of the walls?
Edit to include link: https://www.google.com/search?sourc...-wiz.......0i131j0j0i7i10i30j0i30.JRxYiwGMLL0
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
@Van Do you remember Edmund Scientific from somewhere on your side of the walls?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Yep, and there is a great Canadian company that I order from all the time it's Qkits.com . They have some really cool DMX kits as well as multiple wireless Remote control relays and the like. They were my source when I was building a bunch of Props for a movie and needed count down timers, LED readouts, squiggly wires etc...
 
I agree with the Hoberman Sphere/FollowSpot Combo.
I don't think you need to do the Lycra thing, but you could put strips of mylar, or something else inside, to make it reflect light better...

my 2 cents, as a person who lit and assisted a LOT of plays with Middle-Schoolers over the years.

-Ford
 
If it's a night scene... I've got a small Hoberman sphere that glows in the dark. If you stick it under a very bright light to charge it, then it looks pretty good in dim to dark lighting. Adding some UV to the scene can help too.

Other benefit of having it be darker: you could add a little flying magic. I've seen it done with people in all black manipulating the sphere on a long pole... don't recall what mechanism they used to make the sphere grow and shrink, but it could be fun to play around with.
 
Ok, It might be complicated, but not necessarily expensive. How about a Hoberman Sphere covered in Lycra with a small motor acting as a Linear actuator. since at it's smallest diameter it will still have enough room inside to accommodate a small project box you could incorporate a small wireless remote control into the build. The rest is easy; piece of small threaded rod, a small motor and a little ingenuity.

Man I wish Wacky Willies was still around they always had stuff for projects like this.

Great minds think alike! I was also thinking about the Hoberman sphere with LEDs and a linear actuator, all controlled with a Tiny Arduino.
 
Back in the 60s, we had Axeman Electronic Surplus near Chicago. I could spend all day in there. But not yet being able to drive, I would cajole my dad to drive me out there a few times a year and methodically go thru every single bin. He was very patient ... could not relate to this stuff at all. I owe dad a large debt of gratitude!

Edmund has turned into a glossy high priced science education kit firm.

There was one other surplus firm in the Midwest that used to send me catalogs into the 2000s. Thin paper and cheesy little articles (like Trader Joe's flyers). Anyone remember any of these? Are any still in action, or has eBay killed them all off?
 
That's the one! Just this year I found a 6' blimp from there in a drawer, never flown ... could never convince my kids it was a worthy adventure to give it a go.
 

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