The Dust Is Real

 

Every once in a while, I get to wondering how I might present the Halfland

animations floating and reflected inside a dark glass bottle. 

I put a scrap piece of silver mylar on the inside curve, and a straight lenticular magnifying plastic lens flexed to fit down the bottle's throat and sprung back straight across the middle. I use my super full mini TV from Tiny Circuits inside the jar as a quick stand-in for the [eventual] larger flex video display to be positioned opposite the reflective mirror.

I filmed the TV's video of a fireplace burning a glow inside this contraption, and to my amazement, it did what I'd wanted all along, only too small. The video is viewable indirectly, like gazing into a gazing or scrying ball. The wonderful Jill phrased the effect perfectly;

The magic of that moment when you lean in to see a universe in miniature! It makes everything seem familiar yet vulnerable...

I stuck the Bottle Cinema on a dusty shelf in a cupboard to record the scene in the dark. And as I now will cheekily say when describing this huge project that has gone on so long, The Dust Is Real!

So I've set this hardware issue aside again for a bit, knowing that there is a way to make this idea work, and that's all I needed to know to keep going as planned.