So how do you make firelight without a real fire? There are expensive high-tech solutions using discotheque equipment, but these are expensive to fix when they break down. Exhibits staff decided to work with materials on hand--tin cans and pop bottles, a car fan, a fluorescent light, coloured theatre gels, and a little paint! After some experimentation, they came up with a much sturdier and simpler contraption that projects surprisingly authentic firelight. Here's the secret behind the invention.

Since the light source had to be something that wasn't a fire hazard, a small, low-heat fluorescent bulb was used, covered by a yellow theatre gel (a sheet of coloured plastic). The gel cuts out UV light that can damage both the hides and the sensitive dyes in the quillwork. Next, the tops and bottoms were cut off both a large and a small clear pop bottle, to create two plastic cylinders that fit easily inside one another. Using acrylic paints, orange and black stripes were painted diagonally on the larger cylinder, and red and black ones on the smaller cylinder.

The next step was to get these two cylinders spinning in opposite directions over the light source, thereby projecting an irregular pattern of red and orange light. This is where the tin cans came in. The cans had to match the diameters of the plastic cylinders, so that when the top quarter of the cans were cut off, they could be glued onto each cylinder like a lid. Before they were attached, L-shaped vent slits were cut around each lid and bent up, making it look something like a pinwheel. The vents in the larger cylinder opened in one direction while vents on the smaller one opened in the other, causing the cylinders to twirl in opposite directions when air passed through them.