26.12.2024 Mosaic.

 ~o~

 Thursday 26th 43F/6C. Grey.

 Up at 8am after another quiet night. This is becoming a habit.

 8.50 64F/18C in the room. Stove lit. [But see below!]

 The mosaic was a Christmas gift from my house guest. Skillfully hand made from a combination of small mosaic tiles and pieces of deliberately broken plates. Measuring 40x30cm [16"x12" in olde money] the mosaic is now sitting in pride of place on my vintage coffee table.

 10.30 For all my attempts to share accurate room temperature readings. I have failed miserably! I had the large, digital thermometer sitting on my bedside table. Where it was far enough away from the stove not to be affected by radiant heat. 

 My failure was that I had it set to "Out." Where a small sensor terminates a long length of wire. To be used to register outside temperatures of course. The problem was that the sensor has been hanging down the back of the table. Resting against the cold wall bricks. On setting the display to "In" the registered temperature shot up to 71F/22C! Here the temperature of another sensor, inside the body of the digital thermometer, is displayed. It was no wonder I was sweating after a couple of hours of the stove being lit! 😥

 I have been researching suitable LED lights to use in my display cabinets. IKEA do some shallow, round "puck" lights. With a colour temperature of 2700K they can be descried as warm white. Hopefully providing a more vintage look than "hard" blue-white LED lighting. 

 I shall have to see them lit, in the flesh, before buying. They also do quite short LED strips in diffusers. Which might be more appropriate for even lighting from the bottoms of the cabinets. 

 The trick is to block any direct light from shining upwards into one's eyes. While still providing a nice spread of light. The larger the initial area of illumination. The better the light can reach around items in the immediate vicinity. To brighten more distant items through the intervening glass shelves.

 The image alongside greatly exaggerates the variation in light levels. To the naked eye the lowest shelf seems just nicely illuminated. 

 Some collectors use lights across the front edges of their cabinet shelves. So that the items on each shelf enjoy perfectly even and high levels of illumination. I am not keen on this idea. Because it denies the shelves their invisibility. Another negative is the displayed items can no longer seem to float in space. A third is the volume of the lighting units themselves.

 This is where solid shelves fall down. Hopefully not literally. They are usually thick and block the light. Whereas glass shelves become almost invisible. While light passes cheerfully through the glass unhindered. The inverse square law applies to cabinet lighting too. The greater the distance from the illumination the darker things get. Unless one can somehow provide light midway in a tall cabinet. The center section is inevitably deprived of illumination.

 Glass cabinet sides help of course. Allowing external light to leak in. I wonder whether it would be possible to light the middle section from without. Without it looking too obvious. 

 12.40 44C/7C outside. 72F/22C indoors.  

 I've had phone message to say my IKEA cabinet parcel will be delivered tomorrow between 8 and 10am.

 Dinner was Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli and meatballs. I forgot the potatoes. Though I doubt there was room for them. We enjoyed the last of the museum, red wine.

 ~o~