HOLOGRAPHY
makezine.com/25/primer
Don’t bring your object or materials in from
outdoors or from one room to another immediately
before you begin to make a hologram. Everything
should be in the room for several hours so it can
adjust to any temperature changes.
To make sure your workspace is dark enough,
work at night, cover windows with dark construction
paper, and use masking tape around door edges. If
you can see around the room after being in it for ten
minutes, there’s still too much light.
2. SET UP THE EQUIPMENT.
Place the 3 Sorbothane feet ( 3 feet are more stable
than 4) on your work surface. Then rest the concrete
paving stone flat on top. The block’s mass provides
a very solid foundation.
Place your object on the concrete block, leaving
room adjacent for the holographic plate. The object
should fit behind the plate; for instance, don’t try to
record an 8" object with a 2. 5" plate.
To assemble adjustable laser and lens holders,
screw each 8" steel pipe nipple into a floor flange as
a base. Clip the laser pointer and lens (make sure
the lens is spotless) each in a 1" binder clip, and clip
a handle from each to a pipe using a 2" binder clip.
The binder clip that holds the laser will also press its
“on” button to keep it on.
If you’re using an external battery pack to power
the laser (Figure B), use alligator clips to connect one
battery wire to the pointer’s inside spring and the
other wire to the other contact inside, along the edge.
Set up your 4 processing trays near your setup
so they’re ready to go right after the exposure.
Follow the instructions that come with your processing kit to prepare the chemical baths, using
only distilled water. Familiarize yourself with the
processing sequence because the light won’t be
good for reading when it comes time to perform it.
Arrange the plastic trays in sequence: developer,
first rinse, bleach, and final rinse. Put a pair of
tongs or a spring clothespin handy nearby.
B
3. CAPTURE THE IMAGE.
With the laser button clipped “on,” position the
laser’s unspread beam, the red dot, in the middle of
the object. Maneuver the lens into the beam’s path
and position it to spread the laser light (Figure C)
just enough to cover the object. This will take some
adjusting. Finally, double-check to make sure the
object is evenly lit with laser light.
120 Make: Volume
25
