Thermal illuminator

Who's there?

This little black lamp emits a beautiful orangey-yellow glow.

It’s portable: there’s a battery inside.
It’s rechargeable: there’s a little magnetic USB connector.
It’s dimmable: there’s a big easy-to-find-in-the-dark dial and different sides emit different amounts of light.

The light itself comes from thin LED strings threaded into holes and slots in the triple-layer acrylic sides.
Two sides are removable.
In one of those is the potentiometer that controls the light intensity, and the other provides access to the characteristically chaotic wiring and battery.
The remaining ten sides each feature a unique pattern for their glowy string. It’s a tight fit that gave my fingers a workout trying to glue, wire, solder, and connect tiny components.