A Cylon Lantern (Before)

This past weekend was Illuminares, Vancouver’s Festival of Lanterns, put on by the Public Dreams Society. It is always a wonderfully inspiring evening and it is not surprising that 20,000 people go to Trout Lake every year to watch everyone light their lanterns at dark and parade around the lake. There are a number of large static displays and an incredible variety of lanterns. I’ve seen dragons, a phoenix and even a Dalek. This was the third year in a row I’ve attended the event with a group of Browncoats. In the past I’ve built a version of Serenity out of recyled plastic bottles and paper, as well as a traditional UFO made from a flan pan and some flashing LED lights. This year I just had to do a Galactica-themed lantern, so I chose to make a Cylon Raider. I constructed the frame out of wire and a couple of plastic bottles, then covered it with plastic wrap and painted it. We loaded the inside with green glow sticks and then attached some red ones on the outside. It looked pretty cool all lit up, but you’ll have to wait another day for that picture.