Portable Projection Dome

Summary

This is a very large, hand-made, quarter-sphere projection dome that measures 10 ft. high and 20 ft. wide. It was made from a beachball pattern making spreadsheet found on the internet, which I unfortunately lost the link for. I used stretchy knit projection fabric, cotton herringbone taping, fiber glass replacement camping tent poles, upholstery thread, and some thick rope. When packed up it is surprisingly light enough for one strong person to carry.

The dome was developed in stages, before the final. The first prototype was made from paper using a mini projector. The second one was with muslin cotton fabric using bamboo sticks, build on a much smaller scale than the final version.

In order to sew this monster, I had to connect 4 folding tables together, and spent a painfully long amount of time aligning the seams before sewing. But once the panels were pinned, it was surprisingly easy to sew, especially with the right thread and needle. I used Hy-mark thread and needles normally used for upholstery on a heavy duty sewing machine.

Initially created for Hotaru, the Lightning Bug Game, the projection mapping component of the game was eventually omitted. The dome was so large and glowy under the projection that it would take away attention from the costumes.

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