Small Rotating Light Base

A rotating light base 3.54 inches square and 1.77 tall, weighing 0.53 pounds, that lights a photo crystal from below and turns it slowly at the same time. A static base lights an engraving; a rotating light base shows you that the engraving has a front, a side and a back, which is the one thing a photograph of a 3D crystal can never demonstrate.

What Turning Actually Reveals

A depth engraving is built at many levels inside the block. Standing still, you see one arrangement of those levels. As the crystal turns, the subjects shift against each other: a face passes in front of a shoulder, the background opens up behind it, and the whole thing resolves as a solid form rather than a bright pattern. People who own one usually report the same thing, which is that visitors stop and watch it rather than glancing at it.

Taller Than a Static Base

At 1.77 inches this is nearly twice the height of the plain wooden base, because the turning mechanism sits under the lit platform. That raises the crystal higher than people expect, which is an advantage on a low table where the piece is seen from above and a consideration on a shelf with limited headroom. The footprint is the same 3.54 inches square as the small static base, so it suits the same crystals.

Speed, Noise and Power

The turn is slow rather than brisk, which is the point: fast enough that the engraving is visibly moving when you glance at it, slow enough that it is not distracting in a room where people are doing something else. It runs quietly, and on a hard surface in a silent room the mechanism is just audible if you listen for it. It needs a level surface, because a platform turning on a slight tilt labours through one half of each revolution.

Which Crystals Suit It

Three dimensional engravings gain the most, since there is depth for the rotation to reveal. A flat 2D engraving turns into a thin edge as it goes side on, so it spends part of each revolution almost invisible, which is the one case where a static base is the better buy. For the larger blocks, the large rotating base has the width. Ships in 3-5 days in the US.