The bat signal !!!

One of my best friends is a die hard bat-fan ...... 
that's really not saying much is it ?? i mean u seriously need to be a few gray cells short to not be in awe of the dark knight .The guy's moves around at night , just melts into the darkness and has a mortal enemy who is ( to put it mildly ) so scary that u'll never look at a pack of playing cards the same way again !!!!

 Anyway , so it was his birthday and i was having a hard time thinking of a gift , he's really into fantasy novels n stuff and i can't for the life of me ever get around to reading a book , the obvious choice was to pool in with someone who's already got a gift in mind but somehow it never really felt right , n then this idea struck me so hard that it almost gave me a concussion ... 

 What do u give a guy who's crazy about batman ?? ......


huh ?? 


go on ??


well , the truth be told , if u really care about em , u give them the contact details of a good psychiatrist , they'll hate u for it , but it's probably the right thing to do ...


I however did the stupid thing of deciding to make him a bat-signal , that's right , A BAT-SIGNAL !!!!

Then began the nearly week long ordeal of getting the plan right , deciding on the materials needed , and also shaving off on costs ( yeah , he's my friend , not some girl from college that i've got a crush on , so yes there were monetary restrictions ).


The saddest part was that i had asked him what he wanted , n he made it quite clear that this was definitely on the top of his wish-list , so in order to throw him off , i gave him a green lantern ring as the official gift the day before his birthday ...... yeah that's right , the most powerful weapon in the universe was the decoy :P


So long story short , n what i believe is the only reason you've been reading so far , here's how u make a bat signal 


items needed : glue , plastic sheets , a thick plastic bowl as big as u want it , a strong cfl bulb , a holder with wire of an appropriate length , some acrylic paint ( black , in case there was any doubt ), aluminium foil , n some other things that u'll probably be smart enough to find


steps

• paint the outside of the bowl black and make sure that it gets enough time to dry , then looks for missed spots n paint again 
• Stick the foil to the inner part of the bowl in order to make it reflective , so that when u place the light in it , it's as bright as possible .
• Connect the cfl bulb to the holder and with the help of some cardboard pieces , stick it inside the bowl , ( i found it easy to just use the box that the cfl bulb came in , after cutting it open in an appropriate way )
• You might wanna be careful about the power rating on the bulb , if it gets too hot , it might melt the bowl or the foil , also insulate the wire on the holder properly if u don't want a bat-jolt every time u turn the signal on  
• Trace the exact size of the bowl on the transparent plastic sheet n then cut it out , also cut out the same shape form one of those disposable plastic bags . Apply a lil bit of glue in between these 2 sheets and stick them properly , it also helps if u can any heavy roller to really flatten em out , so that the excess glue gets squeezed out 
• I used some cellophane tape to stick the screen on the bowl but u can obviously use whatever u want 
• Take a printout of the bat symbol of the right size and cut it out , it helps if u do it at home cos the ppl at the cyber cafe can make u feel really stupid about taking a bat symbol printout ( personal experience )
• Stick it to the front of the screen and you are ready to signal batman for help , n if he doesn't turn up u still have a nice reading light :)  ( n between u n me , if some guy does walk into ur house at night dressed in all black n wearing a mask , it might not be batman n u must really call the cops !!! )

So there u have it folks , a lil patience and about 20$ and u have ur very own bat signal . It's also extra special cos u'd have made it urself !!


However , if u really wanna get a kick outta it , go up to ur bat-crazy best friend's place at 12 in the night on his birthday and flash it in his face while u stuff his face with a chocolate brownie , that expression on their faces will be worth a million bucks !!! True story ppl , true story ....