THE WORLDS LARGEST LITE-BRITE - Last Supper - 5 x 10 Own a Guinness World Record AND a Ripleys Oddity!!! Start Price USD 5,000.00 Current Price USD 5,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Friday, July 18, 2008 End Time Monday, July 28, 2008 Location malvern, PA See more about 'THE WORLDS LARGEST LITE-BRITE - Last Supper - 5 x 10' Description   Hello, and welcome to my auction for "The World's Largest Lite-Brite"!   A Quick Word on Bidding and Shipping                This is the 3rd time I've listed this due to winning bidders not being able to come up with finances. If you bid, or intend to bid, please understand that you will be responsible to pay for the item if you are the high bidder. I will be using some of this money to go back to school to get my MBA, so please only bid if you are serious about owning this Lite-Brite that I've put my heart, soul, money, and a year of my life into. If you are in need of a financing plan, I would be more than happy to work out a seller-financing deal.                Shipping by freight, including insurance, is FREE and will be arranged by the buyer and seller after the auction.         On to the Main Event!                My name is Mark Beekman. I'm an artist based out of Malvern, PA. My latest & greatest piece, for which this auction was created, is my "World's Largest Lite-Brite"; my modern twist on DaVinci's "The Last Supper". This piece took me well over a year to complete. To gain a better understanding of everything that is included in this auction, as well as what was involved in creating this work, please read on.   The Image                The pegged image itself measures approximately 4'9" tall by 9'9" wide and is comprised of exactly 124,418 brand new, original Lite-Brite pegs. After running out of clear/white pegs from my initial bulk peg order from Hasbro, I had to buy out the entire Lite-Brite stock of every Toys-R-Us, Wal*Mart, and Target in a 15 mile radius several times over just to replenish the shortage of pegs in that color!                An actual Lite-Brite toy has a black background which utilizes blank spaces as "black", but does not have actual black pegs. For artistic and Guinness certification purposes (now an official record, see below), I was unable to leave blank spaces. What to do? Unused pegs were painted black with several layers of a special glossy paint made specifically for plastics. The result is a strong-bonded paint that doesn't chip or flake in the slightest.                The pegs are fixed to the "canvas" with 8 layers of glue. Not just any glue, but non-fogging cyano-acrylate (the most expensive and hard-to-find of the super glues). This non-fogging glue was chosen for its unequaled bonding strength and the fact that it wouldn't discolor the pegs, inhibiting light transmission. Close-up detail of Jesus' face (at an angle) Close-up detail of Jesus' face (direct)   The Frame                The illuminated image is accented with a hand-made, hand-painted frame. The frame is constructed of polyurethane crown molding which was desired for its ease of cutting and flexibility. The molding was painted using an antiquing effect giving it the classic look of an aged gold. The frame was cut and set so that it would clear the floor by at least 1/2 inch to ensure its safety during transportation and display set-up. Detail of frame   The Canvas                The "canvas" is a 5ft. by 10ft. piece of special order perforated sheet metal. Pieces of this size are almost impossible to find. The peg holes, as well as the spacing of the peg holes, are exactly the same as the Lite-Brite toy.   The Lighting System                This piece has its own built-in lighting system! The entire piece is backlit using Cee-Lite electroluminescent panels (brand name was a coincidence!). These 4 panels are basically flat light bulbs! They are each powered by their own inverter box housed inside of the Lite-Brite structure. They are very efficient, low wattage lights that produce the IDEAL brilliant white light for this piece. With 99% uniform surface illumination, there are NO dim areas. Did I mention that they don't produce heat? They are cool to the touch and will not warp the pegs or pose a fire hazard.                The inverter boxes each have their own dimmer switch, as well as "fade" and "flash" settings, should you get tired of the steady glow of the basic "ON" setting. These panels are so energy efficient that all 4 inverters can be plugged into the same outlet or power-strip without posing a fire or fuse-blowout hazard.                Cee-Lites were recently featured in TIME magazine as one of the "Best Inventions of 2006", and rightfully so.                Any light can be used to light this piece and the light panels can be taken off as easily as unscrewing a few screws. Imagine seeing this piece displayed as "stained glass" in a church window! Cee-Lite electroluminescent panels.........   Bendable light bulbs!   Inverter box with dimmer, flash, and fade settings   The Structure                The foundation for this Lite-Brite is a skeleton built of hand-cut aluminum piping (yes, I said "hand-cut". My forearms are still tired!). The aluminum was chosen for its incredible strength-to-weight ratio. The pipes are joined with aluminum Kee-Lite pipe fittings (another brand name coincidence!). These pipe fittings can be taken off or readjusted with a hex key (included in the auction) very easily if need be. I designed this structure specifically to keep itself upright, despite being front-heavy from all of the pegs. It will remain exactly where you put it without ever toppling over.                The back and sides of the structure have been fitted with a bordeaux velvet covering to keep the piece eye-pleasing when viewed from any angle. The covering can be put on or taken off in about 30 seconds.                The dimensions of the entire framed, finished piece are as follows:                Height - 65 inches (5'5")                Length - 126 inches (10'6")                Width - 19 inches (25 inches with foot stands)   Part of the velvet backing taken off to show the pipe structure   The Pipe-Cutter: My friend AND foe   Media Coverage                This piece has been featured in numerous newspapers and websites but, for me, I was the most thrilled when I was contacted by "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!". My photo release papers were signed several months ago to have this Lite-Brite featured in the next "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" book, to be published in the Fall of 2008. Here is your chance to own a genuine Ripley's oddity!                Also, as mentioned earlier, this Lite-Brite is currently certified and recognized by Guinness as "The World's Largest Lite-Brite". According to my conversations with Guinness, the previous world record Lite-Brite consisted of 62,856 pegs, which is nearly half the size of the 124,418 pegs that were used in the piece listed here. In other words, this is the largest Lite-Brite in the world -- BY FAR. The winning bidder will also receive the original Guinness Record Achievement Certificate, acknowledging the record. Well, that about wraps things up. If I left anything out, or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me here, or at BeekmanArt@yahoo.com. Happy Bidding! Place a Bid!