I’ve been thinking about getting a rainbow maker for a while now. Both my last apartment, and my current one get lots of direct sunlight. Watching that light move across the wall throughout the day is one of the most relaxing things ever. The only thing I could think of that could possibly make it better was a rainbow! I had seen a solar powered rainbow maker by Kikkerland that I was interested in getting but it had such mixed reviews that I held off. Looking back at it now, it has four stars out of five but for the price too many people were mentioning it died within a month. I wasn’t really sure what options I had, everything seemed too expensive or was too hokey looking.
Fast forward until a few weeks ago when Jeff and I were at a local toy store when he spotted a prism and mentioned how he’d like to get it for photography. I told him to hold off, Valentine’s Day was approaching and I figured I’d be able to get a much better one online. I ended up deciding on this one since it had such awesome reviews and claimed to be made specifically with photography in mind. As soon as it came, and before I wrapped it up for him, I gave it a little test run.
I held the prism up to my living room window, which is where we get the most direct sunlight, and BAM instant rainbow! I ended up falling back in love with the idea of having rainbows in my apartment so much I decided to try another product. My second purchase was a sun catcher. Instead of just sitting in the window like I had the prism, it hangs on the window from a little suction cup. It’s not exactly my decor style but the rainbows it produces are AMAZING!
the rainbow sun catcher in my window
I decided to write this post for two reasons. One being I really love the photos I’ve gotten so far, and wanted an excuse to share them. Ahem. And two, when I was looking into how to have rainbows in my home I couldn’t find very much information. There didn’t seem to be many solid reviews, and there definitely weren’t any good photos. I wasn’t sure what product would be best for what I wanted so hopefully this post will help someone else who would like a little color in their life!
Prism
▴ Makes shorter square rainbow, like in the photo below.
▴ Can either sit in window or be held in your hand.
▴ Best if used while being held since the rainbow is smaller, and correct angle needs to be hit with light.
▴ You have more control over the resulting rainbow than with the sun catcher, as in you can move it around the room, and change the shape and size slightly.
▴ Your cat is probably going to love to chase the light it produces.
Sun catcher
▴ Makes many long skinny rainbows that fill the room with no effort on your part.
▴ Attaches to window with suction cup.
▴ While you can remove it from the window its probably best to just leave it be so you really don’t have any control over where the rainbows go.
For me, the clear winner here is the sun catcher since it produces SO much more color. That’s not to discredit the prism though. It’s definitely a fun little toy to play with, and like I mentioned above, Professor loves it. Either way, both of these items make for fun photos.
Had to post this one because it looks like he’s producing those rainbows and that it takes a lot of effort on his part.
You don’t even have to say it, I agree, it’s a liiittle bit tacky but I can’t help myself. The rainbows make me smile every time I walk into my living room. So much so that I bought a second sun catcher for my kitchen as well.
xoxo