Lighting placement
 

I have searched about lighting and got a lot of information except for one thing. I have 5 Ott lights in my sewing room. Three on my sewing table and two on my cutting table. I also have a ceiling fan with four light bulbs. I just bought two 4' shop lights with fluorescent T8 "cool" bulbs. Hopefully today my husband will be putting them up for me. One over the sewing table and one over the cutting table. I want to avoid shadows and ruler glare as much as possible so I was wondering where is the best placement for the lights? I was thinking directly over both tables would cast too much shadowing. So would it be best to hang them about 2/3 from the front of the tables? Both tables are dining tables and measure 36" x 60". I hope I explained this to make sense.

Thanks!

Believe it or not for me sometimes the best way is to reduce or turn off some lights to avoid glare...I read about this on my Longarm forum and it really worked...I was thinking about installing more lights and then a few Longsrmers wrote about how they sew in the dark, with only the lights from the machine...yup, it helps for certain colours...Maye you have TOO MUCH light...

I had florescent tubes over my work table in the center but I didn't notice any shadows.

I think this is another of those questions that you need to determine. Some people like lots of light, others prefer less. I would start slowly and play around with the positioning of the light. I hate overhead lights. I find they throw too many shadows. I prefer lights that I can move around as needed.

One of the benefits of those long shop lights is that they throw light from different directions. I think you'll find there won't be many shadows.

It was the glare from the rulers that made it difficult for me. When cutting I, too turn off the overhead light (flourescent) and have sprayed my rulers with Satin Urethane (gives a frosted finish on top).

Generally I would say, overhead is going to give the least shadow problems.
HOWEVER .... there are a lot of factors that can prove that generality, right or wrong ...
* distance from light to table
* expanse of light ... how long, 8ft tubes or 2 ft bulbs? etc ... how many tubes wide...
* # of lightbulbs and wattage
* open bulbs or shades (type/style)

Also, in choosing ideal lighting ... daylight bulbs are going to give you a clearer cleaner light, than the warm or cool bulbs.

Then the dilemma of which type of bulb ... incandescent, fluorescent, compact fluorescent, halogen, LED.
I don't have the answer, but my latest researching and minimal experience with LED is getting me more keen on those, where and when possible.

As an added note ... many light fixtures and lamps say they are for one type of bulb (traditional or halogen or LED. However, many times you can buy the other bulbs (providing they fit) in the other style of light.

For longarming this is especially true when working white on white........I have also used a black light....makes the thread very visible......
..for cutting tables and sewing machine area I have overhead fluorescents ....they work for me......

Do you cut from only one side of your table or do you walk around it?

I can access two sides of both the places I cut. I need light that is opposite both those sides.

Because of my set up, I do not have the option of having lighting directly overhead.

For hand work I like lighting to come from over my right shoulder (I am right handed).

At my machines I like lots and lots of light coming from all angles.

The only florescent light bulbs in my house are the OTT lights.

If you don't like the shop lights, some plants surely will. The number of lumens decreases sharply with the distance from the tubes, though. Is it possible to put them on chains, so that you can experiment with thr right distance? I don't know about the T8s, but the standard shop lights are not very warm and a plant can be practically touching it. This should be very safe in case a quilt poofs up and gets close. I use a swing arm with an incandescent bulb and I have to watch it like a hawk.

I have 6 recessed cans over my cutting table, and they don't do as much for cutting as my cheapo table lamp from Walmart. I figure it's the closeness to the project. For my machine, I'm still working that out. Having windows behind my chair helps a lot, even in winter. I have 2 beautiful pendant lights over my table, and I think they're a bit glarey and not that comfortable to work under.

hugs,
Charlotte