Our solar nightlights are handmade from reclaimed Brooklyn watertower redwood, designer paper and a miniature print. The embedded light sensor will turn on the nightlight automatically at dark and then shut down at dawn to recharge. A limitation of solar panels is that they charge best when exposed to DIRECT light. Ambient light will not charge the unit sufficiently. The longer the solar panel is exposed to direct sunlight, the longer the light will illuminate at night. Three hours of DIRECT sunlight will generate 3 hours of nighttime illumination.

To turn on your nightlight remove the front and press the black button on the battery pack. To test, cover the solar panel with your hand. The light should come on. That simple, your nightlight is now working and is off the grid!

If your window sill does not get much direct sunlight, solar panels also recharged under DIRECT indoor lighting. Place it under your desk light and it will charge at the same rate as sunlight — one hour of direct lamp light will produce one hour of nighttime illumination. To fully recharge the battery, the light needs to shine directly on the solar panel. For best performance place the solar light in direct light for 6-8 hours and allow it to run 5-8 complete charge/discharge cycles to reach batteries’ maximum capacity. This will top off your battery and allow it to run at full capacity.

Our frame images are cut from old Central Park trash cans and decommissioned steel sculptures. The wood is cut from fallen poplar trees recovered from Central Park after the 2010 storm.  We also have hand-drawn images silk-screened directly on our wooden frames, as well as paper frames. We have a range of styles, but here’s a selection:

Each coaster has a white cedar base with a silkscreen on recycled paper and coated for waterproofing. They come in sets of four, depicting NYC scenes, birds, and other original designs.