An unformed idea to toss out there...

[Propped_Up]

I just replied to a thread about using VCR motors for whatever, and my suggestion was building a snowing window scene inside a shallow box....and then another thought struck me.

Ever heard of the halloween bottomless pit?

basically, you build a box that has 2 mirrors facing each other at opposite ends of the box...one is a real mirror (in the back or bottom) and the other is either a 2-way mirror or a piece of mirrored window-tint for cars which can be bought cheap in many places selling automotive accessories (this one is located at either the top or front of the box, depending on how you build the box). Whatever is inside the box is multiplied infinitely....think of the last time you got your hair cut in a salon. You see yourself repeated forever. Same idea.
Light the inside of the box well so the contents show well through the 2-way mirror.

So what if you built a scene in the box that has a snowy, slightly hilly ground, and made it snow with a small fan and mashed potato flakes? it might be tricky positioning whatever figures are in the scene so they don't repeat forever as well ( maybe put them in the foreground in front of the 2-way mirror?).
However, doing something like penguins or whatever would work well inside the box....one group turns into a gazillion!

Anyway, I'm sure others here will have some creative ways to make this work if I can't find it myself. I'm just thinking this could be a real show-stopper as a window display if it's done right.

[digbugsgirl]

I haven't a clue about getting it to work, but it sounds like a great idea! I'd love to see something like that.

[Craig]

FANTASTIC idea!:)

[Just Whisper]

Way beyond my brain capacity but I'd love to see it work. I had enough hard time just getting my regular bottomless pit adjusted. LOL

[Warrant2000]

Interesting idea, I can totally visualize it. The tricky part would be the illumination. In a typical bottomless pit you have a single light bulb that will appear to be a chain of bulbs going down the pit. For a winter scene the repetative light would be present, and need to be changed/fashioned/positioned so not to repeat or not be visible.

Or perhaps the light could be a street light, seen repeating down a street. Or a hanging curve of small christmas lights that would appear to be a repeatinging string of lights. Either way, the illumination would need to be bright enough to show what's inside.

Interesting and challenging! Got pictures yet? :)

[Sickie Ickie]

If you use the poly beads, a fan on the bottom blowing up in between the mirrors would recirculate them to get it snowing in the endless corridor display.

I wonder if you could triple up...clear pane, Pane of one way, mirror. Put the figures between the clear and one way, and the snow between the one way and mirror...

[EnlightenedGrinch]

Sounds like a good plan, Sickie!
So this would look like an endless snowy scene? Is that right?

[Propped_Up]

I can't see why you would need to triple up tho...just the two mirrors and the snow. i would think the instant mashed potato flakes idea would still work better too, since they don't have all that static electricity that styrofoam has and therefore wouldn't stick to everything in the scene and the mirrors. plus they're flaky and might look more realistic.

...unless I'm missing the point in your variation, Sickie.

[Sickie Ickie]

I like the idea of the flakes looking like flakes. I'm thinking however that the flakes of potato may become weighted with humidity, or on the extreme end- mold. Your thoughts?

You do have a point with the static, however that can be eliminated to a large degree with a healthy spraying of static guard.

As far as tripling, if you have the figures between only the two mirrors, they would look like a huge army line going on forever. Unless that is an effect you would be going for.

[Propped_Up]

I like the idea of the flakes looking like flakes. I'm thinking however that the flakes of potato may become weighted with humidity, or on the extreme end- mold. Your thoughts?

You do have a point with the static, however that can be eliminated to a large degree with a healthy spraying of static guard.

As far as tripling, if you have the figures between only the two mirrors, they would look like a huge army line going on forever. Unless that is an effect you would be going for.

-- I don't know about mold or humidity...you may have a point there.
-- would static guard work that well against that much static, and for how long I wonder? Worth a try, I suppose. :)
-- yes, the endlessness was originally the point...although maybe a mix of the two would be interesting.

[Sickie Ickie]

I thought you only wanted the snow to look endless? If the point was to have a line of endless penguins or something, then they'd have to be between the two mirrors as you said.

For the endless snow effect, there may be a way to even make a high tech cartoon snow or even an endless changing scene.

I'm thinking one could combine it with a pepper's ghost effect and the two mirrors.

Angle the one way mirror to reflect a flat screen running a movie, and use the other mirror to reflect back into the one way mirror. I'm guessing it would work for endless ghosts, snow, fire, or whatever.