Ott-Lite alternative

If you do any kind of crafts, you've probably heard of an Ott-Lite. It gives you full spectrum daylight any time of the day or night, and it's so much easier on your eyes than regular lighting. It also gives you true color, so it's much easier to tell if your project is going to match.

Take a peek at these pictures to show you the difference between regular "soft white" and "daylight" bulbs:



This first picture is taken under a regular soft white bulb.



This second picture is the very same paper taken under a daylight bulb. The difference is unbelievable!

Well, my eyes aren't the greatest. I've had glasses since 2nd grade, and I'm now 32. We won't discuss how many years that is, but it's plenty of time. :)

Anyway, I've been wanting an Ott-Lite to go on my craft table, but I've always cringed at a sale price of $40 for a tiny desk lamp. So I kept delaying and delaying the purchase ... until I read about an alternative on Splitcoaststampers.



These CFLs can be screwed into any regular light fixture (even my $1 thrift store desk lamp), and they give off the same full spectrum "daylight" lighting as an Ott-Lite. The tiny desk Ott-Lite was $40 at the cheapest (and another $30 every time you have to replace the bulb). I got this 4-pack of bulbs at Lowe's for $8.00. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure that one out!

If you go looking for these, make sure you look for the ones marked "daylight". There is an entire aisle of lightbulbs at my Lowe's, and they have CFLs in regular white and soft white, too. You don't want to pick up the wrong kind.

I hope this information helps someone else as much as it has helped me!