Spier Secret Dinner

By |2024-07-30T17:43:34+00:00March 12th, 2020|

There’s a sense of covert mystery at the Spier Secret Dinner. Classified information is discreetly revealed. A guest discovers secret ingredients to family recipes kept hidden for generations. Coupled with Spier wine, the meal is made tastier with solar light.

Caro de Waal, host extraordinaire, used the Consol Solar Jar as table decor. Inspired by a theatre-in-a-jar, Caro placed foliage within the glass jars, each representing the Four Seasons theme.

At another secret dinner, with the theme of Street Grub, Caro smoked beef skewers inside glass jars. A tasty meal illuminated by solar light.

Do you want to be privy to some golden secrets while sipping a glass of Spier wine? Check out when the next Spier Secret Dinner is scheduled.

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Theatre in a Jar

By |2024-07-30T17:43:35+00:00March 9th, 2020|

Consol Solar Jars set the stage for creativity. It’s a theatre in a jar with 360 degree views and unique stage lighting. Grab your favorite miniature object, colourful feathers, shiny gem stones, shells or flowers and place them in the glass preserve jar. Turn on your solar light in the lid and your creation is the focal point. The portability of our solar jars allows you to scout for interesting localities – mood makers as table décor at dinner; lanterns for moonlit romantic walks; light beams on a braai. So, let your Consol Solar Jar take centre stage. With our bottled sunshine you truly can have fun in the African sun!

For more creative ideas, check out our Gallery or make it a personal note.

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Drawing with Light during Earth Hour

By |2024-07-30T17:43:35+00:00March 5th, 2020|

Drawing with light during Earth Hour created a photographic artwork solely in the glow of solar light emitted by Consol Solar Jars. The backdrop was beautiful, set at Nizamiya Turkish Masjid (Turkish Mosque) in Midrand, near Johannesburg. Professional photographer, Peter Hassall, magically captured the word, Earth Hour, in solar light.

The word photograph derives from Greek:
phos = light
graphê = draw or write
phos + graphê = drawing with light = photograph

Nine people lined up in the camera frame. Each wrote a letter spelling Earth Hour backwards with a Consol Solar Jar in their hand so that it appeared right reading and pointed directly at the camera. The exposure was 15 seconds and they had to move the Consol Solar Jar in as wide an area as possible. If you look behind each letter, you will see the ghosted figure of a person holding their Consol Solar Jar.

With all the interior lights switched off during Earth Hour, 12 Consol Solar Jars were placed upside down to shine up and light the archways, balancing the interior exposure with the exterior lighting of the clouds and turrets. The contact sheet shows four images:

Top left: all interior lights turned off.
Top right: six jars turned on to light right-hand side.
Bottom left: additional six jars turned on to light left-hand side.
Bottom right: final pic.

Suntoy promises to give our planet a brighter future, the eco-friendly way, by making every hour a solar-power-hour.

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Let there be More Light!

By |2024-07-30T17:43:35+00:00January 14th, 2020|

Consol Solar Jar light is now double as bright in a new glow called Glass White. It delights even more! Mr Sunshine, aka Harald Schulz, sheds some light on the difference between our old and new LEDs. The photos show the new diffused light and the old spot light.

New LEDs used after January 2013 are Surface Mounted Devices (SMDs) offering:

  • Diffused light: beam angle 105 degrees
  • Far better light spread, the light appears to be double as bright
  • Light colour: Glass White
  • Warmer light, brings out colour and makes glass glow
  • Machine assembled
  • Efficiency of assembly improved
  • Does not require skilled operators

LEDs used till December 2012 were 5mm Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) offering:

  • Spot light: beam angle 15 degrees
  • Most light shines on the bottom of the jar
  • Light colour: Warm White
  • Hand assembled
  • Requires skilled operators

Photos show the new diffused light and the old spot light in frosted glass.

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SMT Assembly Machine

By |2024-07-30T17:43:35+00:00January 14th, 2020|

In leveraging our small business success, Suntoy’s strategy for effective growth includes increasing our capacity to produce products more efficiently. We’ve acquired a MyData TP9 Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Assembly Machine. Commonly called a pick-and-place machine, the TP9 is robotic and automates electronic parts assembly by placing surface-mount devices (SMDs), such as LEDs, onto printed circuit boards (PCBs). It offers high speed and high precision and is able to place approximately 8 000 pph (parts per hour).

Although second-hand and over 10-years-old, the TP9 has already assisted us on more than 10 000 printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies since its introduction to our Suntoy factory in January 2013. Two of our employees have been promoted to machine operators. Here’s to welcoming a sunny and sustainable measure to ensure our competency.

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Infographic Poster

By |2024-07-30T17:43:35+00:00January 14th, 2020|

Sierra Salvione studied Graphic Design at Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago (Ai Chicago) and graduated in June of 2012. An assignment in her sustainable design class lead Sierra to research innovative eco-friendly products and she discovered the Consol Solar Jar while surfing the net. We emailed Sierra to find out more about her infographic poster showcasing our Consol Solar Jar.

“I chose the Consol Solar Jar because it’s practical and beautiful. The first thing that I remember coming across was the numerous design awards it had received in 2011. Once I saw the photos of the jar at work, I immediately started thinking of how many I would like in my backyard someday. I have a strong love for anything that lights up the night. These jars are a beautiful hybrid of vintage design meets modern technology. When designing the poster, I went with a vintage aesthetic and a technology infused layout. I feel absolutely honored to be featured on the Suntoy blog! I am thrilled that my poster design caught your attention in South Africa and that it led to this blog post. I am very grateful for this opportunity!”

Sunny congratulations for a design well done, Sierra!

Download a high resolution version of Sierra’s poster in PDF format.

 

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Earth Hour Challenge

By |2024-07-30T17:43:36+00:00January 14th, 2020|

Light your way to Earth Hour with our Consol Solar Jars. Turn one hour into every hour for the good of our planet and join Suntoy in using eco-friendly solar lighting.

South Africans join global communities in turning off non-essential lights to raise awareness of the need to take action on climate change. We’re making a collective difference to our environment.

Choosing to read your book by solar light is a small action in changing your lifestyle while lowering your carbon footprint. Every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity you avoid, saves over a kilogram of harmful carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Using renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic (solar) cells, in our daily lives drops our carbon emissions. Reason enough to

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Fireflies

By |2024-07-30T17:43:36+00:00January 14th, 2020|

A firefly’s bioluminescence makes for nights of glowing outdoor adventures. Referring to these remarkable tiny creatures while describing our Consol Solar Jars gave us sunny smiles. “They have a ‘firefly-in-a-jar’ look and feel,” wrote Louise Hardy from New Zealand.

Her mom, who lives in South Africa, visited Louise in New Zealand and gifted her Consol Solar Jars for her birthday. “My three solar jars hang from our newly constructed pergola in our home garden. I love outdoor lights and these are fantastic and solar powered. I enjoy my nightly ritual of turning each on and seeing them from inside and out. All our friends think they are brilliant and ask where they can be purchased. I am very proud of mine!”

Our Consol Solar Jars are reaching far and wide… just like fireflies!

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Message in a Bottle

By |2024-07-30T17:43:36+00:00January 14th, 2020|

In this age of quick texts and impersonal emails, make your 140 characters a handwritten note on recycled paper. A personal message makes for a cherished gift. Discovering a message in a glass bottle has been around for centuries and can be even more exciting if it’s a glass preserve jar with a solar light in the lid. There is no need to send the Consol Solar Jar floating across the ocean to bring delight to the receiver. Gifting ‘green’ results in a lower environmental impact and the Consol Solar Jar is an eco-friendly gift suitable for any celebration. Don’t let affection go unspoken… put a message in a bottle. It’s a Theatre in a Jar.

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Art Exhibition

By |2024-07-30T17:43:36+00:00January 14th, 2020|

We were excited to discover that our Consol Solar Jars were featured in an art exhibition called The Other World at InToto Gallery. Including functional everyday objects in contemporary art exhibitions harnesses creative thought especially when addressing environmental issues such as solar energy.

The exhibition was curated around the idea that art can transport you to another realm. It was filled with sensory experiences into other times, spaces and spheres. Dry autumn leaves covered the gallery floor crunching as visitors explored. There was a visual feast of fine artworks displayed. Unusual objects were placed inside Consol Solar Jars that hung from the ceiling rafters and elicited wonderment. There was a sense of being in otherworldly places – some horrific, some euphoric – most not known to us.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” ~ C.S. Lewis

Curator: Megan Kidd
Creative: Otto de Jager

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