In Living Color: Sculptured accent lights

Just about every blade of grass, every flower, and every tree and bush in this county is watered by a Rain Bird. But why not a butterfly, a hummingbird or a dragonfly? It's possible with SprinkLites, sculptured accent lights that can be connected to a water line to create lighted misters, drippers, sprayers and pool or pond spitters. SprinkLites also can be used as outdoor lights to illuminate gardens, pools, paths, ponds and fountains, or be a rainbow of colors for interior home décor.

Gary Hartz, a retired engineer in Irvine, Calif., invented SprinkLites four years ago after reworking his front yard and relining his sidewalk with potted plants.

"Everything looked great when I finished, but it wasn't long before the problems began," he said. "First, the pots blocked the spray from the sprinklers, so I installed a series of drip heads. Well, the potted plants were OK, but the spaces between them didn't get enough water. I played with the sprayers, but they all sprayed out so I had to heat and bend the supports to get the spray where I wanted. While all this was going on, a local hardware store was going out of business and when the price was right, I bought some brass lawn ornaments. I stuck them in the ground, wrapped the tubing for my drip system around the support and attached the sprayers to the sculptures pointing down. Everything worked great. The next thing I knew, neighbors wanted to know where they could buy the sprinklers and most of the damage to the sprinklers ended because people, like my mailman, could now see the sprinkler supports."

It didn't end there. Thinking that lighting fixtures for the pathway would block the spray and add clutter, Hartz came up with the idea of lighting the sculptures. That's when SprinkLites was born.

"The lights are clear acrylic sculptures with color-changing LEDs," said Hartz, who was married in Las Vegas 25 years ago at the Frontier.

"They are a great way to liven up your yard or garden, and there is so much you can do with them. I tell customers that all they need to install SprinkLites is about 30 minutes and some imagination."

Inside SprinkLites, the colored light is shaped and amplified using the smooth surface to magnify hundreds of tiny reflections. This makes them appear much brighter than most LED lights. They are on when you want them on and there are no batteries that leak or need replacement. A stainless steel support protects wires from the control module to the sculpture, and by reflecting the surroundings, the support seemingly disappears, leaving the sculpture appearing suspended.

Other applications can range from mounting the lights in pots to installing them on trees, poles, trellises, branches or umbrellas. The stake can be bent and shaped to support any position, permitting creative license to design colorful arrangements for favorite flower beds and entryways.

Hartz even has taken his birds and insects indoors.

"I took a single hummingbird, attached a water-circulation pump and used it as an interior fountain in a potted flower plant," he explained. "Later, I took a large vase with imitation bamboo sprouts and added a cluster of six dragonflies without water. It looks great."

Hartz took SprinkLites to the National Hardware Show in Orlando three months ago and was encouraged by catalog houses and other retailers interested in promoting his product. Currently, the set is only available online at www.sprinklites.com.

SprinkLites are sold in sets of six that include two hummingbird drippers, two dragonfly microsprayers and two butterfly microsprayers. All are equipped with a segmented steel support shaft, a push-button morph control, a hose adapter, a preassembled low-flow watering system and a UL-approved outdoor rain-tight transformer. The set retails for $219.95. It is also available without a water system for $199.95.