Just a quick FYI, Below you will find affiliate links to the lighting sources I've found; use them if you'd like. I'm an artist, I'll get a tiny bit of money for it. Thanks.
So what have I learned?
Well. There’s a lot, actually.
For starters, no one cares about my stupid light-bulb quest.
No one.
Except this one guy named Rod at SuperBrightLeds.com. Which is where I'm going to send you for light bulbs if you decide that you want a light bulb. They also have lots of other cool lights and light bulbs there and are really helpful if you need help.
There is more that happened in my light-bulb quest, stupid though it may be. But then I found "IT"... The be-all and end-all of Shadow Sculpture lighting. So instead of blathering on about my light-bulb adventure, I'm just going to give you the answer. Ready?
Okay. First, remember this is where we started. The Project Source track light was the be-all and end-all... Right? Okay. Scroll, and weep my friends!! There's a new light in town......
The clear winner is this lamp.
It is 46 dollars on Amazon. I haven’t found it anywhere else. It produces a perfect crisp shadow, looks lovely, and, guys, it just creates The Best Shadow ever. Look at it.
So that's it. The holy grail of Shadow-Sculpture lighting.
It's a very nice-looking modern lamp. As far as I can tell, the one drawback is that it can't really be suspended from the ceiling easily so your angle is going to be a little different. As for me, I'm using that lamp as the light in my studio now, so that I can see every little detail. I have mine set on a bookcase to get it at the height I want.
Let's say that you already have a fixture in place and you just want a bulb. As seen in the image above, I also found a lovely bulb from superbrightleds.com. If you want the crisper shadow, you will need to make the modification shown below but that's easy.
If you want something portable, there are also flashlights that you can use on the go. Here is the one I use.
Light Bulb Modification Instructions
Here's what you do. (Quick disclaimer: if you follow these directions, you do so at your own risk. As in, I have no idea what the long term effects on the bulb could be, LED's don't heat up the way that standard bulbs do so it shouldn't explode or anything but it could effect the life of the bulb)
Get two 3-inch-long pieces of 2-inch wide aluminum tape (get it here or at your hardware store in the heating/cooling section).
Using scissors, cut a ¾-inch hole in the center of each piece of tape.
Apply the tape to the face of the bulb, with the hole that you cut in the center. Smooth the tape to the face of the bulb. Apply the second piece of tape perpendicular to the first.
Trim off the excess on the sides. You want some overlap or the light will sneak out the edges.
Put the bulb in your fixture.
Point it at the sculpture. Enjoy your beautiful Shadow Sculpture!!