Jeff,
My contribution here is like a child's fingerpainting compared to John's Renoir setup. My buddy's son started making ink pens as a way to make some money. His dad made him a simple light box. This is using a grid-light prism diffuser placed into a groove on either edge of the base board. There's a couple dowels used to hold a backdrop.
When I get around to it, I am going to mimic this for myself, using 2 or 3 LED PAR30 bulbs in the 4-5000K range. Of course, I can buy a simple soft box for $30 but I like to improvise so may make this contraption.