Ring Light

I need a right light for an upcoming photo shoot. Back in my production days we commonly used right lights for music videos. Although we rented them from professional lighting supply houses, they were almost always hand-made affairs.

I've collected a few pages pages about building a ring light:

http://www.noestudios.com/photo/ringlight/
http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-ring-light-using-plywood/
http://www.instructables.com/id/EU2EN4GF3KLNUW4/
http://www.cyberbeach.net/~dbardell/ringlight.html
http://www.jyoseph.com/blog/detail.cfm/post/19

Specs:

8-10 lights
dimmer
lights spaced as closely as possible
foil backed
sides so diffuser can be applied to front
width to allow easy fit through a doorway

Somebody mentioned using cheap clip lights positioned in a circle... wonder if that would work?