Materials

I began to experience with what materials would be most effective in creating shadows, colour and and light illusion around my lamp base. I want to allow the users to create their own personalised sensory environment by experimenting with lighting effects. This can be done by other creating scenes by mixing abstract shapes, colours and negative space.  I would hope this would also be an educational tool.

Firstly I looked at photographic gels, these are very effective and come in long sheets and huge variety of colour. They also have a high heat resistance. The issue with this is they’re not very thick so they may not be sturdy enough to stand up straight around the light fitting.

Another material which works well is stiff interfacing.This is translucent so nice for creating soft shadows. In addition patterns can be easily heat pressed onto it to further block out light.

I would also be interested in using clear plastics and prisms as a way to refract the light and create some unusual light patterns and colours.

Finally I would like to use coloured acetates, they are little stiffer than photographic gels so they are sturdier. The only drawback is they don’t have the same variety of colours and they don’t come in sheets as long. These can also be used to the create shadows as users can draw onto the material or use stickers to block out the light.