Elyse Shapiro Studio Progress Apr 2-8

Studio Progress Update for Week of April 2^nd – April 8^th

This week in the studio, I finally had all of the elements necessary to construct my final lighting fixtures. I began the process by attaching the stencils to the vellum print out design. In doing this, I sprayed the black stencils with spray adhesive, and placed them upon the vellum. This resulted in a less than perfect application, but I was happy to see there are areas in which the stencil is not sticking. This allows the viewer to acknowledge that this is not a print out, but an actual hand-cut stencil. After applied, the stencils upon vellum appeared as follows:

Upon my construction of the lighting fixtures, I began by forcing the polycarbonate into the metal structure and holding it together using shrink wrap. After this was done, I drilled through the polycarbonate at a ratio of every 1.5 inches. After drilling, I used a rivet to attach the two layers of polycarbonate together. Following that, I applied the stencil beneath and drilled through the metal, polycarbonate, and stencil to place a rivet there for security. I finally then placed the clouded polycarbonate on top and drilled through it with the metal, finally attaching the rivet, and lighting fixture 1 and 2 were complete.

The after almost completing the third lighting structure and testing the light distribution, I decided that a change needed to be made to my design. Rather than having only one lighting fixture at the top, I decided that two would make the lamp glow more evenly. Now, rather than having the clouded polycarbonate at the bottom of the hanging structure, I would have to develop a structurally sound design that would support a light at each end. This is my challenge in the following week as I begin my installation.

This image is what my studios look like side-by-side just days before the conclusion of IP. My studio space has been extremely influential upon my creation this year, and I love my personal artistic space!

In-studio hours:

· Monday- constructed polycarbonate barrel for lighting fixture 1 (5 hours)

· Tuesday- constructed polycarbonate for lighting fixture 2 and 3 (8 hours)

· Wednesday- applied stencils to 3 lighting fixtures (6 hours)

· Thursday- apply clouded polycarbonate and clean up rivet space (7 hours)

· Friday- finish construction of lamps (12 hours)

· Saturday- begin to research way to attach hanging lighting fixture 3 (4 hours)

· Total: 42 hours