Elyse Shapiro Studio Update for Jan 23-29

Studio Progress Update for Week of January 23rd to January 29th

To create a piece to top the lamp, I cut a piece of 1/16th'' polycarbonate measured to a similar size of my lamp. I then spent time sanding down the piece with the powersander in the woodshop. I also experimented with the effects of using sandpaper of different grains and the powersander vs by hand. Ultimately, the powersander with 100 grit sandpaper gave the best effect at dispersing the light within, not distracting from the piece, and concealing the inner workings of the lamp.

This week, I also spent time experimenting and researching the best materials and techniques for light disbursement within my pieces. In my IP review, Sean Jackson made comments on the "hot spot" from the CFL lightbulb within. My attempt above is with a super thick mylar once sanded down and adhered to itself using ZAP-A-GAP. Unfortunately, sanding the material made it brittle and unable to hold when applied, it began to crack. I plan to visit Hollander's monday to search for a potential paper light disbursement tool.

For the final printing, I have decided to mix colors of acryllic paint to sit on top of the very thin material. This will be interesting to see once combined with the vellum inner layer that has just been printed.

The image above is the material testing while printing in the studio. I printed the same photoscreen on two different materials experimenting with number of passes, acrylic paint, textile paint, sheer polyester material, and a thin muslin. Beneath is a previously tested print when I attempted to use dye. It was ultimately not strong enough to eat into the fibers and it was better to have the ink sit on top of the material.

In-studio hours, week 4:

Monday- Begin searching for designing inner layer of lighting fixture for lighting disbursement. Sand and attempt to connect with ZAP-A-GAP glue (5 hours)

Tuesday- Begin sanding down polycarbonate for top layer, test and compare samples. (4 hours)

Wednesday- Print 3 types of row of occupancy on fabric with textile paint and acrylic paint. Compare samples and purchase all poling for remaining lamps. (4 hours)

Thursday- Print the "potentially" final outer layer for lighting fixture 1 and begin experimenting with rubbing alcohol as color dissolver and remover (4 hours)

Friday- Continue working on Elzhi design for lamp 2, create sketches with material requirements and plans for second lamp (5 hours)

Total: 22 hours