Color-Theory Lamp
I prototyped this lamp using laser cut acrylic, plywood, lighting gels, and metallic tape. The concept is to see how colored gels interact with changing colored light. Each side has a flap which opens where gels can be inserted, making the lamp customizable.
The Lamp
Brainstorming
Early ideas of my lamp project were inspired by an acrylic picture frame I have at home. I wanted the sides of the lamp to be two layers of acrylic holding something between them, a photo, leaves, drawings, etc.
Design
The final idea I landed on was a lamp with sides of 2 layers of clear acrylic. They will be able to open/be taken apart so that I can insert a colored gel. The goal was to create a lamp that played with color, as the bulb will change color, and the sides will have removable different colored gels. The user can then see how the changing colored light interacts and looks different through the colored gels.
Obstacles
In my original design plan, I wanted signifiers to be etched into my acrylic to show me where to put the magnets I wanted to use to hold my 2 layers of acrylic together. Once cut, I realized that magnets would create too much space between the layers of acrylic, and that I needed to secure them in another way. The challenge of this was finding a way that could still pull apart the acrylic to insert and remove gels.
Construction
Base
I created the legs of the base by sanding down one side of each piece of a laser-cut plywood triangle, and super glued them together. I then glued the wooden base to the legs and set the globe and lamp on top. The upper part of the lamp is not glued or secured down in any way, because I wanted to keep it removable.
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Body
After mulling over different methods of securing my layers of acrylic, I decided to use an aluminum tape as a hinge. I started by gluing the inner sides together with acrylic glue. I did this so I knew that the globe would fit inside my inner wall of acrylic. Then I hinged the larger, outer layers to each side with the tape. Each flap needed an affordance to open with, indicating that they are to be moved, so I used the pieces of plywood that came from the inside shapes of the legs as knobs.
Final Product
My final lamp is far from my original plans for the project. Through trial, error, and predicting how materials might work together, I was able to take pivots when necessary, and successfully create my ‘Color Theory Lamp.’