Jackson Lanphere: Week 11 Laser Cut Lamp

 Concept 

I came up with this design after failing to create my original idea and decided to make a more simple box. I've always really admired bees, they're able to work together, create amazing things, and help other species thrive, so I decided to make a design themed around them for this project.

 

Process 

I started this project with the box maker from MakerCase. I created a simple 10 x 7 inch box set for 1/4 inch material and went straight to Illustrator. Outside of a few lessons in another class, this is the first time I've really used illustrator for graphics. First I created the honeycomb pattern that would cover most of my lamp. I got this by creating a series of hexagons in the honeycomb shape and then shrunk them individually by the same amount to achieve cut out sections and get the pattern I wanted. Then I started on working on the bee image. Following my heart, and loosely following a reference I got to work. The process was a lot simpler than I was making it out to be in my head, and I quickly figured out my design, only having to make a few minor changes at the end. The next challenge was shrinking the artwork. In order to do this I took my Illustrator file to Photoshop and converted it to a transparent PNG. So it could be used in both Illustrator and Rhino. With the design finally set I went to Rhino to create my 3d model. This went fairly well and showed me some small issues with my laser cut file and helped me clean up the plans. I used a wood grain texture that I edited to look darker on the wooden parts of the box, and I placed flat surfaces inside the box with a custom texture to give the model a honey colored glow.

Materials

 

I designed my plans to use 1/4 inch plywood since I wanted the design to be sturdy and have some weight to it, but I think 1/8 inch plywood would work just as well and cost less. For the inner shade I would use paper since it's easy to work with and common for some lampshades, but fabric could also be used if it was stapled to the wood. I would like some sort of stain on the wood because I prefer the look of darker wood grain, but this is a matter of preference.