For my final project i decided on something much simpler, a lamp. what i went with is a lamp with modernist aesthetic , mostly because i was inspired by the parts i used for lights that i found.
When researching modernism i found that a core of the aesthetic is the use of light and shadow as well as shape to communicate rather than the detail or color used in other aesthetics. To highlight this i went with a mirrored base to the lamp, in the dark it reflects the light up making interesting shadows and the curved oval base with a stainless steel veneer it looks very clean.
The construction of this project ended up being very difficult, mostly with the mirror. This was an acrylic mirror and instead of reasonably cutting it with a laser cutter i instead chose to cut it like glass by scoring the surface and breaking it into the shape i wanted before filing the harsh edges down, this process is why the mirror ended up cracked.
I feel this project went very well and while i would want to try and make a new better version, unfortunately it includes upcycled parts meaning an exact copy wont work.
One of the parts of this project that was mostly new to me was the wiring, luckily it was simple. I remembered the basics of ohms law from circuits class and i still had my box of resistors from it as well and i could use that to plan my simple circuits of 4 LEDs to two 9 Volts.
When i was planning i wanted to use a simple switch i pulled from an old power strip but is i put things together i found is was going to be far more bulky and difficult than i wanted. This problem lead to one of my favorite parts of the piece. Because the housing was previously a bottle the bottom part separates from the top part, and because of this i was able to integrate a twist switch, on the outside of the top part and inside of the bottom part i wired the power to a copper plate, when those plates are twisted to align the lights turn on
This is the thing that inspired the whole lamp. I picked it up and Boulder Eco-Cycle and the cashier told be that they were perfume bottles but even he thought they were lightbulbs at first, they are perfect for lighting. My biggest regret is not grabbing more when there was like 30.
