The First Wallship Is (Re)Born

Dave gets physical in the Lumieria shop.

Hey y'all!

I'm a big fan of light. In fact I'm building a series of electronic light sculptures to hang on the wall, just so I can ooooh and ahhh at all the pretty lights as they blink, move and glow. So far most of the design work has been on the computer -- modeling, rendering, developing software for virtual lighting animation, etc. This is all fine and good, but so far there's been nothing to touch, to hold and to point at yet.

Well today, all of that changed! I busted out my tools and got physical in the workshop -- cutting my first wall-hanging, multi-layer light scupture into being. How refreshingly real-world.  Ahhhhhhhhh....

Its perfect timing too -- I'm moving later this month. Let me tell you from experience, There is nothing, but nothing, like getting into a last minute project instead of packing! :) Truth be told, I want to take advantage of the awesome workshop I have here, before I move on, so it was building day.

For your enjoyment, I've posted pictures of today's build below.

By the by, if you've been following my work either here and/or on Facebook, you've seen this particular shape before. Entitled "Three Knows," it is the reference sculpture design which I am using to test out various concepts and production processes for the Wallships line. The original Three Knows was first built as proof-of-concept, lighting test in 2006. You can check it out on the Three Knows Project page.



"Whoops!" I burned it.


Where is the original Three Knows? "Whoops!" I burned it. Don't worry, its ok. It was only a test. With its jazzy sequined fabric covering, and purple accents, it was never intended to hang on a wall. It was a free spirit -- and it wanted to be free -- so I set it on fire. Now it is free. That said, it's legacy lives on...

The original Three Knows test was a success. By showing some cool light/shadow patterns across its multiple layers, it was the original inspiration for a whole series of similar multi-planar work -- next time with animated lighting (unlike the original test). I am calling the series "Wallships," since they'll live on your WALL, and are, well, spaceSHIP-looking things, at least so far. I'm aiming to create a set of quite different pieces, that are nonetheless constructed using a similar process. Lately I've been building out, and perfecting parts of that process, as described on the Wallships Project page.

Enjoy!
   Dave



First, print the stencils...


Next, tape 'em together.


Then, cut 'em apart.


Marking and cutting the shapes.


After a storm of sawdust, the cutting is done!


Then I fine-tune the shapes, and clean them up on my "Table Sander." Ha ha.


And finally, the sculpture's pieces, stacked in formation.

Next up: A coat of paint, and some electronics... coming soon!