Update 3
Update 2
Here’s where I’m at right now — I’m about to sand the clay, attach the leaves, and paint it! I probably won’t have time to do it for this class, but in the future I’d like to get some fake moss or stuff from Michael’s to make a little garden at the base of the lamp. I’ve covered the base of the lamp in clay and smoothed out the transition between petals and clay, but these photos don’t show it because they’re a bit old.
Update
About to cut the petals! Had to adjust their shape to be more flush with one another along the base, otherwise there would be a large gap in between each petal.
Original
First off, I was able to test out heating up and bending some acrylic (thanks Kat for letting me use your scrap pieces to test with!) and it worked really well! The only thing is that when the acrylic isn’t in front of something light (like the white background), it looks orange rather than pink. I’m going to see if I can find lighter pink acrylic that isn’t as fluorescent to see if that would help.
I was also able to procure a cheap, bendy, desk lamp from Savers — I removed the plastic shade from it and used a saw to cut the excess part of the shade off so I’m just left with the attachment piece. Now I’m designing the flower petals and getting ready to purchase acrylic. These are the initial rough sketches of petals — once i decide on one, I’ll cut out the number that I want and test it out before cutting any acrylic. I also have a little piece (which will be clay and resemble a leaf) to put on top of the base of each petal, to hide the connection between lamp and petal.
And finally, here are some leaf options and base stem leaves! I’m going to cover the whole thing in clay and paint it — the leaves will likely be made out of clay too. I’m going to get some epoxy sculpt, since I won’t be able to bake the lamp (was going to use air dry clay, but a friend recommended this instead — she reminded me that air dry clay cracks).
Question: What should I do with the base? It’s just a metal ring right now… I’m going to cover it in epoxy sculpt and paint it green as well, but I’d like to make it blend in more.
I noticed the natural shape of your petals.
What made you chose a flower for your design?
In my opinion, you could fill in the base with a brown material and make it look like a patch of dirt. You could make a little fake or real garden.
It’s very interesting how that acrylic reacts to different light and backgrounds, and it seems like you are setting yourself up to do a really great job of accounting for that. I’m very curious to see how the final bent acrylic pieces look, I love your ambition with this project. It could be cool to consider finding a plant pot about the same diameter as the base of this lamp and securing it there.
I am impressed by how well the acrylic seemed to bend. This might be a lot of work, but it might be cute to like add a little pot inside the circular base to make it kind of look like a flower coming out of the pot. How do you plan on attaching everything? In my opinion, I love this idea and can’t wait to see how it comes out!
I am stuck by how pretty the petals look even as just a test. I am very interested in seeing the final design! One idea for the ring could be to put blue acrylic in there and make it seem like a small body of water below the flower lamp.
I am struck by the creativity in your design! As for the base of the light you could make a base of fake plants, as real plants may not be a big fan of the light depending on the light source you are using.
I love the design with the bend acrylic, it’s super creative. I agree with what other people have said about adding either a fake garden/pot at the bottom.
I appreciate the multiple petal design you are looking at. If you do happen to want a real plant in the bottom, I work in a lab here that gives me access to a spectrometer and an intensity measurement device. I am currently making a growth chamber for moss so if you want LED/bulb recommendations, I could suggest some. Some plants that I keep also are under white light 24/7 of wavelengths ~640 nm and they do fine.
I appreciate the organic shapes of your petals and the resemblance your petals and leaves have to real flowers. Are you planning on using different shapes ore the petals throughout the process or are your going to stick to just one of the options with different sizes? For the base I think it might be fun to either sculpt or purchase a cheap terracotta or ceramic pot to make it look like a potted plant or make it look like it is growing from an old log or rock or something.