The brainstorming process was an important part of this project, thinking about what ways light exists in nature and how it affects us.
Because a large part of the project was working with bristol paper, I first experimented with different ways the material could be manipulated. This helped inform my design decisions.
I decided on lightning as my light form. However, I didn't really want to focus on the "electric" side of things. As I explored the concept, I became drawn to the idea of the balance of the beauty and destruction of lightning. I drew from my experiences in nature, and times lightning had affected me. I had a strong memory of lightning hitting a tree near me while I was camping as a kid, and I let this memory influence the way I represented lightning in my piece. I worked mainly through prototyping, allowing the material to guide my designs.
After getting a general idea of what I wanted, I then solidified my idea, thinking about how to build a final product. I mainly used nails to hold it together, which pushed through the paper into a strip of foamcore. I used a laser cutter to etch in a hand-drawn woodgrain pattern, allowing the light to bleed through in a controlled way. I used a blowtorch to brown, and even burn parts of the paper away.
To me, this design represents the duality of lightning; both a beautiful spectacle and utterly destructive force of nature.
