For bridge 4, I made my own motif design, inspired by previous traditional batik motifs. My motif is modern and simple, which is how I wanted it to be because I want it to suit contemporary culture. I made my motif on illustrator, then I bought Luan wood from the Laser Lab as the material because I wanted it to be made out of wood to give it a traditional feeling. I laser cut the wood, however, it ended up being burnt and I did not like how the motif turned out on wood because the edges of the cut seem burnt. Wood also does not have smooth edges, in this case, the wood I worked with had spikes.
I bought a new material and used acrylic instead, the final outcome of the laser cut was great, it did not get burnt and the edges were smooth and neat. However, I picked the color white and looking at how it turned out, I would want the final lamp to be black acrylic.
The lamp I purchased worked really well. I like the yellow bulb and It really lights the room and showcases the pattern well, which is why for bridge 5, I will not change my lightbulb. After looking at the outcome, I think the shapes are too close together, making the light that projects not too bright. I will modify the pattern and make the shapes smaller and further away from each other. Also, the last thing is that I will make a small square shape to hold the cable and prevent it from moving for Bridge 5.
Bridge 4 really helped me learn about laser cutting before moving on to the final project. I was really satisfied with the outcome of the laser cut and glad that I only had to retry once for the laser cut. I would definitely develop my lamp more for the final project, but this project really challenges me to think outside the box and to try new media and materials. The challenging part for me is to connect the acrylics together since I could not clamp it and I had to hold it with my hands, also initially I had a hard time figuring out the pattern for the puzzle edge, because I had to find out how the pieces are going to connect together perfectly, I also had to test out materials in order to reach my final decision on using acrylic.
Pattern I developed
Pattern on Illustrator
Laser Cut on Luan Wood
Laser Cut on Acrylic (2nd Attempt)
With Light
