College – Term 5 – Final Major Project – Paper crafted light shades

It’s already March, and only two weeks before we finish Term 5. One more term to go, and that’s my college course done and dusted. If it weren’t for my new studio to look forward to working in, and the list of jobs to do in the house, I know I would be dreading the end of college. Though I was unwell last week, I did carry on with my final major project. It’s grown out of looking at Islamic geometric patterns – I’ve learnt to construct geometric shapes with a compass and ruler, transferring them into Illustrator, and then finally applying them to 3D polyhedra. I settled on a truncated cuboctohedron as my main construction, and played about with various construction techniques.

Here are just four of the anticipated dozen final pieces. Some are uninspiring in daylight, but come alive when internally lit. Others inspire in both lights. I can tell you that I got a blood blister in my finger tip from all the scoring of folds. I can reveal that the shadowfold light required 360 separate knots. And that I stuck down each of the 400 petals on the frilly one! All are handcrafted (though I did use the Cricut machine to cut out the shapes to my design!) and nothing more than fabric or paper and glue. They are roughly 6-7 inches in diameter and designed to sit over an inexpensive battery powered LED light (£1 for two in Poundland!).

10 thoughts on “College – Term 5 – Final Major Project – Paper crafted light shades

    • Thanks 🙂

      The petals and shadowfold ones each took around 10-12 hours to make. The other two took around 3-4 hours. I had to do them over several days, and really must keep better time sheets!

  1. The word stunning is just not enough to sum these little beauties up. You have worked really hard to achieve your dreams Neil and I wish you so much luck with the final term and the Studio and finall what the future brings for you.

  2. These truly showcase your artistic flare and gift! I believe these designs would sell on Amazon so easily… Thank you for sharing.

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