MODEL TESTINGS

Model testings show the different materiality and trials used in order to create the effects needed for this model

For these testing I wanted to check how reflective different materials are in order for the light to be reflected.

I CNCed two pieces of my site and also lasercut the same piece so I would test three different materials.

For the first Testing I tested lasercutting different layers of this blue shade acrylic.

I started by laser cutting this 3mm piece of blue acrylic.

I cut different layers in order to create a sense of depth.

After the acrylic I had to cut the surrounding boxes, leaving different levels steps for every layer of acrylic.

This was the final testing model for the blue acrylic layered lasercut model.

For this one I wanted to try Resin. So for starters I cnced that piece of the site and after priming it i spray painted it. That was not a good spray paint attempt as the layer came out too thick which means i sprayed too close and too much and it would be difficult drying.

After mixing the resin I double sided taped that box that it would be later removed, so that it would hold the resin.

That was the final resin testing model. Some things went wrong, like the spray paint as well as the resin shrinking in some part. That was because I tested a thick layer of resin and this resin was only suitable for thinner layers.

The third testing was to cnc a thick block of acrylic that we would later on laserut to go into the shape we tested with the previous models.

After cncing the piece of clear acrylic we spray painted it over with some gloss water based lacquer that would make the effect more glossy and reflective which was the effect I was going for.

Although the piece of acrylic was 15mm so it was quite thick to cut it managed to get lasercut.

After sticking the cnced pieces together I know had all the pieces need for the testing model

That was the final thick clear acrylic piece testing model.

ACRYLIC LAYERS SAMPLE

RESIN SAMPLE

ACRYLIC SAMPLE

Although the blue acrylic testing piece looked the best for me, I chose to go with the resin one. More things were likely to go wrong but it gave a more realistic effect of water. So given the testing, I decided to try a different type of resin that the technicians at the workshop suggested, not to spray paint the base, but instead mix some blue shade into the resin to have a slightly blue effect.

For the frame the options were

either to 3d print or to lasercut. I wanted to test lasercut first since 3d print would take many hours and it would be hard as the model frame was quite big.

So I started off by lasercutting a few panels from the frame on 2mm mdf wood to test how the different layers would look put together.

This was the final testing model from top view.

On the side view we can also see the movement effect of the panels.

The frame lasercut looks very good but it was very fragile so I would not be able to spray paint over it and make it white which was the effect I was going for. Also since the frame was so big so many layers should be cut it could get very messy and confusing and if i missed one piece or misplaced a piece then the whole effect of movement would not look symmetrical. Taking this into consideration I decided to go with 3d printing the frame.

For the lighting I used LED strip lights. I initially tested if the light would give the right effect by placing it on a frame I lasercut however the reflection light was a bit bolt and strong so I had to find a way to make it smoother.

This is how the light initially looked. So the reflection was also reflecting strongly the parts where the light was which did not look great or realistic.

The idea was to create a frame box in which the light strip would be stuck on the bottom and I would place tracing paper around it. I started off by lasercutting the frame box.

After the box was ready i cut the layers of tracing paper that would go around the box

BEFORE

LIGHTING WITHOUT TRACING PAPER

AFTER

LIGHTING WITH TRACING PAPER

The reflection with the tracing paper box looked much smoother and gave the effect I wanted to the model, rather a more bolt light that the one without the tracing paper looked like.