String Ball (Final)

These are the final string ball's that I'll be using for the table set-up; I really like how they've come out, and thanks to me not being too harsh when letting down the balloons, none of the string has been pulled and they're all still in shape.

I found that the balloons when they deflated had these crystallised sort of look with the dried glue; it's really interesting but it's nothing that I could use for this project, maybe for something different.

Ink Experimenting

I wanted to make sure that the inks I was going to use for the tissue were the right colours I wanted; I took 5 pieces of tissue for each colours and dyed them the different colours. I then stuck these, after scrunching them, onto the bamboo experiment to make sure that they'll be colours that don't quite blend together, and are noticeable from a distance. I do like these colours and the inks are what the audience wanted as they were brighter than the watercolours.

Receipt Experiment

I had these leftover from an experiment a while ago so I tried using them, the bamboo frame, and some tissue paper for this. I find the receipts very bland and boring compared to the tissue that I can dye. I did like the idea of the receipts, but it's not what I'm looking for as I can't really do much with them in the terms of opening out the sides like with the tissue.

String Ball Creation (Final)

These are the final string ball's that will be used for the table set-up; I made sure that I had various sizes, and that I didn't water down the glue too much that it doesn't work.
I need these to be fully dry before I take the balloons out from the string so I'll be leaving them for over 24 hours to fully ensure they're dry.

50's/60's Swim Caps

I can see how people saw that my tissue looks a little like the swim caps, though I feel that my tissue is a little more open than these. I do like them, I just don't think the look is something that I want.

Lighting Regulations

Some websites I found that are about the lighting regulations for household lighting and lamps.

http://www.lamp-regulations.org/en/faq - Outdoor, but still important.

http://www.lightingassociation.com/files/downloads/776/LA_How-Lighting.pdf - General information.

http://energy.gov/public-services/homes/saving-electricity/lighting - Video.

http://www.darksky.org/outdoorlighting/guidance - Guidelines for outdoor, but still might be useful.

Bamboo/Ink Tissue Experiments

The bamboo sort of works, but some of the pieces were slightly bent with how they'd grown and made the whole thing look a little lent to one side. I don't think I'd use bamboo as it's tricky and takes a while to do, whereas the string balls take 24 hours to dry and they're completely stable.

The ink I like the brightness of, but it runs too much into the tissue; some of the ink also bleed a different colour to the actual colour that I used, which I really don't like and makes the tissue look unprofessional. I do like the crumpling technique that I do with the tissue, to make it fan out leaving tiny gaps for light to escape through naturally.

Watercolour Tissue/String Ball Experiment

Some experimenting with watercolours and the tissue; it works a lot better than what the inks do as they run too much compared to the watercolour. I can control the watercolours thickness easier than inks and this has steered me more towards using these.

The string ball experiment went well, though not letting the balloon down slowly as I had intended made some of the string pull and come off from the other wrapped string; trying this with wool or yarn might be an idea for the future. I had some problems with the larger gaps of the shade, but I can easily wrap the string so there isn't as many large gaps in the future.

The inside & the string that came away from the other string after rapidly deflating the balloon. ^

Watercolour Experiments

A few watercolour experiments I did with leftover experiments from with the wax.

Ink & Toilet Paper Experiments

I started off by experimenting with how I was going to construct the crumpled tissue and get it to stick to the half sphere I had made; I soon figured out that the wax would just melt with the glue gun and was taking much longer to stick. I then tried to find a way of dripping the hot glue into the toilet paper piece and then crumpling it. This lead to the creation of the normal toilet paper, which has no gaps and I can mould to how I like it.

Normal toilet paper ^

The coloured toilet paper I did to see whether or not it would work with the ink, as well as an option for the future; it would show the clients/audience that other colours are available and could be tailored to the room in thought.

String Pendant Shades

A few how-to's on how to create the string pendant shades as the research showed that people prefered that shape to the others.

http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/know/our-favourite-diy-string-ball-chandeliers/

http://www.prakticideas.com/learn-string-ball-chandelier/

http://www.pickles.no/whirl-it-lampshade/

http://10rooms.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/lighting-diy-new-chandelier.html

http://www.craftynest.com/2009/03/hemp-pendant-lamps/

http://www.tiffanyruda.com/diy-how-to-make-a-string-pendant-light/ - This one has some information about the lighting fixtures too

Bamboo Experiments

I found some bamboo skewers which seemed to work for what I wanted with the structures of the shades; the first experiment didn't go so well as the structure was very weak and couldn't hold up it's own weight. The second experiment was of a stronger structure that held it's own weight, but the way I had constructed it made it slightly lean to one side as they weren't all the same length.

I did try an extra shape of hexagonal, which worked, but isn't really what I want.

Various How-to's on making Paper Lanterns

Some of these might come in handy with creating the structures for the shades.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Star-Lantern/#intro

http://missielizzie-meandmyshadow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/year-of-rabbit-make-chinese-lantern.html

http://snapguide.com/guides/make-a-cute-lantern/

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Sky-Lanterns

Experiments with Ring Binders

Experimenting with ring binders to create a lampshade structure.

^ Large Circle Experiment

^ Two smaller circles

^ The two medium circles used for the full experiment

^ The structure experiment that didn't really work as it isn't strong enough.

^ The ring binders unstretched

^ a wire experiment that also isn't quite strong enough, maybe look back into the lanterns and where the strength is gained from.

Ikea Lighting

I do like the lighting that was around Ikea, though I was looking more at the structures of how they were created. I think the most interesting is the plastic wavy one which just slits together on the sides; I found this interesting, as I couldn't do it with my own lampshades, it could be an option for something in the future.

I do like how some of them are lighted, especially the chandelier types as they have their own individual light bulbs; if I had the time and knowledge of electricity, I would use light bulbs but for this I would prefer to use electric tea lights as I have thought about the health and safety surrounding the electricity problems.