These tubes, as shown here above, measure 30" high and approximately 2" in diameter, have a clean appearance and the color of the unbleached brown paper provides a soft and organic look. I decided it would be possible to make a room divider or screen out of stacking several of these and attaching them together, as seen on the right. In order to make this a lighting project, I thought it could be interesting to illuminate the screen by cutting holes within the tubes and running string lights through each of the tubes.Here are my initial sketches and notes for the project.
Some experimenting of course had to be done, and I was initially confused as to how I would connect all the tubes, allowing for the tubes to still be flexible and be attached well enough to stack upon each other. I found that after some review, the above connection method listed in my notes would be too bulky and cumbersome. I did a practice run on arranging the tubes using a flexible and partially-elastic synthetic leather rope and tied the tubes together. These are photos of the result.
That connection method proved effective. The partial screen had flexibility and rigidity. I shortened the middle section by cutting one tube in half. The total height of the screen now felt more applicable at 75". The next step was to illuminate the members. This step proved to be a little trickier than expected.My initial design intent were to create random holes throughout the tube that would let out light when the string lights were passed through each tube. After some thought, I decided it would be interesting to have the holes only run along the edges of the tubes where the tubes met one another. This would create an interesting play with the light on either end of the tube.
However, the material made it difficult to create this aesthetic. When using a drill or various tools, the paper would shred, causing a rough edge around the holes that wasn't very pleasing. These rough edges around the holes also caused an interference with the light, producing an ill-wanted effect onto the other tubes. I had hoped for a clean line of light as interplay onto the other tubes. As seen below, it was hardly the case.
As can be seen from above, the light pattern onto the other tube appears erratic and not uniformly distributed. This is due to the shredding of the paper at the ends of the holes. I decided to go back to the drawing board before continuing the project in order to fix that problem. The intent would be to ensure uniformly distributed bands of light onto the other pole by cutting a clean edge into the soft paper tube.Here are some new notes on the project, shedding new light into the concept.
