Bounced Color

I have been enjoying seeing my students experiment with light, color and shadows.  After looking at their trials by Claire and David, I wanted to see how a simple motif could be translated into a 3D color bouncing structure.  For the upper and lower row, I cut crosses and experimented with color either on adjacent corners or diagonal corners.  The diagonal one would provide more variety as the sun moved in different orientations.  In the center, colored convex v-scoops reflect light onto white convex scoops.  I learned that the value and shininess of the paper will strongly affect the results.   I could only get an effective photo when the sun was very bright but the background of the slits was dark.  If the slits were aimed towards a bright surface, the colored planes were masked by glare.

A better solution may be to have the color as a stripe bending in front (see left).

How to apply this idea?  I am envisioning a suspending an orb in front of a window : it would have crystalline facets painted with shiny enamels and sprinkled with sequins.  Hmm sounds like a disco ball!  Maybe I should look at Lois Swirnoff’s Dimensional Color book again…