Lotus Lantern

My process of physical modeling began with 2 sets of 6 “petals,” laser cut out of heavyweight paper (1). I first constructed the lantern held together crudely with masking tape to be sure that the tabs and form worked properly (2). Which they did to an extent (though some “bandages” were necessary to heal tears in the paper.) I then reassembled the inner shell and curled down the triangular cuts (3) to the desired shape. I repeated this process with the second layer, after having first adhering the metallic silver mylar to the backs of the petals.

Getting to this point was quite arduous, as I had to fight the paper to create the “bowl” form of the lotus. The paper did not want to curl properly, so I resorted to taping and gluing it into submission, with binder clips as clamps to help hold everything in place.

To attach the second layer, I used nearly invisible fishing line to tie together opposite petals. The strategy worked quite well, as it allowed the second layer of petals to curl down quite far while still reading as a whole form surrounding the inner shell.

I am quite proud of my final design. The push in the last week to get it to this point was most definitely challenging. However, my inspiration to create a lotus flower served as an excellent vehicle to apply my previous triangular cut-and-curl method of modeling in a voluminous form.