This project studies how strips of plaster of paris could be applied to create simple industrial objects. Strips of wet plaster were molded around mundane objects: a balloon, an exercise ball affixed with styrofoam cups and an old Gateway CRT computer monitor. Once hardened, the casts were removed and lights were installed to exploit these casts’ material properties, transparency and texture.

The investigation resulted in striking lampshades that reflected both the form of their molds and abstracted qualities—an elongated teardrop, a cratered moonscape, a draped cloth. When the grids underlying the plaster strips are illuminated, the lampshades project an intricate and delicate lighting condition that take the form of whatever object to which it is applied.