The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Metallic Layered Paper

With various iterations of the Letter sheet fixture in place, I made some layered paper “art” using metallic paper:

Metallic layered paper - Pyrotechnics block
Metallic layered paper – Pyrotechnics block

That’s the Pyrotechnics quilt block pattern.

This is the RGBY Subpixel pattern:

Metallic layered paper - RGBY subpixels
Metallic layered paper – RGBY subpixels

The dotted rectangle in the lower left corner is the (turned off) front light in my low-budget light box and the glare in the upper left comes from the overhead basement LED strip lights.

AFAICT, “metallic paper” consists of shiny aluminum film bonded to heavy paper / cardstock, with transparent colored film bonded atop the aluminum. The sheet is, of course, highly reflective, which looks dark unless it’s reflecting a bright surface, like the well-lit Sewing Room ceiling:

Metallic layered paper - vs art paper
Metallic layered paper – vs art paper

I made the bright Pyrotechnics block in the upper left with art paper that looks bright & cheerful in any lighting:

Metallic layered paper - art paper Pyrotechnics block
Metallic layered paper – art paper Pyrotechnics block

That’s the difference between specular reflectors and Lambertian reflectors.

I cut the metallic paper face-down in the fixture:

Pyrotechnics - metallized paper fixture
Pyrotechnics – metallized paper fixture

Although I’m underwhelmed by the metallic-layered-paper results, the stuff does make spectacular chaff:

Letter paper fixture - on knife bars
Letter paper fixture – on knife bars

I should give our neighbor’s two-year-old lad a gift box …