The Butterfly Effect
Paper Sculpture Diptych | Laser Cutting & Mixed Media Craftsmanship | 2022
About the Project
"The Butterfly Effect" is a 3D paper sculpture project inspired by the butterfly effect from chaos theory. In the final semester of my college career, I became very interested in this theory and its applications as a mindset to live within. The concept really resonated with me as I reflected back upon my life thus far and considered what was next after my graduation. The dimensionality and design of my sculpture piece strive to communicate the idea that the slightest shift in starting position can cause significantly differing end results. More personally, it represents the fact that every step I have taken thus far in my life has lead me to the exact place that I am at today - physically, mentally and spiritually.
These paper sculptures were the finished product of a semester-long independent study. I started the process with research on the butterfly effect theory, and then many weeks of brainstorming & sketching to determine how to visually convey my message in the final piece. After selecting paper sculpture as my medium, I performed a material study to ensure the medium & techniques would be feasible when scaled up in the final iteration of the sculptures. Once I deemed the study successful, I finalized my designs & prepared them for laser cutting. I laser cut all 18 layers of the sculptures from 18”x24” paper, and then finished all the cut outs by spray painting the front and back of each layer. I then assembled the two sculptures separately. For the negative forms, I layered the sheets of paper in order, adhering them together with many squares of foam tape to provide some dimensionality to the piece and to slightly annunciate the gaps between each layer. For the positive forms, I utilized arched copper wire throughout the piece to create the half-moon, 3D impact I was going for.
“The Butterfly Effect” was accepted into the 2022 ATLAS Expo at CU Boulder, and was showcased at the event on April 29th, 2022.
Final Sculptures
Documentation of Project Flow
Sketches
Sketches from initial brainstorming phase - at this point of the process, I was still unsure of the medium I would use and what exactly I wanted the final piece to look like.
More initial brainstorming sketches. Here I began to consider using paper as a medium to create a 3D sculpture after gaining inspiration from a paper artist I saw on Pinterest.
After determining that paper was my medium of choice, my sketches got more specific and design oriented. Here is the first time I sketched something that resembles the final iteration of the sculpture.
After settling on an idea of a design & selecting paper as my medium, I sketched and created a material study to test if my techniques and design would be scalable to the size I intended to create the final piece at.
Here I continued to brainstorm ways to make the sculpture more three-dimensional. I ended up basing the positive form arched sculpture off of some of these ideas.
The sketch at the bottom of this page shows the final butterfly & 6-pointed star form I ended up running with for my final sculpture.
Material Studies
Material study of the negative form sculpture.
Material study of the positive form of the sculpture.
Side view of the negative form study, showing the intended depth between layers and overall dimension of the piece.
Final Design Mockups
Digital mockup of the negative form sculpture.
Digital mockup of the color scheme & layout of the positive form sculpture.
Fabrication Process
All layers of the positive form laid out together after the completion of laser cutting.
Negative form layers in the process of being spray painted.
As the layers dried, I started stacking them together in the intended order and got to see the piece start to take shape.
Before the final build of the project, I laid out all the positive and negative form pieces together so I could get an idea of what the final pieces would look like and make any final changes as needed.
Positive form pieces laid out in order & folded in preparation for the final build.
I built the positive form sculpture in three sections (only 2 pictured) and then connected these all together at the end.
Detailed view of the arched copper wire running through the layers of paper to create its shape.
Video of one layer of the sculptures in the process of being laser cut.
Timelapse of the beginning of the assembly of the negative form sculpture. I adhered each layer onto the last with many squares of foam tape in order to achieve the depth and dimension I intended.
Final Sculptures at the 2022 ATLAS Expo
