Framing Narrative with Practical Light Sources

Designing a set recently, I aimed to use only practical light sources within the frame to tell the story of a character’s isolation. What surprisingly worked well was integrating older, incandescent desktop lamps and strategically placed battery-operated LED strip lights behind visible objects, like a bookshelf or a bedside table, to bounce soft ambient light back into the scene. This avoided the harshness of direct practicals. What didn't quite land was relying solely on the practicals for exposure; it often left faces underexposed and required me to subtly augment with small, very soft bounces from outside the frame, think a 1x1 Astera Panel dimmed way down and diffused. The challenge was maintaining the illusion of 'only practicals.' I'm curious how others manage to achieve a pure practical-only lighting look while still getting decent key light on talent.