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[3D] Gaia’s Ikebana II: The Making

The theme I got was… spring! (o˘◡˘o)

I was super happy when I found out I was getting this season because I love spring and all that it symbolizes. I made a mindmap to work out the nuances in the season, and to set a direction for my final models.

 

 

 

 

The scene I was particularly inspired by for my color palette were these scenes from Bambi, like I have mentioned in my mindmap.

 

 

In my mindmap, I thought about what spring meant to me – renewal and rebirth. But in order to make the sculptures personal to me, I thought about when I feel renewed when I eat food: in the morning, when I start my day with Indian food, and desserts at night when I’m rushing assignments. I further broke desserts down into 3 main categories: cake, ice cream and chocolate. This was the point in time when I decided to make two sculptures to represent both of these ideas.

Next, I had to decide on which Indian foods and desserts to use, and how to make some of them.

Some preliminary research on Indian food:

(From left to right)

Photo 1: Dosai (Cone) – Pan fried pancake made from rice and black gram

Photo 2: Idly (Cylinder) – Steamed cake made from black lentils and rice

Photo 3: Vadai (Cylinder) – Deep fried doughnuts made from lentils, curry leaves, onions, chillis

Photo 4 & 5: Kozhukattai (Sphere) – Steamed dumpling made from rice flour, with a filling of grated coconut and jaggery

Choice between Idly and Vadai: as I had already decided firmly on the Kozhukattai SO being white in color to reflect the purity and rebirth of spring, I felt that Vadai would be a better choice in terms of the color scheme, so that both the SD and SO would not be the same color.

Furthermore, I’d like the three items to reflect the three ways Indian food is cooked: 1) steamed (SO; kozhukattai), 2) pan-fried (D; dosai) 3) deep fried (SD; vadai).

Here are some process shots of me making the food; photos 1 shows me making the dosai cone, photos 2 to 6 show the process of me making the kozhukattai sphere (required the most steps and work) and photo 7 shows me frying the vadai cylinder. It was challenging making three different Indian dishes, but I’m super happy I managed to do it and make them really look like those shapes too.


For my second sculpture, I wanted to incorporate all three of my favorite types of desserts – namely, cake, chocolate and ice cream, as written in my mindmap. They truly make me feel anew at 3 am in the morning when I’m finishing an assignment. I picked an ice cream cone to represent ice cream – actual ice cream wouldn’t have been a very viable material to use – a matcha ring cake from Chateraise to represent cake, and a Hershey’s chocolate ball to represent chocolate. Since we had to have 2 SOs and 2 SDs, I added an extra SO in form of a wafer.

 

In order for my dominant branch to be able to stand, it needed a solid base to be stuck into. Hence, I got the foam used for flower arranging and pressed it into my base container. Then, I covered  the edges with double sided tape and stuck cling wrap over so that the foam bits would not fly around and get messy, and interfere with the food.

I had some problems initially with poking a neat hole through the wafer cone so that the dominant branch could be inserted, but I managed to figure it out by using a very sturdy piece of wire to pierce through. I also had some problems with the positioning of the holes so that the cone would balance at the 30 degree angle, so I tried piercing holes in different areas in order to find the right one, pictured in the second photo.

 

I had two types of wafers I could have used: the cappuccino one or the strawberry one. Even though the cappuccino wafer color’s were more harmonious with the color scheme of the sculpture, I felt that the pink of the strawberry was very in tune with the happy, light nature of spring. Furthermore, the color made it stand out as an SO.

[3D] Gaia’s Ikebana I: Research and Sketch Models

When we first got this brief, I had no idea what an ikebana was. I’m happy to say that is no longer the case – in fact, I’d say I’ve gotten a pretty good idea what an ikebana is, because of the research I’ve done on three main types – summarized below for your reading pleasure ٩(◕‿◕。)۶

Types of Ikebana

1) Moribana

Characteristics of vase

  • Shallow
  • Wide mouthed

Features

  • Broad expanse of natural-looking shapes
  • Exudes a feeling of stability and gravity

Specifics

  • Three Yakueda (stems), called Shin (primary stem), Soe (secondary stem) and Tai (ornamental stem)
  • Shin is about as long as the diameter and depth of the container combined
  • Soe is around two-thirds of the Shin
  • Tai about half the length of the Shin

There are three sub-styles of Moribana, determined by the angle of the Shin:

Chokutai (upright) Shatai (slanting) Suitai (cascading)
                        

2) Rikka

Characteristics of vase

  • Cylindrical
  • Often tall
  • Has a narrow mouth

Specifics

  • Also composed of three main branches, Shin, Soe and Tai
  • Shin’s height is usually one and a half of the height of the vase plus the width of the vase
  • Soe’s height is about two-thirds to three-quarters of the Shin
  • Tai’s height is about one-third to half of the height of the Shin

 

3) Shoka

Characteristics of vase

  • More than just a container – it represents the source of life
  • Vase will generally be symmetrical and open at the top

Specifics

  • Expresses the feeling of life, growing energy and the natural beauty of the materials
  • Distinguishing characteristics are brightness and sharpness
  • Shin is two to three times the height of the vase
  • Soe is about two-thirds the height of the Shin
  • Tai is about one-third the height of Shin

 

 

2D Sketch Models and Analysis

Initial Sketches

I sketched out some ideas where the cylindrical form, spherical form and conical form were the dominants, and how they changed the feel of the sculpture. I decided to focus more on the conical and cylindrical forms as dominants as I felt they added a strong axis to the composition, compared to a sphere which is pretty static to me, and also for which the principal axis could be unclear.

 

 

 

Sketch Model 1 – First version

I immediately realized the problem with this model – the subdominant cone’s axis was perpendicular to the horizontal ground. I hence revised this model to the actual first sketch model I will be analyzing below.

Sketch Model 1 – Revised version

I had to use a masking tape roll solely so that the subdominant cone could lift off the ground – it will hence not be drawn in the 2D sketch analysis as I will find a way to get the cone to lift off the ground in the actual final model.

Sketch model 2

 

I really liked the idea of having a hollow cylindrical form as I like the “double void” it creates at the bottom of the composition. I thought of some ways to improve this, such as wedging the SO into the D so as to incorporate what we had learned in our first lesson.

Specifics of Moribana and Rikka Ikebana that were used in making sketch models respectively:

Link to 2D Sketch Analysis: Gaia 2D Sketch Analysis