Semester Project – Ms Manners

For the semester project, I wanted to make use of what I have learnt in the previous remakes. And given that the time frame is not very long for the semester project, I also decided to keep things simple. Hence, I thought of this project which makes use of motion tracking translating into servo movements from Remake 4 and Wekinator from Remake 3.

Ms Manners is a project derived from the idea of reciprocating others when they are courteous and greet you, inspired from the courteous culture in Japan. In this project, a single servo with a doll attached to the needle will mirror a bow when the camera sense a bow from the person.

Code Flow

The project flow starts with the sensing side. I used MediaPipe Holistic to sense the whole body movement because I wanted to register a particular body position moving, not just a single point moving. Also if I used only a single point, it would be the same as Remake 4 and I wanted to try something different, hence I used MediaPipe Holistic. MediaPipe Holistic consist of 543 points which includes the general body position points, the detailed hand points and detailed facial points. For the purpose of this project, I only needed the body position points, so I only took into account the 33 body points.

The points are processed in Wekinator. I set the algorithm in Wekinator to register 1 output with 2 values, 1 and 0. When the body is upright, The value will be 0. When the body is in a bowing position, the value is 1. The script is programmed such that when 0 is received, a value of 70 degrees is sent to the raspberry pi to move the servo motor. When 1 is received, a value of 160 degrees is sent over. For some reason, when 170 degrees or 180 degrees was sent over, the servo motor would not respond and it did not move.

Problems Faced

The first problem faced was the impact of indentation. In the first image, the indentation for the message loop was not done properly. As a result, only 2 inputs were sent over to Wekinator when there was supposed to be 64 points sent to Wekinator. After doing the proper indention, the Wekinator was finally receiving the correct number of input from the sensing script and the algorithm was ready to run.

Another problem was the degrees of the servo motor as mentioned. I tried with 180 degrees at first but the servo motor does not seem to recognise this angle and it didn’t move. The same thing happened when I tried with 170 degrees. The motor only started moving when I tried with 160. Since the original value was 90 at upright and 180 when bowing, I changed the final values to 70 at upright and 160 when bowing to get the 90 degrees bow effect.

After solving that problem, the rest of the steps were not as difficult. Below is the final video for Ms Manners.

RM4 – Eyes Remake

This project was first of all the most challenging among the 4 remakes. Even with the help of the example codes, I still struggled a lot.

At first, I had trouble trying to understand the code provided, so I tried to use blob detection to detect the head as a whole with the blob coordinates as the values to be used to turn the servos. However, the blob detection did not work as it was difficult to filter one blob alone and it was unpredictable as to which part of the face the blob was detecting. Hence, this method is very unreliable and I decided to go back to the example code we were provided with.

Testing with ZigSim

I decided to work on the Pan only first for the remake because I was not confident of making 2 axis work. So first, I needed to test the servos with the ZigSim to make sure that the servos actually work and that the 2 scripts can communicate. From the example code of the “servos”, I changed the rpi.ip to the IP address of my raspberry pi as follows:

I also connected my wires in the form of red ( #4), yellow(#5) and black (#9). This is in terms of PIN number, not GPIO number. Hence, I also had to change the pinPan number to 3:

On the sensing side, there was not much to change except for the rpi.ip which is “172.20.10.12” and the IP address of my computer: “172.20.10.11” which was used to connect the ZigSim to my computer. One very important thing to note is to always enter “sudo pigpiod” in the terminal whenever the PyCharm is restarted. I kept forgetting about this part resulting in an AttributeError whenever I tried to communicate the motor and sensing code.

         

The next obstacle was the movement of the servos. I managed to get the communication between ZigSim and the servos going, but the rotation of the servos was unstable and laggy. I thought it was a problem with the code, but it turns out that the message rate that the ZigSim was sending to the code file was at 1 message per second, which resulted in a slow response on the servo side. I changed the message format to 60 per second and the movement became smooth. Hence, I could deduce that the code has no problem and I could move on to the facial recognition.

 

Testing with Facial Recognition

On the servo side, I did not have to change the code, so I focused on editing the sensing script. First, I had to remove all the lines relating to the ZigSim because I did not need them already. I then added the facial recognition script from RM3 to the sensing script as shown below. I edited the msg.add_arg(pAngle) from before to the line seen in the screenshot below. This instructs the script to use the coordinates of the facial recognition point as values to be sent to the servos script. 

I compared the facial recognition script from RM3 to the one I changed in RM4:

I deduced that the definition of normx = pAngle, so added this to the script too for pAngle:

I finally managed to get the facial recognition going. For the purpose of this remake, I only needed the coordinates of one point. Hence, I chose point #30 because it is located in the middle of the face.

Eventually, I managed to get the 2 scripts to communicate, but for some reason the servos were not moving. I compared the values communicated when the ZigSim was used and the ones being sent over by the facial recognition and found that while the angles sent by the ZigSim were between 0 – 180, the angles sent by the facial recognition was around 0.5. I guessed that maybe the problem was that the values sent by the facial recognition was in radians. I searched online and most of the information regarding the rotation of servos were in degrees. Hence, I decided to change the values sent over to degrees by multiplying the values and it worked.

Final Output

I thought that the rotation of the servo with respect to our head movements resembled a cctv camera, hence I made one and stuck it on the servo.

RM3 – Cheese Remake

For the first step, I had to make some minor changes to the example code indoor to get the face recognition to work. One of which included the resizing of the frame window in order to get the exact dimensions of the screen in proportion and to prevent the face from being squashed. I am not sure whether the output seen in the window will affect the facial recognition but I readjusted it just in case. The comparison can be seen below.

The next step was to combine the 2 sample scripts of the face detection and output together. I managed to check that it is working. But the face detection was not very stable. At times, the detection was very smooth but on other occasions, the facial markings had to be very precise to change the value.

Next up, I wanted to add sound, but for some reason I could not seem to install PyAudio. Hence I found another method which was to use Pygame to play the sound instead.

The following is the final video:

Art Science Museum Visit

Reflections:

Overall, the museum trip was quite fun and interactive. I feel that regardless of the age, one will definitely enjoy their time there. The exhibition comprises of different installations/exhibitions which are interactive in nature. The few mentioned below are some of my favourites because they are either aesthetic or playful in nature, bringing out the kid in everyone.

 

Flutter of Butterflies Beyond Borders, Ephemeral Life Born from People

This interactive digital installation feature a community of butterflies flying around people. What is cool is that as new butterflies are born from the people standing in the exhibition space, they also die when people touch them. This work is very aesthetic and beautifully illustrates the cycle of life and death. Another fun fact is that the butterflies all fly to the surrounding works, seemingly connecting the different works together. It was fun to interact with this work as the butterflies seemed so real.

Sliding through the Fruit Field

This interactive digital installations feature a slide where participants and slide down from and a tunnel to crawl through below it. This work creatively tells the story of a life cycle of a plant  in an engaging manner.  Various kinds of fruits and different coloured balls are being projected on the slope. Similar to the popular fruit ninja game, when visitors slide down the slope, the fruits are sliced up and explodes in a beautiful firework. The work is also very educational as it informs us of the different conditions needed for a plant to grow. For example, the blue ball represents water and the yellow ball represents a bee-pollination. This installation is not only educational but also fun at the same time, attracting many children and big children to this installation.

Sketch Aquarium

This is one of my favourite works as I was able to see my creation come to life. This work comprises of 2 parts, the drawing stage and the viewing stage. In the first stage, viewers are invited to sit at this area, set up specially for drawing. Viewers were given 4 different species to colour in – shark, jellyfish, fish and a mermaid. Using the crayons provided, visitors were able to let their imaginations run wild and think of a design for their sea creature. This is a very fun and simple activity suitable for young children and families. I had fun creating my customised jellyfish.

After creating my jellyfish, I scanned the image through a scanner which was connected to the big screen. From there, I saw how a still image became a moving jellyfish in a sea filled with other sea creatures. It was truly a very fun activity which highly engages the viewers.

Inverted Globe, Giant Connecting Block Town

This is also one of my favourite works. Personally, I am quite a big fan of miniatures, so when I saw a room of a mini city, I was really excited. This installation was very cool. Each block acted as an anchor point, when one block was moved, the projection mapping will sense the move and re-map the projected image. Each type of block corresponds to a certain type of architecture or natural element. For example, the block with the roof is a house, so when the house was moved, the projection mapping will re-map the pavements. The rectangular blocks are the train station, so when that type of block was moved, the projection mapping will re-map the railroad. This installation was super fun and engaging. It was very popular and appealed to young children as they are similar to the building blocks which children play with. Personally I really enjoyed this installation. It was exciting to see whenever a new road was mapped. The concept of building a city in a communal setting helps to bring people together and enjoy some good, wholesome communal fun. The fact that the blocks also extended to the side of the walls made it feel like the visitors were surrounded by the city and it created an immersive experience like non other.

INTER-MISSION , Disappearance, Bar in the Gallery

INTER-MISSION Disappearance, Bar in the Gallery is a performance of Life Circuit by Urich Lau and Teow Yue Han in a setting of seems like a Korean bar in 1943. Life Circuit is an ongoing performative project exploring how video art, music and performance and be weaved together. The overall bar setting is a recreation inspired by Lee Kang-so’s Disappearance, Bar in the Gallery in 1973.

The setting of a bar is one that is very communal and indirectly encourages interaction between the people sharing the same table. The fact that the distance between each tables is very small also helps to emphasise the idea of a shared space. I feel that this setting is supposed to provide a safe space where personal and perhaps private conversations can take place between people. However, while the setting is as such, the performance artist was walking around the area with a video camera attached to his body suit.

He was walking around expressionless and seems to be oblivious to the fact that there are other people in the area. Wherever he faces, there will be a projection of his face on the surface, even when he was facing people.

Soon after, there was another performer wearing a head gear and earphones walking around. The accessories he had one completely blocked out his essential senses like sight and hearing. He had to rely on touch to get a feel of his environment. Similarly, his actions were also very intrusive and maybe even more extreme. Given the fact that he cannot see where is is going, there were instances where he got really close to the viewers unknowingly.

I felt that the nature of the performative act by both Urich Lau and Teow Yue Han had a very jarring contrast to the warm and cosy feeling translated through the setting. It was almost as if they were blatantly intruding on the privacy of random strangers.

On the other hand, the equipments used during the performance was very high tech. I thought it reflected how technologically advanced we are today. Seeing as how Life Circuit explores how video music and performance can come together, I felt that the concepts translated really well in the performance. While they were walking around the space(performance), the artist with the head gear had his sights translated into sound. His head gear was actually a camera which captured his movements and in turn produces sound which sounded like static noises to me.

This then led me to think about how the present societal construct is where everything is so digitalised and advanced. The threat to privacy brought forth by the presence of technology is being highlighted. It is almost as if no matter where we go, we are being surveillance.

 

Inspirational Interactive Installation

This work titled ‘Put Your Head into Gallery’ was done by artist Tezi Gabunia as part of the Popiashvili Gvaberidze Window Project at viennacontemporary 2016. This artwork comprises of a series of a replication of miniature museums. There were mainly 4 museums and artists being featured: Tezi Gabunia in the Saatchi Gallery, Peter Paul Rubens in The Louvre , Damien Hirst in Tate Modern and Liechtenstein in Gagosian Gallery.

Viewers were invited to pop their head inside the miniature museum to view the work. At the same time, it almost looked like the viewer’s head was a sculpture in the museum. This work was featured on Art Insider, a YouTube channel which features inspiring art around the world.

The exhibition was very well received and there were audiences from different age groups.

As an artist, Tezi Gabunia has always been interested in the idea of “Falsification”. In his words, “falsification” means to capture, steal, modify and exhibit. Tezi is curious about the human fascination with copies and stresses the idea that everything is a copy of a copy. He claims that he is not an artist, rather, he is an architect because he is proficient in neither drawing nor painting. His main focus is centralised around the idea of “falsification”.

 

Reflections:

Overall I think that this is a very interesting work of art. Personally I really like miniatures and it was what attracted me to this artwork in the first place. By constructing the interior of 4 different museums, his work was successful in trying to convey the idea of bringing art to the people instead of people going to art. For years now, many museums and institutions have been trying to make art more accessible to the public. Such efforts include public art, art fairs and making museums free to enter. Even though it was a small scale exhibition literally, I feel that it conveyed the idea of making art more accessible really well. The different miniature museums were in close proximity and viewers can easily be transported from one museum to another.

The details in the the museum are intricately crafted which gives the work a hyper-realistic look. And when viewers look into the work, they become part of  the exhibition going on in the museum. It provides a very immersive experience. By presenting each museum in such  unique way, it helps to engage the viewers’ interests and make gallery viewing more interesting, especially for the younger ones.

“Put Your Head into Gallery” is a peculiar yet interesting installation. I am impressed with the craftsmanship of the work. However, my only regrets is that i didn’t manage to see it personally and I wished that the variety of museums and galleries presented was bigger.

 

 

Zine – Locale Part 2

Based on my research in Part 1, I decided to design my Zine as a guide to a one day trip around Kranji Farm Area. Seeing as how many visitors are families with young children, and also the fact that majority of the survey respondents said that they would bring their children to Kranji Farm if they were parents, I decided to make my Zine’s target audience to be families with young chilren. The content of the Zine would be a guide for families who wish to visit Kranji Farms. The Zine will include things like what to bring, what activities are there, what to eat etc, it will be a complete guide to Kanji Farm. As for the aesthetics, I wanted to make it appealing to young children, almost like a kiddy handbook.

For my zine, I wanted to design it in such a way that it starts with the preparation of going there, the activities while being there and it ends off with leaving the place.

Cover Page:

For my cover page, I decided to included things of what to bring there. The items I have included are insect repellent, an umbrella and a water bottle.

                                   

Of course, we will need a bag to put all of these items. I chose bright primary colours for the bag to make it more attractive to children.

I wanted to inform the readers why these times are chosen but I don’t want to do it too directly. Hence, I decided to do it in the form of danger signs, which also goes with the idea of a road trip/outing.

             

Going with the idea of a road trip, I designed the Kranji sign interns of a road sign hanging from the top. I chose the font that is more adventure like, almost like that of “Jumanji”.

 

Second Spread (Activities):

I chose 5 activities, one from each place/farm. These activities are chosen because they provide a variety of things to do and also they are activities I think which are more suited for children.

Goat Feeding at Hay Dairies

Frog Catching at Jurong Frog Farm

Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner at Poison Ivy Bistro in Bollywood Veggies

Prawning at Kranji Farm Resort

Nature Walks at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

 

Second Spread (Map):

My original thought was to create a map with the actual route lines as follows:

However, seeing as how this is a friendly guide for families with the aim of appealing to young children, I decided to keep the basic shape, but design the map like a treasure map for children. The lines are simplified and more kid-friendly, and relevant.

I wanted to mark each place with a simple landmark.

Initially, my drawings were drawn like the tree above. However, keeping to the kiddy style and to make sure that the aesthetic is consistent throughout, all my following designs have a black outline and as much as possible, filled with solid colours.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve – Marshes/Swamp

Hay Dairies – Farm Gate

Area Signs – Jurong Frog Farm

Kanji Farm Resort – Resort

Bollywood Veggies – Plantation

I put the landmarks together on the map with “x” on the place (going with the treasure map style). I also put alphabets for easy reference when introducing a place or item.

 

Third Spread (Animal):

I decided to dedicate a page to introducing the animals because I thought that animals will appeal to children. I split the animals into 2 groups, the featured animals of each place like the goats, and the animals that need to be looked for in Sungei Buloh.

Featured Animals: Goat, Frog, Koi

Shy Animals: Spider, Squirrel, Grasshopper, Mudskipper

I wanted to design a little activity where as the children walk through the Wetland Reserve, they can try to spot these animals around them. I think it will make a fun activity. Hence, the design of the animals in this part are made to look like they blend in with the surroundings.

 

End Page:

I wanted to end off with leaving Kranji Farm. Hence, for my last page, I decided to feature some of the products which can be brought back from the farms

Goat Milk

Tadpoles

Quail Eggs

 

For the overall style I decided to do it in the form of a kid journal. Instead of a solid background, I decided to go with a notebook background. I printed a grid paper and crumpled it to make it looked used and textured. I scanned it in as the background.

Overall Spreads:

I combined everything together and decided to hand write the words to make it more journal-like.

 

Zine – Locale Part 1

When choosing a location, I wanted to choose a place that interest me the most. I tried to steer away from places like neighbourhoods or the city area because personally, those places didn’t really speak to me as much. After considering other possible areas, I thought that it would be interesting to study about the Singapore Zoo. However, after consultation, it was decided that my chosen area of focus was too narrow and I would end up doing a brochue for Singapore Zoo. However, I still wanted to do a location on animals or something related. In the end, I decided on Kranji Farms. I felt Kranji Farms was a good fit because it had a mixture of Fauna and Fiona.

In total, I visited the place twice. On the first visit, I scouted the place to see which of the specific farms/areas I could potentially focus on.  After the first visit, I prepared some questions which I thought would be appropriate and applicable to my area based on my primary observations. I prepared a survey and 41 people responded.

The results are as follows.

As seen, most of the survey respondents are teenagers aged 19-24 and with slightly over a quarter: adults (probably parents) aged 31-60.

Most of the survey respondents said they do not Kranji Farm Area. It can be seen how little people actually go there and how little the place is being publicised. We can also infer that most teenagers do not go to Kranji Farm Area. This survey results tally with my observations that majority of the visitors are families with young children or the elderly.

From the above results, we can see that most people either has never been to Kranji Farm Area or went there when they were young children (Primary 6 and below).

Based on the survey, we can see that other than Max Koi Farm, the other 5 places are much more popular in terms of places people wish to visit.

90% of the respondents said that if they were parents, they will be willing to bring their children on a one day tour around Kranji Farm Area.

Contrary to popular belief, tourist actually visit the area quite often. During my initial visit there, there were two big China tour groups at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

Majority said that they think that the prices of food will be similar to that of regular coffee shops in the city area. However based on observations, the food that is actually pretty expensive. Due to the supply and demand of food, and the fact that many are home produced, the food there will be slightly more expensive.

 

Lastly, through this survey, the above word cloud consists of what the survey respondents feel about Kranji Farm Area. The bigger the word, the more common the word is. We can see that many people thin that the place is Ulu but is nice and relaxing because it is away from the urban city of Singapore.

After considering the results of the survey and my observations from the first visit,  I chose 5 areas to study on:

  1. Bollywood Veggies
  2. Hay Dairies
  3. Jurong Frog Farm
  4. Gallop Kranji Farm Resort
  5. Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

The chosen areas had a good variety of activities and points of interest. They are also some of the few more popular places in Kranji Farms area. The map above depicts where the places of interest are located at, each with a red location marker.

Based on these five locations, I have some observations:

  1. Most of the visitors there are families with young children, about 4,5,6,7,8 years old.
  2. The place is remote and rural, ulu even for those going there without a car. But fear not, there is a shuttle bus service.
  3. Eating there can be quite expensive exensive because the ingredients are home grown and there are only those few eateries out in the area. So demand and supply.
  4. Kranji Farm Area make quite an educational learning journey place because children can learn so much things outside of their text books. Like the process of raising and milking goats, the natural cycle of animal migration etc.
  5. The area is generally very hot and an umbrella and extra water are highly recommended must bring items.

The following are my in depth research into the areas chosen.

Majority of the people spotted are families with young children.

As seen, besides the vending machine, the food there is actually not cheap.

Being a farm area, there has to be farm produce of course. The above shows some of the products that they sell there.

The next few slides features each individual areas and the things or activities they have.

The information above are taken from their main website because I didn’t manage to see any during my visit. These activities are mainly conducted in groups.

In conclusion, despite the area being quite ulu to many people, this place has its own unique charms worth exploring. While the people I surveyed online say that this place is inaccessible, not publicised enough, and ulu, there are still some who think this place us educational and relaxing. The people I surveyed in Kranji Farm area said that this place helps them relax from their hectic lifestyle. It is also a good chance for the family to bond. That is way people still come here. Its a different side of the hectic Singapore City we all know and live in.

 

Image Making Through Type

The 4 jobs that I have chosen are all imaginary jobs. Due to the many shows I watch, I become interested in taking up different kinds of weird jobs. The final 4 jobs are:

  1. Shrinker – Due to my love for miniatures, I have always thought how nice it would be to be able to shrink things and people
  2. Warlock – Inspired by a tv show I watched and my fascination with magic
  3. Demon Slayer – Also inspired by a tv show I watch and also because I like mythical animals
  4. Time Traveller – Inspired by a movie I watched and also my love for period dramas

Original sketches for the shrinker and demon slayer job:

Initial compositions:

The concept behind this is that my job is a Shrinker. I like to shrink people and things. The name spelled in this composition is Min. Putting into context, I always wondered how nice it would be to be able to shrink my room and my house. That way, when going on a holiday or somewhere far from home, I will still get to sleep in my own bed and also store my things in my room. For every composition, I decided to put a mini me in the composition to give sort of an adventure feel. Also, I feel that the reason why all my jobs are imaginary is because I feel that by imagining such jobs, I can escape from this ordinary real world for a while. It helps me to relax and also I find such jobs fun. Also, since all my jobs are imaginary, non-existent, I wanted to bring out the unreal feeling, hence the mini me. Overall for all the compositions, I am going for a more fun and playful look.

For the second composition, my job is a demon slayer. I wanted to put it into context so I decided to use my everyday struggles as a student to represent these demons. The pencil to signify school work, the camera to represent responsibilities ( because I am in my hall committee), and a WhatsApp icon to represent socialising. Me as a demon slayer in this context would be that everyday I am always engaging in one or more of these events and it can’t tiring because there is just so much to do, almost like a battle. I chose the battlefield to be my bed because these activities take up most of my sleep time and it is like I am battling to save my home ground (basically me wanting to sleep but also have to handle other stuff). The name in this piece is Maine.

In the third composition, the name is Charm and my job is a warlock. I have always thought how nice would it be to be able to conjure things out of nowhere. For example, if I wanted food, I can just make it appear. Following this thought, I decided to put some everyday items into potion bottles to represent ingredients for potions and spells. For example, the clock hands for a speed to extend time, burgers for a spell to conjure food. Also continuing the thought on the first composition of a fictional job, I also put a mini me in this composition.

However, after consultation, I realised that the compositions did not make use of each letter’s unique characteristics and the letters are quite forced. Also, the message of the job and the job scope are not clear enough. hence, I decided on new compositions. The order of the jobs are as follow: Shrinker, Warlock, Time Traveller, Demon Slayer.

Overall, these jobs are imaginary, which means that they do not exist in real life. These compositions are supposed to look unreal, to bring out the idea that this is a fictional job. It is like me in my own world, I want to illustrate this idea by putting a mini me in every composition. After revision and turning the sketches into actual compositions, these are my final compositions.

Shrinker:

The first one is I am a shrinker. The words are MIN. The main idea is to shrink things and put them into boxes for convenience and to carry around. I choose to depict a room because I have always hoped of shrinking my bedroom so that I can carry it around. Hence I chose capital letters for all because the rigidity and angular properties of the letters fits in with the idea of furnitures.

Demon Slayer:

The second one is that I am a Demon slayer. The words are MIN. This job arise because of me wanting to escape the mundane reality and go on a thrilling unimaginable adventure. For this, I chose to use cap for the M because the angular tips resemble and can act as the mountains. The capital I is because I wanted a continuous long line to form my monster and the curvy part of the dragon can help to act as the spine of the I. For N, I chose to use capital N also because it resembles the action of someone raising a sword and jumping in mid air. In this case, it helps to show me jumping and taking a plunge at the creature.

Warlock:

For the third job, I am a warlock. The words are charm. This job stems from the idea of me being able to make potions/spells that will grant me the things I want. Hence using regular normal things like food and clock hand stop represent the ingredients. The scene is also that of the potion being in the midst of cooking. I chose to use the small case letters because they are more free form and organic, more natural looking for ingredients.

Time Traveller:

For the forth job, I am a Time traveller. The name is CHAR. This job arise due to the fact that I want to escape from the mundane , busy, hectic reality and also explore life in other time periods. Since this idea stems from my love of watching shows, I want to show the time travelling into the phone instead of a time machine. The letter C is represented by the organic shape of the charging cable, which is suppose to represent the idea of everlasting battery, because I don’t want this time traveling fantasy to stop. H is represented by me stepping into the phone and the line of the phone screen. A is represented by the building entrance and the angular rigidity of A allowed me to use architecture in my composition. R is formed half by the tree and half by the stone lantern.

I AM CHARMAINE. And these are my jobs.

Assignment 2B

Part 1: The 4 study objects

Puncture: The way the straws are strung is as though the string punctures through. Also, Because the straws are held at one end, when squeezed together, it looks explosive, like the aftermath of puncture.

Wrap:

The weaved ball wraps around a styrofoam ball. Even though, the ball is wrapped up, the weave pattern allows people to see what is inside.

Slide:

The individual blue rectangles can be moved along the string. Its an interactive object.

Bind:

Instead of binding 2 objects together, I chose to incorporate bind as part of the weave. This weave pattern is created by binding string together at a point alternately.

 

Part 2:

Based on the study objects, I wanted to incorporate more than one element. It led me to think of a fidget toy that a child would normally play with. Since it needs to be a vessel, I decided to incorporate this idea into a box meant for children to carry around and store their things, at the same time putting in some interesting elements tailored for children.

Process:

Before I started weaving the basket, I had to cut the rattan into strips of identical length form the base weave. After cutting the strips, I realised that the strips were too curly to work with so I decided to soak them in water to straighten the strips. After the strips dried, they became straighter and easier to work with.

After I had the ideal number of strips, I laid them below a box that has the measurements and size which I wanted my box to be. I added rattan strips until the size of the base weave is that of what I wanted.

I realised that if I used the close weave for the base as shown above, after I fold them up to form the sides, there will be gaps in between the weaves and the gaps will be uneven in terms of size for each side. As such, I decided to space out the weave as shown below so that when folded up, the gaps in the weaves on the side panels will be more evenly distributed.

Before having the box shape, I light damp the base with water so that when the lose ends of the weave folds up, the area where it bents will not snap. In order to weave the box, I taped the lose ends of the weave to the styrofoam container as shown below. This will help to hold the box shape while I weave in the rattan strips to build up the height of the box.

After trying to weave in the first strip, I realised that it would be very difficult to do so. The strip then is being weaved in doesn’t have a defined shape and and cannot hold the box shape in place. Hence I decided to prepare rattan strips that has already been bent and measured to size to insert into the base weave pattern, as shown below. It holds the shape well.

I decided to include a base compartment to act as a secret compartment. inspired by the idea of wrap. This also helps to shape the rattan box.

I ended of with a simple string weave at the top to give the box a rim.

I created a template for the sliding maze which is inspired by the slide study object.

Final Product:

  

This is the secret compartment, which can be used to store the child’s favourite items.

Drawings:

Orthographic: Side, Front, Top

Axonometric:

Perspective: