Revisiting the Pandora’s Box, the three keywords that I received to put together in a module were: Pack, Extrude and Skew. In this post you will find the process of the making of the final ice tray using repeated moulds of the same module.

INITIAL MODULES

Module 1:

 

Isometric view:

In this module, all three keywords were explored within one singular module.

 

Module 2:

Isometric view:

Here, I played around with the keyword ‘pack’, where the form comes true not within a singular module but only when repeated. The extruding segment of the module will be able to fit into the gap of the other end when the modules are replicated.

However, the ‘skewed’ idea for this module seemed to portray the word ‘split’ more, hence I decided to modify the module into…

 

Module 3:

This is my last and final selected module to form an ice tray. I decided to skew only one portion of the form to prevent the blend of keywords, and finally decided on this module instead of the first one as the idea of exploring ‘pack’ within several modules rather than one seemed more interesting.

 

Final ice tray orthogonal/isometric view:

 

 

 

Latex Mould/ Plaster Cast

I had initially made a latex mould of the final module made by a less-packed foam (dark blue), which then resulted in a mould that was uneven/textured and therefore gave me ‘bad’ plaster moulds. I hence decided to just duplicate the modules by foam, since it is also all angular and therefore ‘easy’ to duplicate.

Here are 18 duplicates, for me to get an idea of how the ice tray would look like in the end, after which I cut down the number of modules due to the lack of silicone:

 

Making the ice tray:

I had run a few layers of latex over the modules to cover up the holes, to prevent the silicone from seeping through them. I then stuck the moulds down with UHU Por.

After leaving the mould to dry for 9 days:

Unfortunately, the silicone failed to dry around the foam, perhaps due to the latex coat or the uneven mix of silicon.

After removing the modules, I let the silicone dry again before I started casting the actual ice!

Packed Ice Arrangement #1

The repetition of the modules seem to mimic what seems like a dragon’s back scale pattern, or a row of sharks’ fins peeping out from the water should there be a melted puddle around.

Packed Ice Arrangement #2

The side view of the triangles packed together seem to form a ‘jaw-like’ clench, the triangles being the teeth.

While the sides are fully packed, an interesting void is created in the centre of the entire arrangement when viewed from the front/back.