DN1011 Form & Visualisation Assignment 2B: Thinking Through Making

Part 1 Designing through details

I was quite worried when I heard we had to weave again for this assignment as I had trouble weaving for assignment 2A. For part 1, we had to choose a minimum of 2 verbs and try to express them using the weave and another material with a larger surface area in 4 study models. I thought that ‘cradle’ was the easiest so I thought of two ideas using that — a phone cover and bottle holder.

As I was trying to think of ideas for another verb, I thought of including ‘grab’ and ‘slide’ in the phone cover.

After working on the phone cover using rattan, I realised it didn’t work the way I wanted as the rattan was too thick. The ‘slide’ didn’t work and the ends didn’t close up well. In the end, I had the cover to ends with cardboard and the grabbing part was permanent.

As I spent too much time to make the phone cover, I decided not to do the bottle holder but something simpler next. I tried making ‘bind’ using ice cream sticks and string in a way that it can flip continuously.
IMG_1539

As I was thinking of what the do for the 3rd study model, Wei Lin suggested that I could replace the sliding lid of a box that I made with a weaved pattern to make ‘slide’. I tried it out and it was quite nice so I replicated it and made a larger box to fit the 10cm requirement. The box was made out of ice cream sticks and satay sticks + weaved cardboard strips.

After consultation, I was told to try out ‘puncture’. My idea of ‘puncture’ would be something sharp emerging from the weave pattern so I made a “sharp” structure using cardboard.

Drawings for study object:

Part 2 – Vessel to be Held, Worn or Carried

For this project, I wanted to make something that I can actually use so I decided on making a bag. My original idea was a squarish 3 in 1 bag that can be used as a bagpack, sling bag and hand-carried bag. The verbs I wanted to include were bind (for the lid) and slide (for the handle).

However, I thought that a 25cm x 22.5cm x 6cm bag couldn’t hold a lot of things so I changed it to 32cm x 24cm x 10cm so that it could hold A4 sized things. I also realised that it would be difficult to make the handle slide and the handle should not be attached to the lid as the lid come off if the bag is too heavy (the lid is only binded on one side so the bind is not very strong) I also wanted to add a buckle-like thing in front to make sure the lid is bounded more tightly when it’s closed.

I first made a tiny prototype of the bag using cardboard strips and foam to see how it would look like. I was satisfied with the dimensions so I decided to go with it.

Due to the way I’m weaving, I had to start with the bind part first. I used leather cord and metal wire since it is stronger and keeps it’s shape better. I used the same pattern as my ‘bind’ study model and replicated it on the other side as well. I spent a lot of time trying to bind it as the space for the cord is quite small.

I continued with the frame using rattan and started weaving.

For the lid, I used a rattan frame with cardboard and covered it with 2 pieces of foam. I tried stitching the foam together but I failed so I ended up using uhu glue to stick them together. I added a nother layer of foam on the underside to make it stronger and  it ended up forming a catch for the lid so it doesn’t open easily (so I didn’t need a buckle anymore).

As the dimensions for this bag fits a bagpack more, that was what I had in mind when I made it. But since there were holes (lack of materials + too tight to weave) on the bag, I realised I could hook the handles there and still make it a 3 in 1 bag.

More photos of final product:

Orthographic drawing:

Isometric drawing:

2 point perspective drawing:

 

DN1003 Foundation 3D Assignment 2B: En Pointe

Act I (Yellow) of Triadisches Ballett (Triadic Ballet)

After watching the video and doing some research on the dance piece, I derived 2 words from the dance and tried to think of ways to express the words

  •  Mechanical
    • Wooden kinetic sculpture/Wood + Strings (Puppet)/Robot?
  • Geometrical
    • Different shapes

While researching for kinetic sculptures I found a reference that reminded me of the double pendulum and I was thinking that I could make use of physics toys (Drinking bird, Helicone, Perpetual motion machine) in my sculpture.

Kinetic Sculptures

I first tried making a double pendulum with paper and inserted clay in some areas to make it heavier. I realised it was quite difficult to make it work so I didn’t use it.

I also thought of making a puppet or robot since the dance was rigid and it reminded me of this exhibition I saw in Taiwan.

Maze Theater by Lee Tzu-hsun

After the group consultation, I got to know that the video is supposed to show Flow vs Rigid/Natural vs Mechanical. I went back to watch the video and I thought it looked like a kids show, so I was thinking I could make  a mechanical toy with natural materials.

Mechanical Toy

While researching on mechanical toys, I found a website that teaches people to concepts behind the toys and how to make it (http://www.mechanical-toys.com). The website shows that the mechanical toy works by turning the rotational motion into an up/down one but I wondered if it was possible to change the axis of rotation instead.

I tried to research on that but only found bevel gears which I can’t really make without a machine or 3D printer so I decided to just go ahead and make a small model to see it the normal gears could work.

Since the small model worked, I decided to stick with the idea and make the large one. For the large one, the measurements of the gears needed to be more accurate so I used a template to help me get the measurements (http://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html).

To make the gear, I first cut the wood to the size I want the gear to be. Then, I cut the corners to form an octagon and then into a hexadecagon. Afterwards, I sanded the edges to form a circle. Finally, holes were drilled into the circle so I could cut out the teeth of the gear.

After assembling the model, I realised that the gears weren’t smooth enough so I took them out and sand the teeth of the gears to make them slightly rounder.

I was told that I could put a natural object on top of mechanical base to show the contrast between the natural and mechanical elements. I did some research and found an artist (Myeongbeom Kim) that uses a mix of natural and man-made materials in his sculptures.

Birth by Myeongbeom Kim
Untitled by Myeongbeom Kim
Untitled by Myeongbeom Kim

I wanted to add tree branches at the top to make it look like a carousel. I couldn’t find a lot of tree branches so I took it from a plant instead.

It ended up looking quite interesting but it did not have the impact of the dance so I tried to think of other natural objects that would have the shape of a carousel:

  • Mushroom -> hard to find a large one
  • Broccoli -> has the same impact as the video (unexpected, weird), also resembles a tree where wood comes from

In the end, I decided on a broccoli. I drilled a hole in the broccoli and attached it the the mechanical base.