IDEATION brainstorm:
- Making a horror doll wire sculpture
- Make old rusty nails and nuts to form a sculpture
- Chendol with noodles made from polymer clay / jumping clay
- Fish head with a thumb drive in it
- Chicken nuggets / food on a phone cover
- Making a dog or fish (toy animal) made out of sugar cane
- Making a jewellery set with food / edible items. (e.g. pepperoni ear rings)
- Wrapping fruits in glitter
- Using clay to make kitschy figurines / human head / doll head etc
- Attach a half head made from suitable materials (like 5) and stick it on a photo frame so that it will stick out and form a 3D effect
- Making faced out cartoon figures (from the 1960s/ 1970s/ 1980s) onto toast bread by making charred patterns
Ideas I experimented with:
EXPERIMENT 1:
Number 11: Toast Bread
HOW DID I GO ABOUT DOING IT?
I drew a trial cartoon dog’s face on a plain piece of paper and then attempted to duplicate the drawing on a piece of aluminum foil. This was followed by cutting out the shape drawn, including the eyes and the nose. Placed the cut out shape of the aluminum onto the piece of bread and sent it to the oven.
WHAT MISTAKE DID I MAKE?
Halfway through baking, I realised that the aluminum foil kept on curling and popping up from the bread. If this occurs, the charred shape will not be formed properly and the whole piece of bread will be charred. (The correct result should be: Besides from the aluminum shaped dog which remains white or brown (negative) , the surrounding bread should be charred (positive))
WHAT DID I DO TO RECTIFY THE MISTAKE?
I used individual staple bullet to punch it into the bread along the circumference of the aluminum foil to hold it in. After which, the bread went into the oven again.
RESULT:
WHAT COULD I HAVE DONE BETTER?
I realised I did not monitor the degree of charred-ness properly and closely. The colour of the bread became too dark, not the ideal shade of charred I need. Hence, I had to scrape the top layer off carefully since the overly baked toast was very fragile and brittle.
WHAT DID I NOT MANAGE TO ACHIEVE?
I also realised that the eyes and nose (small circles cut out) were not very prominent and it was difficult for it to appear without the surrounding bread getting more and more charred.
MOVING ON TO MY NEXT IDEA:
After a brief consultation with Prof Peter, he advised that some of the initial ideas listed were not considered kitschy and hence I shortlisted 4 plausible options to go about approaching the subject, namely 6, 7, 8, and 11.
WHY I DECIDED TO CHANGE MY IDEA NO. 11 (charred toast bread)?
I realised that the toast bread was too brittle and may not be exactly practical to bring around / travel to and fro NTU. Besides, the technical difficulties were rather challenging, the images produced were not very nice or accurate to my expected ones. Also, it did not reflect a strong kitsch quality.
WHY RULING OUT NO.8 (wrapping fruits in glitter)?
Stated in the brief that the eventual product / installation should look like something 4 weeks’ worth of work. Wrapping fruits in glitter may not be exactly reflective of the time spent, unless it is of a massive scale, e.g. an obsessive compulsive project, taking for instance 100 different kinds of fruits and wrap them in glitter and juxtapose the before and after side by side in an installation. However, I find that this lacks creativity and may be a too literal approach for this subject matter. Besides, I would like to steer away from the repetitive massive kind of scale if possible. I prefer something individual and impactful as one.
EXPERIMENT 2:
Number 6: Sugarcane Toy
HOW DID I GO ABOUT DOING IT?
As I have some sugarcane plants in my garden, obtaining the main material for this was not hard. So I went to chop down some sugarcane sections for my experiments. After doing a brief sketch, I then proceed to saw them into the lengths I wanted, especially for the body.
- Body length: Chop out the edge (aka skin) of the entire length for the sides. X2
- “Fillings of the body”: Lay the sugarcane flat and just chop it into roundish blocks. X6 with varying thickness and height (thick to thin)
- Fins / Legs: Chop the skin of the sugarcane and file then with sandpaper into the desired shape. X6 (2 big 2 medium 2 small)
- Head: one section of sugarcane, file one end of it to look roundish
- Drill 2 holes on the head, big enough to stuff 2 black beans inside for the eyes.
- Saw one of the body roundish block to insert the upper fin.
- Use rubber bands to secure the position of the pieces before using super glue to attach them all together.
PROCESS:
DIFFICULTIES I FACED DURING THE PROCESS:
I realised that as a newbie with sawing, things were not as easy as it looks. I actually had quite a hard time sawing the sugarcane blocks. Without enough strength, it was extremely difficult to go forth and back again. My saw got literally stuck in the sugarcane when I did that and I also had difficulties trying to detach it from the sugarcane. What I came up with was ONLY TO REVERSE SAW. Put the saw furthest away from you at an arm’s length and rest on the position you want to saw and pull it all the way back while exerting force. It works and it reduces the problem I faced earlier.
WHAT DID I NOT MANAGE TO ACHIEVE?
At first my idea was to create a dog figure out of sugarcane, but as I progress forward, I realised that my composition does not really look like a dog. So I came up with the idea of a partial dog wrapped in HOTDOG BREAD = SAUSAGE DOG. Although the idea seems funny and no harm trying it, it was not quite possible in the end. Hence, I decided to alter my focus and made it into a fish instead.
WHY DID I NOT GO WITH THIS IDEA AGAIN?
Once again, I felt that this although kitschy, does not exhibit enough “kitschy-ness” and I guess it is in me to produce something kitschy yet ironically functional at the same time. (Whether the audience chooses to use it or not is another thing) Since it lacks functionality, I decided to move on and experiment with my last idea before deciding which is better.
MOVING ON TO EXPERIMENT 3: (MY FINAL IDEA AND EVENTUAL SUBMISSION)
Number 7: Jewellery set made from food (Click on this link: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/liml0074/3dii-final-idea-and-process/)
