Inspiration for my sculpture:


Description of concept development and inspiration:

My inspiration for my sculpture comes from the following two images, namely one depicting world hunger and the other depicting food wastage, a common sight at the hawker centers in Singapore. Having witnessed many people leaving their seats with leftover food on the tables over the years, this issue has been troubling me deep down all along. Other than giving constant gentle reminders to family and friends, this provided me with a good opportunity to express my concern and my power as an individual to allow people to be more conscious of their behaviour.

 

Process and Development of Sculpture:

Initially, I tried using the ice creams sticks I painstakingly cut up to create the bowl I wanted through soaking them in boiling water. However, it did not work out as expected as the wood was too thick. Then, I went to acquire some balsa wood (a more ideal choice) for my project.

 

 

I wrapped a bowl with non stick cooking parchment paper before cutting up the balsa wood into small pieces so that I can glue them together against the bowl to form the shape needed.

 

 

However, this method did not work out as it was extremely difficult to hold the pieces there without any support other than the glue. It resulted in the picture below as one of the joins broke, causing the piece to fall apart.

The picture below shows my second attempt at making this work. However this still proves to be rather difficult, hence I have decided to change my approach.

Part of the curvature achieved.

 

This is my third attempt with a different approach. I did the opposite and lined the parchment paper on the inner surface of the bowl instead and started to glue the balsa pieces together. Due to the support given by the bowl, it was much easier this time.

Two layers of the bowl completed.

 

Balsa bowl taken out from the “mould”, aerial view.

Side view.

Notice the two layers mentioned.

Back view.

I cut up some ice cream sticks into 4 short sections and glued them together to form a square before attaching it to eh base of the bowl to create the mini “stand”. Subsequently, I cut up 4 pieces of (almost) identical strips of balsa wood and attached it, bent, to the ice cream sticks at each junction to create the curvature I wanted.

After I am done with the bowl, I proceeded on to fold my hands using copper wires.

 

Fast forward the process many times with some variation (some thicker wires, some thinner, some bigger hands, some smaller etc), I get a small pile of hands.

 

Creating a comfortable layout on the foam which acts as a base, simulating the ground. I have also placed some steel wire mesh in the bowl to simulate food.

After glueing the bowl to the base,  I began attaching the hands by stabbing the foam with a sharp knife followed by opening the silt to a suitable size by a tweezer.

 

 

 

Attaching in progress.

Final draft model done.

 

 

However, after the review in class, Prof Peter mentioned that the blue foam base for mine was not ideal and suggested that I paint the foam instead. Besides, the hands looks a little too scattered. Probably I can move then closer to each other to have a cluster feel to have a more sense of urgency.

This leads to my next post on my final model.

 

Link to my Final Model: https://oss.adm.ntu.edu.sg/liml0074/3dii-final-project-zer0-waste-final-model/

 

Inspiration Image References:

http://www.todayonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/photo_gallery_image_lightbox/public/22396714.JPG?itok=Nu6Ox804

https://userscontent2.emaze.com/images/19fb99cb-c03a-4938-bc6e-a4e52279491f/f9dbaf1e10e2b0bb888004cd88d24e65.jpg

EXPERIMENT 3:

Number 7: Jewellery set made from food

HOW DID I GO ABOUT DOING IT?

Originally, i thought of using varnish/ shellac to coat the materials to have a shiny furnish. However, the smell was so bad that it did not go away even after a few days of sun drying. Hence I decided to change my approach and tried to use resin instead. However, the resin sold outside was quite expensive (about 150ml for $30) and I could not obtain transparent resin from the school. So, I went to research and found a plausible solution instead. BIOPLASTIC. I then proceeded to make my own bioplastic using these materials below.

Basically, mix 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch with 4 tablespoons of water and add in 1 teaspoon of glycerine as well as 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. Mix well. According to the portion you need, increase the dosage x2 , x3, x4 etc. After trying out a few types of starch, I realised that tapioca starch works the best. Corn starch and potato starch produced lumpy and gooey mixture.

The following were the stages of the mixture produced with photos taken per few seconds interval since they were cooked quite fast:

Eventually, they will form this sticky, translucent  and rubbery paste. I let it cool for a while before letting trying on something small. I placed a small amount on parchment cooking paper and stick a dried piece of fir tree leave inside.

After realising that it was not going to dry quickly, I put it into the oven to toast a few times. Eventually it produced this effect.

Even after doing so for a few times, although the surface was dry, the moisture of the material was trapped within, making it very difficult to dry. I then tried to heat it over a pan. It bubbled profusely and created many bubble like cavities within the small piece. Hence, I decided that perhaps sun drying will be the best option, albeit being a slow process.

I carried on and used the material made for another experiment. Since my topic was about kitsch and with the intention of making a small bowl for trial, I intentionally used dried seafood such as ikan bilis. dried calms and dried shrimps to line up around the circumference of the bowl.

After quite a few days of sun drying, I managed to pull the layer off as shown below and the shape of a bowl was formed.

However, after doing this at home, my family members began to complain how stinky it was and so I decided to cook another pot of paste to do another experiment that was “less stinky” – BEANS.  The trial bean bowl is as shown below.

 

After that I started looking for possible materials for my food jewellery other than seafood. I tried to use oranges and lime after either sun drying them or baking them.

I really like the uniform effect of the charred ring around the circumference. E.g. the 2nd one at the 3rd row.

I also attempted to create patterns around the lime slice. E.g. the 3rd one at the last row.

I also experimented with fresh chilli. I did not want to use the already dried ones as the colour was not nice and they were too dried. I kept some whole while I cut some into almost symmetrical halves.

Some of the other food options included orange peel, sun dried starfruit, sun dried strawberry sections as well as avocado seed.

Dried lady finger cross sections, shrimps, clams, cucumber, carrot, persimmon seed, popcorn and purple carrot (3rd and 4th in the last column.

Different types of beans used.

Dried avocado skin,  starfruit and star anise.

Flip side of the avocado skin.

Fresh orange peels with the intention of making it into a bangle.

Dried orange peels.

Dried sugarcane sections.

After trying out with so many materials, I felt that there should be 4 items in my jewellery set, namely : Necklace, Bracelet, Earrings and Brooch.

Looking at the range of materials, I have decided to use them to form some possible necklace patterns.

 

 

 

After a while of trying, I have decided to use ikan bilis to form part of the necklace to give people a sense of aversion when they see it.

I also attempted to come up with different designs on the orange peel and lime section.

After that, I moved on to the design for my brooch.

After that, I moved on to the design for my earrings. Initially I wanted to use dried prawns but decided to change to orange peels later.

Using strings for the my items, I started to knot them proper with the shamballa knots.

The bracelet for example should look something like this. The middle section with single strings coming out from the 2 sides are the adjustable lengths for the bracelets.

However, after consulting Prof Peter, he commented that the yellow / goldish strings are not very kitschy since the contrast was too high. So, I switched it to a dirty brown instead and redid the knots. Pull the 2 ends to adjust the length. I have also use a black bean with a tiny drilled hole to act as a “bead” at the end.

The sugarcane sections for the necklace should be longer.

I started stringing things up.

After that, I also thought that maybe adding a 5th item, perhaps a ring, will be good. However, the avocado seed proves to be too big and bulky on the strip of orange peel. Hence I called off the idea since it clashes with a space I have within the jewellery box shown below.

MAKING THE JEWELLERY BOX:

Cooking more pots of bioplastic before sticking on a plastic box for shape.

Stick the beans manually one by one on the paste.

Creating the “doors” / lid for the jewellery box.

Final content of the box. I used sewing pins to hold the jewellery into place with a foam board behind.

For the final product, the plastic box should not be intact. They were intact for the submission was because the layer of bioplastic takes an awfully long time to be fully dried, approximately 1.5 weeks of sun drying with strong sunlight. It should look something like the bean bowl at the side without any form of artificial plastic.

Reflections:

Initially, when I first received my word “Kitsch”, I felt puzzled because it was my first time hearing this word.

Researching on “Kitsch”:

Meaning of Kitsch: Art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way. Kitsch in the verb form as “to render worthless,” classifying kitsch objects by worthless pretentiousness.”  Despite its status as a source of pleasure for a mass audience, kitsch is typically considered a negative product and used as a pejorative statement.

Origin of Kitsch: The word “kitsch” entered the German language in the mid-nineteenth century. Kitsch may be derived from the German word kitschen, meaning den Strassenschlamm ausammenscharren (to collect rubbish from the street). “kitsch” first gained common usage in the jargon of Munich art dealers to designate “cheap artistic stuff” in the 1860s and 70s.   By the first decades of the twentieth century, the term had caught on internationally.  It was utilised to describe both objects and a way of life brought on by the urbanisation and mass-production of the industrial revolution. Kitsch possessed aesthetic as well as political implications, informing debates about mass culture and the growing commercialization of society.

Kitsch Movement: The Kitsch Movement began 15 years ago when Odd Nerdrum declared himself a Kitsch Painter. The movement incorporates the techniques of the Old Masters with narrative, romanticism and emotionally charged imagery. Kitsch painters assert that Kitsch is not an art movement, but a philosophical movement separate from art. According to the Kitsch Movement , Kitsch painters embrace it as a positive term: not in opposition to art, but as its own independent superstructure of values and philosophy which are separate from art.

Examples of Kitsch Paintings:

1) Dawn (1990) by Odd Nerdrum

2) The Singers by Odd Nerdrum

3) “Chinese Girl,” by Vladimir Tretchikoff

4) Zarathustra – the obese cat with Mona Lisa by Svetlana Petrova

Kitsch Movement Philosophy: Kitsch is about humanism, the universal human experience. E.G: Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: how nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass! The second tear makes kitsch kitsch. -Milan Kundera

Bitter Kitsch or Sweet Kitsch? :

Bitter Kitsch: The depiction of the forbidden, the blasphemous, the vulgar expression of the inexpressible, the provocation of the improper and cruelty.

Sweet Kitsch: It is art that appeals unsubtly and unapologetically to the softer, “sweeter” sentiment.

 

Kitsch tends to mimic the effects produced by real sensory experiences [compare simulation/simulacra , presenting highly charged imagery, language, or music that triggers an automatic, and therefore unreflective, emotional reaction.

E.G. A bar stool whose legs are actual, stuffed DEER legs.) These are deemed as morally unacceptable subject matter, evoking the wrong emotions and provoking the wrong reactions (e.g disgust and nausea)

Hence, ‘kitsch art’ is closely associated with ‘sentimental art’ and melodrama.

What is common for kitsch? :

The fact that to brand visual art as “kitsch” is generally pejorative.

According to this famous the cultural critic and philosopher, Walter Benjamin : kitsch is, unlike art, a utilitarian object lacking all critical distance between object and observer; it offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, without sublimation.

Modern Day Context:    In Reality, although kitsch has several meanings and it may be ambiguous at times, it is still commonly used to label anything seen being in poor taste.

Initial ideas:

After consulting Prof Peter, I feel that perhaps I can focus on sweet kitsch. I thought of making soft toys made from old clothes with reference to cartoons that had already faced out. (E.G. popular cartoons in the 1950- 1970s).

Here is a printscreen from my word document:

 

Top Ten TV Cartoon Characters from the 1950s and 1960s

Top Cat      Snagglepuss      Deputy Dawg     Huckleberry Hound     Fred Flintstone

Tom & Jerry    Yogi Bear     The Jetsons    Mr. Magoo     Bullwinkle

However, I still feel that it may be a common approach to the project. Hence, I went to research further and come up with the idea of making jewellery using food. The critique of kitsch in this sense is that kitsch is a mimicry and a representation of something common using common items to make it uncommon.

The overall experience with this project was very good as I got to experiment was a lot of materials and things I have not previously thought about!

 

References for the kitsch information above:

http://artbabel.blogspot.sg/2010/04/philosophy-of-kitsch-kant-kunst-and.htmlhttp://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/pdf/431644.pdfhttp://petasvintageboutique.weebly.com/where-the-heart-is/kitsch-arthttp://wilburwhateley.tumblr.com/post/118823047423/dustlickers-2000-and-dawn-1990-by-odd-nerdrumhttps://www.demilked.com/fat-cat-zarathustra-classical-paintings-svetlana-petrova/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2013/jan/28/kitsch-art-love-loathe-jonathan-joneshttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/kitschyhttps://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/kitschhttp://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/kitsch.htmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandon-kralik/the-dawn-of-the-kitsch-mo_b_4013483.htmlhttp://www.widewalls.ch/kitsch-art/http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/19/world/europe/kitsch-mona-lisa-auction-tretchikoff/

 

IDEATION brainstorm:

  1. Making a horror doll wire sculpture
  2. Make old rusty nails and nuts to form a sculpture
  3. Chendol with noodles made from polymer clay / jumping clay
  4. Fish head with a thumb drive in it
  5. Chicken nuggets / food on a phone cover
  6. Making a dog or fish  (toy animal) made out of sugar cane
  7. Making a jewellery set with food / edible items. (e.g. pepperoni ear rings)
  8. Wrapping fruits in glitter
  9. Using clay to make kitschy figurines / human head / doll head etc
  10. 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
  11. 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.

  1. Body length: Chop out the edge (aka skin) of the entire length for the sides. X2
  2. “Fillings of the body”: Lay the sugarcane flat and just chop it into roundish blocks. X6 with varying thickness and height (thick to thin)
  3. Fins / Legs: Chop the skin of the sugarcane and file then with sandpaper into the desired shape. X6 (2 big 2 medium 2 small)
  4. Head: one section of sugarcane, file one end of it to look roundish
  5. Drill 2 holes on the head, big enough to stuff 2 black beans inside for the eyes.
  6. Saw one of the body roundish block to insert the upper fin.
  7. 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/)

 

 

Development of ideas:

Initial Ideas:

Potential Themes: Global Warming

We attempted to portray it using the elements of the earth:

  1. Fire and water – coal and water sizzling
  2. Fire and Air – crackling matchsticks
  3. Water and air – bubbling sound
  4. Earth and Water – blurping, squishy, sticks and mud (melting of ice caps)
  5. Earth and Fire – burning sound (deforestation/burning fossil fuels)
  6. Earth and Air – wind blowing trees, leaf sound (CO2 gas)

End with fire extinguisher-extinguishing global warming

Environment A:

Different grades of air quality and objects (surroundings like position of trees (if you are in a park)) are held constant = different outcomes

  • Natural earth sound (EARTH SINGING-microphone into the soil) and then it got ‘tortured’ by the other elements. Throughout the process, the rate increases as elements are added. This is to depict global warming happening to earth. It explains the increasing rate of global warming as the sounds are added in. Eventually the earth gets overwhelmed with all the activities and ends off with fire extinguisher.

We tried to create a synthetic nature environment portraying the effect of air pollution. With different degrees of air pollution, there will be varying amount and number of air/dust/pollutants particles in the air, making it increasingly difficult for the sound to be transmitted if the air pollution gets worse. Hence, this pushes us to think about the effects of air pollution and raised the awareness of it.

Inspiration page:

Toothbrush:

 

Airplane:

 

An alternative I thought of:

  • Create an installation with modified sleeping bags. Remove the inner lining of sleeping bags and replace them with stones, gravel, sand, soil etc to simulate “earth” with a heating tube inside. Pillows with mini speakers are placed on the top of the sleeping bag.

The viewers are supposed to lie on them and listen to the audio mentioned above. The longer they lie on the sleeping bag, the hotter the heat element will be, allowing the viewer to feel the direct impact of global warming.

However, after consulting with Michael, it turns out that we have a wrong direction in the project. Although he did not disapprove the global warming topic, what he wanted was the sound or sound story of a single object. It has to be revolving around the object.

 

New Proposed Idea/ Concept:

MICROWAVE + Food + Utensils

  1. Unhealthy eating- Processed food goes into the microwave
  2. Electricity- physics- sound from water vibration in the food (that’s how microwave works?) /consumption?
  3. Experiential sounds
  4. Popcorns?

HOW? 

Different type of food choices would lead to different a type of outcome. (Example: Unhealthy food and the very unhealthy food) The fact that we didn’t choose healthy food is because using the microwave is unhealthy in the first place and most of the convenient food are unhealthy. (e.g. Microwavable food packs/ pizzas / sandwich etc => mostly sold at convenient stores like 7-eleven, cheers etc)

WHY?

We were walking around ADM for inspiration when we realised we decided to pause and do some on site research and monitoring at the ADM lounge. This was when we realised that many people were either eating packed food or simply microwavable sandwiches / food packs/ pizzas / hamburgers from the nearby 7-eleven store at canteen 2. Realising this unhealthy trend, we decided to do a sound art to reflect this harmful and unhealthy practice, as well as to inform, alert and remind people about how unhealthy this is.

Microwave Area at ADM Lounge: 

SEQUENCE: 

Ear piercing sounds when opening the microwave door

Please choose the food of your choice(Robotic sound) aka instructions to prompt the user

Sounds – Warning/ Alarms etc

SOUND EFFECTS:

  1. UPBEAT (Best one) – New (Nuclear Evacuation Alarm) Sound Effect
  2. Second best one – (Less upbeat, more dramatic)
  3. Alarm Sound Effect – at 0.28 –
  4. Nuclear Alarm –
  5. Ball bouncing –

Attempts:

SOUND CLIP VER 1:

Final Sound Clip: 

Part 1:

Part 2:

Final Test Run Video with microwave:

Introducing the MACROWAVE: 

Microwaves are kitchen appliances that almost everyone owns in their home. They heat and cook food quickly and efficiently by exposing the food to microwave radiation and thereby altering the molecular structure of the item. We are basically consuming irradiated food items with altered molecular structures that – due to said exposure to radiation – has it’s health benefits reduced and instead is detrimental to our health especially in large doses, which is why we are advised not to use microwaves too much in our daily lives. However, despite knowing this, we continue to use these appliances frequently because of the ease and convenience of it. Coupled with our busy lifestyles, it provides us with a more convenient excuse to use it even further. Perhaps, since the effects do not manifest immediately, we don’t see the extent of which our body is being damaged. Through this experience, we want to get the people thinking about the damage that microwaves are causing to our body.

AIM: 

We want to stimulate the viewer in a way that they would react negatively. This is to push across the point that microwaves cause negative impacts onto the food they consume and this affects their health directly and indirectly, thus discouraging them to reduce microwave usage.

HOW:

Actual poster on site: 

Presentation Time!

VIDEO 1- Jason trying out!

VIDEO 2- Nadia trying out!

 

 

Healthy Alternatives:

Now that all the bad news is out of the way, let’s focus on some speedy, easy and convenient ways to heat up food without compromising your health.

Convection toaster ovens

Not quite as fast as a microwave but quicker than a normal toaster oven. Food tastes so much better when heated in a real oven. Plus, they’re more affordable, take up less space and use less energy – a perfect example of when less equals more! Line an oven sheet with foil or pop your food in an oven safe glass container or ceramic dish and heat until warm!

Stovetop

Seems obvious, but not everyone thinks to reheat meals in a pot or pan. You can place food directly on the cookware or wrap it in foil first and add a little water. Steamers also work great and produce a similar, evenly heated result. Even popcorn can be made on the stove, and it’s so much healthier when you can control the amount of salt and oil you put on it.

Double boiling

This tactic works great on liquids like sauces and is also a way to gently and evenly heat food without direct heat. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan, then place a glass container in it with the food inside. It shouldn’t take too long to get to your desired temperature.

Pressure cookers

Well-known for their ability to cook foods like rice 2-3 times faster than the stovetop method, they’re also a great way to heat up soups and vegetables in less than 10 minutes, while retaining their moisture.

If you don’t have any of the appliances above, a planet-friendly way to obtain them is via friends or second-hand shops. So many people purchase these items and hardly use them, so offer to give them a well-deserved new home! Likewise, don’t just toss your microwave. Recycle it at an e-waste facility or call a pick-up service.

 

REFLECTION: 

I find this project very interesting and it gives us room to explore about sounds. This is my first official sound project and I really enjoy doing it. The topic we touched on was food, radiation and unhealthy practices. I find that these topics are relatively relevant in our daily lives, especially when we are in such a busy and fast paced society. However, this does not give us a reason nor excuse to depend heavily on these unhealthy but convenient food such as microwavable food and hence there is a need to bring awareness about this issue that is getting more prevalent. The process of this project was rather enriching as we tried many different kind of ideas and sounds to reach the final stage. Although we got quite a few people coming up to ask us / glaring at us / giving us curious but “hmm what is this or what they are doing” kind of looks when we are testing the clips on site, it only proves that people are aware of what we are doing and that I really enjoyed the entire process. I hope that in the process of doing it and appearing at the microwave so many times, this will really impact the people who frequent the lounge and those who use the microwave every now and then. Also, I do consider microwave under kitchen appliances which then links back to one of my artist reference, Martha Rosler, who also makes use of kitchen appliances for her sound performance.

 

 

Initial Ideas:

  • 1) Wine Dealer
  • 2) Chef
  • 3) IT programmer
  • 4) Translator

Final ideas:

  • 1) Wine Dealer
  • 2) IT Programmer
  • 3) Electrician
  • 4) Architect

Rough Draft:

img_20170213_011827_1486920256770

 

Why the changes?

– Chef seems too cliché, quite a few people doing. It seems too general either, should scope down into a specific kind of chef, making me feel uncomfortable and restrained.

img_20170213_011729_1486920147808          img_20170213_011718_1486920130370

– Translator: the original idea was to design 2 humans interacting together. One with a messy lump of illegible words in his mind and then as the words are spoken, it flows and form a legible form into the other person’s mind. The second idea was that use different languages In the world to form LLE. Example: L in Korean, L in Arabic and E in Chinese. However, the overall concept proves to be quite messy and hence I discarded the idea.

img_20170213_011629_1486920025965    img_20170213_011637_1486920049226

 

Progress work for wine dealer:

  • Pic 1-wine glass with splash 

img_20170213_011612_1486919981402

– Reasoning: the splash contains the L, the bottle and wine glass also forms an L. the spillage forms the E.

– Comments: the overall concept seems confusing and that they are very disconnected. The splashed in the L in the glass is confused with the unnecessary splash on the other side. The bottle and the lying wine glass also seems to be very disconnected due to the lack of overlap. Even though the E is okay.

Inspired from:

img_20170213_001153_1486918402230       img_20170213_001345_1486918501872

  • Pic 2- Arranging all sorts of wine glass and the negative spaces form the LLE.

img_20170213_011617_1486919999154

-Reasoning: the negative space will form the letters.

-comments: there are unnecessary distractions like the small angular frilly things that confused the design. The overall composition seems messy as well.

 

  • Pic 3 – using distorted wine bottle and barrel to form

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-Reasoning: there is a sense of connection on the L , making it very clear card.

 

  • Pic4- use lining up wine glasses to form one of the L, then the distorted L as another:

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-Reasoning: there will be different variations of the L and it wouldn’t seem to be as plain.

-Comments: still very messy

  • Pic 5- use 2 wine glasses as the LL

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reasoning: sense of connection

 

  • Pic 6- wavy L bottle, wine gals with umbrella (DOT) and poles and vines as the M

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-Reasoning: ( as of now, I changed my approach to LIM, thinking that perhaps I can have another approach) again, I want 3 different items to have variation. But then again the connection isn’t clear but I feel that its good that I am opening up my options and seeing more things that are related to the occupation.

 

  • Photoshop figure 1: Bar counter

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reasoning: felt that the setting should be in the wine shop/ bar with main indicative elements that explains the occupation. Since the brief states that it can be in black and white, I edited and threshold it to become what is seen. But it’s way too black and the compositions seems too complicated.

 

  • Bottle cap/ top view of beer/wine bottle and arrange in the huge bottle form with LLE in the centre as the negative space

beer-top-view

-Reasoning: it’s hard to form the bottle shape with all rounded top views/caps. If places too closely, it’s not realistic since the bottle form is from narrow to wide and there will be this space between each of them from the top view. Besides it will look pretty complicated.

 

  • The one with the logo on the front line

beer-manufacturer

Reasoning: I changed my perspective to one of a beer manufacturer and I want to advertise the brand using my name initials. Hence, I came up with the LLE logo.

-comments: However, the design seems to represent my lack of understanding for the brief itself. What is wanted is that the letters itself should represent the occupation at a glance and not because of the things surrounding it that matters.

 

  • Using 1 idea to represent LLE. (vines/ barrel/ wine glass/ mug)

However, I attempted and felt that it was rather restricted and it was difficult to express as well since all of them seems rather uniform.

 

  • Final Result: Most direct way of using wine bottles.

 

Key identifiable features of a wine dealer: wine bottles / wine glasses/ wine cork/ wine.

 

I used Martini and Cinzano wine bottles to create the layout of L and E and photographed them. My original intention was to just overlay the 3 photographs together as one. However, it felt awfully plain and too literal. So I pondered over it and realised that wine corks are also an important part of the wine industry, something I overlooked previously. Hence, I decided to make part of the background with wine corks with wine pouring out from a bottle into a glass. To incorporate the photographed wine bottles, I made half of the bottle solid and finished the shape of the other half of the bottle with LLE.

 

 

 

Progress work for electrician:

Initial ideas:

  • Line up different type of symbols or switches to form LLE. Use a light bulb with the wire coming out at 90 degrees turn to form L. The wire connects in a shape of an E to the end (plug).

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  • Use suspending light bulbs to form shape of an L and use a wire to form shape of the other L, ending with 3 different coloured wires at the end. (Live wire/ earth wire/ neutral wire). Followed by using electrical tools to form the E. ( wire cutter and screwdrivers)

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  • Use the symbols to form the head of an electrician (human figure involved).

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Inspired from:

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  • Decided to use light bulbs and lose wire endings to form the LLE instead.

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Experiments for final result 5):

Initially I thought of overlapping images of wires to form the body of the letter but then I felt that it was too literal, so I decided to use mark making tools instead.

Items experimented with:

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Making the body of the letters:

  • Medium sized coil of copper wires.

– Coated one side of the coil with ink and tried to roll it to create the lined effects but it was not even nor obvious. The coils have up and downs with gaps in between causing the ink to flow into the gaps instead of staying on the rounded surface. Using this as mark making tool was not exactly feasible then.

  • Threads

– Cut a piece of thread and tied the 2 ends together. Dipped it in ink and did trial mark makings. The result lines are too thin to simulate that of a wire. Besides, it was hard to control the waviness of the threads as they often clung together into 1 line. Using this as mark making tool was not exactly feasible as well.

  • Lose ended wires.

-Attempted to stamp the wires but they were too stiff with the casing on and hence make them unsuitable since the results were rather rigid.

  • Small coiled springs.

– Thinking that perhaps scaling it down to a smaller version from 1) will be easier to control and that the resultant lines will be more prominent. However it did not differ much from the first, except that the lines are more prominent this time.

  • Cardboard:

– Cut the cardboard into small short finger strips. Dip the ends into ink gently and stamp it. Surprisingly, the wavy lines within the corrugated board offered good texture for “wires”. I then proceeded to stamp the outlines of the letters out and let it dry overnight before scanning it into my computer for any further digital editing.

  

Mark making the light bulbs:

  • Different thumbnail sized rubber rings / rounded metal stands/ metal rings.

– Dip the materials into ink and try to stamp it. The overall effect was okay but the shapes were too roundish for a light bulb. I then tried to squeeze it a little just before stamping and played around with the shapes. However, I realised that the shapes were too uniform throughout the outline.

  • Long nails/ small springs found in pens.

-Dip the ends of the materials into ink and stamp it. The effect was rather okay for the ends of the light bulbs but the lines itself were not long enough to go round and cover the U shape under the light bulb. And if done several times, it becomes messy which then makes them unsuitable.

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Final Result:

Key identifiable features of an electrician: light bulbs/ wires/ switches/ electricity.

I inverted the scanned images since I wanted a dark background and attached light bulbs at the end of the letters. I also added a switch on top of each letter since the letter itself represents wires. I pondered for some time on how to further represent electricity even though the light bulbs were already lighted up. Since my background was dark, I decided to simulate a “sky” feature and used lightning instead. Allowing the lightning to pass through each switch gives it electricity/ power for the light bulb to function.

 

 

 

Process work for IT Programmer:

Inspired by:

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Key identifiable features for IT Programmers: coding / matrix

I have decided to go with matrix instead.

Draft 1:  Overlapping columns of digits over digits to try to compact the layers before erasing digit by digit to form the LLE.

it-programmer-passsed

 

– Thought that the idea was too simple and that it was tedious to overlap manually to create the effect as well as erasing the digits. This then led to draft 2.

Draft 2: Deciding that 1) was too mainstream, I decided to crop a part of the matrix background and skew to mini triangles before aligning each of the triangles into the 2 Ls. Small rectangular strips were lso cropped out for the E.

matrix-2

– However, the result seemed to be too complicated and it looked rather confusing. The background was covered by the patterns formed by the overlaps and the attention was stolen away from it. This then led to draft 3.

Draft 3: Change of colour. Since the first 2 methods used were unsuitable, perhaps I feel that I should change the colour of the digits to create the LLE within the background itself.

matrix-3-ideation

– It turned out that the effect was significantly worse than the previous versions. The white was hard to distinguish and it made it very confusing for the eye to dart around and make out the letterform.

Hence, I have decided to revert back to draft 1 and make amendments from there.

Changes: I began to overlap more at the designated areas for my letters and resized the digits when needed. Eventually the letterforms became more outstanding.

 

 

 

Process work for Architect:

Key identifiable features for Architect: T ruler, graph paper, floorplans, pencils, compass, set square and other tools required for drawing.

Draft 1: I drew a building using perspective and hid the LLE within.

architecture-3-idea-passed

– Although the building looks fairly fine, the LLE was not what the project wanted. The letterform itself has to represent the occupation and hence this method is unsuitable.

Draft 2: Floor plans

architecture-2-passed

– I used floor plans with variations and overlaps to simulate togetherness of a building floor plan. I also edited the colours to simulate pencil drawings and sketching in architecture plans.

Draft 3: Floor plans with equipments

architecture-2

– Deciding that it was too plain, I added an architect’s commonly used equipments inside as well. However, it made the whole composition look messy and the plan itself lost the focus.

Hence, I reverted back to plan 2 and touched up from there.

 

I was thinking of making a small book containing interesting facts regarding my family about the Peranakan Culture. Initially I was thinking of collating photos and develop it into a photo book and send it to print using the modern book style. However, I thought about it and feel that perhaps I can create my own handmade book instead, since the Peranakans are rather focused on handmade items.

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Experimental Designs for the book concept. I researched on the different types of handmade books and have decided to develop a palm sized meander pocket book. The meander book is actually made from a single sheet of paper and if glued correctly, the pages will actually form little pockets (to slot cards with bite size information inside).

After pondering about it, I feel that I would like the book to have a “book within a book” concept.  This is to signify that our roots are deep and that it is up to us to step up and discover more about them. At every turn, we discover something new about ourselves and hence opens a “door” to another “book”.

Concept of the Book:

Outer Cover: The doors of an old Peranakan House (2 sides). (1st Book)

Inner Cover: The interior of a Peranakan House. (2nd Book)

Content: Each sleeve represents a category about the Peranakan Culture. There are images on each sleeve to represent the category.  (3rd Book (s))

Sleeve 1: Who are the Peranakans?

Sleeve 2:  Architecture

Sleeve 3: Gender Roles

Sleeve 4: Nyona Fashion

Sleeve 5: Cuisines

Sleeve 6: Taboos and Beliefs

Sleeve 7: Old Wives Remedies

In each sleeve, there is a card with information for each category. (4th Book)  The information usually starts with a general introduction about the topic and would usually end off with some short stories about my family.

Pictorial Development: Meander Book

1      2

3      4

5       6

7             8

This is the process of folding the meander booklet.

After which, I started experimenting with the pocket tabs.

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11          15

After trying out a few designs, I have decided to go with the round one.

Since I plan to make the book cover with a puffy feel, I used cardboard for the base first before pasting sponge on top.

12       13

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However, after having trials with rough paper, I realised that it is actually quite bulky and thick which does not really suit the nyonya theme. Hence, I scrapped the sponge idea away and used just cardboard instead.

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img_20170207_081518     img_20170207_081538    img_20170207_093051     dsc_1955

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Reflection:

After the first consultation, I wanted to find out new and more unique information that is not found in museums and books. For example, a book on the unique remedies and prescriptions my family has kept over the years. However, after the interview with my grandaunt, I realised that there were many limitations as there were quite a lot of things that she could not recall  (90 years old) and that the knowledge is not passed on to the younger generations. My aunts, for instance, were actually quite clueless about the Peranakan culture and they felt that they learn something new through the bits of information I gathered through the interview. Hence, I decide to take on a different approach and touch on the major topics in the Peranakan culture with a tinge of personal stories included.

This is my first handmade book and there were many trial and errors involved. I realised that precision is really very important and developing a book is not that easy.  From the concept to the aesthetics to the content, sometimes I am really at lost of what to include.

The overall experience was enriching and I did discover more about my identity which was the main motivation of this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Initial Ideas:

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  1. The first idea being a nature landscape with a sandy road with animals on both sides.
  2. The second idea being an aerial view of a plantation with figures working.

Prof Woon Lam recommended the first idea since it sounded much more interesting.

However, after looking through the books passed around in class (my first post for final project), I found interest in chinese painting instead and decided to amend my ideas and changed the sandy paths to a mountainous background with animals scattered around.

Since I have never done any chinese painting before, I did my # 1st attempt and it was pretty horrendous. (Looks like a kid’s painting)

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(also attempted to use different materials to create texture- in this case: tissue paper)

I made a few more horrendous attempts and made a point to consult Prof Woon Lam ASAP the next day. It turns out that the brushes I used were too small and that the papers (drawing) were too smooth to begin with hence making it very difficult to achieve any kind of texture.

Prof Woon Lam then demonstrated how to create texture with chinese ink in class.

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These also lead me to make a few more new attempts in class with rice paper.

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Prof Woon Lam commented that these few attempts were definitely better than the first but try not to contour the mountains and give them definite shapes. I have also learnt new splash brush and dry brush techniques.

“Sometimes the right path is not the

easiest one”~ Grandmother Willow 

Design 1:

foot-pritns

The original idea of this design is to form paths using footprints and how each path is temporarily blocked by obstacles which is the interpretation of “not the easiest”. Ancient swords, spears and barbwires were used to bring out the vintage feel Prof Mimi wants. There are also boulders involved to represent larger obstacles.

However, the comments were that the footprints were too random and that the path is not clearly represented. Besides, all the objects are quite randomly placed as well, giving the feeling that they are “floating” in the air with the fluff and unstable feel. Hence, this lead to the amended design 2.

Design 2:

footprint-edited-2

This is the amended design from 1. I attempted to make the path clearer by making the footprints start from the middle top of the design and it goes in 2 loops (bigger and smaller) and ends at the lower right of the design. I also cut down on the variation of the obstacles used to reduce the complicated feel of the design.

However, the comments were that the path of the footprints were once again unclear and it seems to be messy instead. The “random” feel, although lessened, still exists and probably would not be an ideal design for the quote. This leads me to my 3rd design.

Design 3: 

2nd-design

This is the third design for this quote. I decided to have a different approach instead. The dark background represents the “tough” situation one is in and everything seems gloomy for her. I then design it in a way to make her cross the broad river with strong currents through different actions. From the first pose with an “energised” feel to the second pose with the “persevere on” attitude to the third pose with the “i need to be cautious” attitude in the precarious situation on the boulder and finally to the last pose with the “tired but somewhat victorious” after the treacherous path.

However, comments for this design are such that the background contain way too many details which prove to be slightly messy and perhaps would not be an ideal for a printed design. It is quite literal and safe but lacks the vintage and ancient element feel to it. Also, the path seems rather simple, the obstacles are too minimal to even fit the quote properly. Hence this leads to my 4th design.

Design 4:

mountain-path-min

This is the fourth design for this quote. Again, I took another different approach whereby the obstacles were made to be seen clearly such as the huge mountains, the lighting, the spears, small boulders and barbwires. The footprints are then included inside to simulate someone walking through this treacherous path.

This was my original design for the tote bag. I used this design to expose my screen for the first time and it turned out well on the silkscreen. However, when I printed onto the newsprints for test prints, it turned out to be half black instead and the half tone was not seen at all. Technically, the halftone failed and all the small details across the design were pitch black. I had to erase this design using the betastrip and re-expose it the next lesson. This leads to my amended design 5.

Design 5: 

fiinalised-quote-2-with-text-copy

This is the fifth design for this quote. I altered the dark grey mid tone to a much lighter one as shown above. Although it is edited, I still feel that it would not be ideal for the silkscreen which lead to my choice of the “light bulb” design for the tote bag.

” The seaweed is always greener in somebody else’s lake” ~Sebastian

 finalised-quote-4-with-text

The idea for this design is based on comparison which is represented by the half black and half white components. since there is the idea of a “lake’ in the quote, I feel that the general setting should be a lake in a more remote location with mountains instead of any modern buildings around it. In this case, the animal chosen will be a land animal (pig) instead to juxtapose with “seaweed” in the quote. In this design, the pig is situated in the white area (reality) versus the black area (imagination). Once again, this presents the idea of a comparison which is the interpretation of the quote. Since “the grass is greener on the other side” is a more commonly known phrasing than this quote, it can also be somewhat juxtaposed with the old phrase “pigs can fly” which thus explains my choice of this animal. The wings are hence another form of comparison.

” I open at the close” ~ Harry Potter

Design 1: 

sunrise

This symbol on the left is an ancient symbol of death. It also contains wings which is closely linked to the golden snitch in the Harry Potter movie. A small path is then formed by bones, leading “death” to a door. Eventually, a form of resurrection occurs whereby a man emerged with a skull. This is somewhat representative of the process of “rebirth” and a new start when you find a dead end in a situation which is my interpretation of the quote.

Design 2: 

edited-open

Since the quote is similar to the other Harry Potter quote I chose, I find that they do have some similarity involved which is the idea of “hope” and “rebirth” which translates to the use of a phoenix over here as well. This design looks cleaner than the first and the link between the two movies is also clearer. The reason why i chose a dark background was to represent the overall “close” first which then eventually leads to the “open” with positive spaces for close and negative spaces for open.