Category: Process

ASSIGNMENT 2B – HELD, WORN, CARRIED – WEAVE THINKING THROUGH MAKING

March 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Part 1

Moving on from a weaving assignment before this one, Part 1 requires us to select a minimum of 2 verbs (from: WRAP . PUNCTURE . CRADLE/GRAB . BIND . SLIDE . LIFT) and come up with 4 expressions that expresses the verbs.

I chose Wrap and Bind as my verbs and did some sketches as I attempt on the expressions. I did some research and was more drawn to the play on ropes and I decided that that would be one of my material along with cane. Figured the two would be a pretty interesting and unifying combination given its ‘raw’ nature.

Sketches:

Process for Expressions:

FINAL 4 expressions:

 

Part 2

For the second part, we had to create a vessel that is to be held, worn or carried. I looked up some photos for inspiration and was steered to the idea of my final product being a bag of some sort.

Originally, this was my inspiration photo:

I did some sketches to generate some ideas for consultation.

I liked the more curvilinear shapes as they felt more organic and tied better with the materials I had in mind. I sketched these based on the 4 expressions I had in Part 1.

Upon consultation, I decided to pick number 1 as my final product. I wanted it to have spaces so that a complimentary fabric would peek through. I did not want it to all be covered in the weaving expression.

At first, I wanted to use wires as the base and weave cane through it. However, upon consideration, I realised that attaching it together would be a problem as I wasn’t familiar with soldering and I was also pressed for time. Hence, I decided to go ahead with having weaved cane as the base.

I started working on the bag. I soon realised that this can was tougher to control as compared to a thicker rattan that I had used before. I knew it was the cane as I used the same, pine needle pattern as before. The cane was fragile and dries quicker than the thicker rattan.

This served as a problem as the weaved base kept falling apart or rather, it looked messy. I decided to continue on as I really liked how it looked as a base. Another problem I had with it was also the fact that it could not stand as the base was more pointy than I had anticipated.

PROCESS PHOTOS

Afterwards, I attached vertical rattan to the base. As I continued on, I added twine in a darker colour horizontally and incorporated the square plait weaving I learnt in Part 1 into the bag.

A mini bucket was used to form the wider base that I was aiming for. I didn’t have a smaller bucket in hand which I intended to have. Had to work with what I had. I tried to use the weaving to keep the base wider.

Unfortunately, the challenge to replicate the shape from my sketch was pretty much unachievable with the materials I had on hand.

Hence, I brainstormed again and decided to change my plan. I went with a more organic shape where I used a ring to wrap the cane around. I used that as the means to form my shape. The idea of it was for the bag to look raw and have that “unfinished” look as it was aimed at holding things like bottle for those working outdoors like farming. This was also to compliment organic-like materials that I went for.

As I continued on, I kept getting frustrated with the unstable base that I decided to remove it completely. I decided to incorporate jute rope for the bottom with cable/square plait weaving that I incorporated from Part 1. Fortunately, the base was detached from the vertical cane that already had weaving on it.

Rough sketch of new plan for weaving

Jute rope was used because it was more thick and rugged. After that, I just experimented with different bases to see what I could come up with.

It was not possible to form the pine-needle weaving base with rope. Hence, I decided to use the same cable plait method in vertical form to criss cross it with one another. Thought it created an interesting expression.

Afterwards, things started to look better. However, the challenge was to form a shape for the bag. I formed the shape as I went along and it was supposed to look have a more irregular shape where it looks different from each angle. To form and keep the shape intact on the ring, it took quite a bit of manipulation with rope to secure it further.

Upon completion of the weaving I realised that one side of the product looked too empty and it didn’t look like it forms a smooth curved shape on the left side of the bag. (front view)

Hence, I incorporated one of the expressions of the twisted cable plait and attached it in a curved manner to the empty slots.

Finally, I added the handle which was from Part 1.

Inspiration:

FINAL DRAWINGS

2-point Perspective

Projection

Axonometric

FINAL OUTCOMES

 

 

 

 

 

ASSIGNMENT 2A – HELD . WORN . CARRIED – WEAVE (Task 1: Object Studies)

February 7, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Assignment 2A is broken down into 2 tasks. Task 1 is Object Studies which is the one that will be covered in this post. Unfortunately, I wasn’t well and could not make it for class. Therefore,  I had to try and pick things up via the internet. Thankfully, we did Orthographic Projection studies before in class which aided me in completing some parts of it.

Task 1 requires us to study the form of a chosen object that is either held, worn or carried. I chose a hair dryer as I figured that it would be quite interesting to study.

I attempted the Orthographic Drawing of the Top, Front and Side View of the object. I scaled it down to 1:2. I started off by breaking down the hair dryer into 3 parts. Then, I measured the length, height, diameter (if need be) and pen it down on the graph paper along with a rough mini sketch of the dryer. I then divided these measurements by 2, measured and drew it onto the graph paper. I start with light sketchy lines and darken it as I got the the shapes out. The easiest way for me to get the measurements out, since the hair dryer had a lot of curves, was to lay it down on graph paper and mark it out. From there, I collated the measurements and did the maths.

Example of marking out the measurements of the object

The challenges for the Orthographic drawing was definitely drawing the curvatures as well as getting the details in. The base of the shape was also not easy to achieve. I had to be very systematic in the way that I work in that I had to attempt things, one at a time and get all the measurements right first before moving on. This allows me to get the proportions, sizing and scaling, more or less the same.

Photo of Orthographic Scanning

Next, the second part to Task 1 is a 2-point perspective drawing of the same object.  This was the one that was most challenging to me since I was also absent from class. I can’t seem to visualise perspectives and therefore, putting it down onto paper, in proportion has always been a problem for me. I decided to watch some videos online and mimicked the tips given.

I sketched a lot of circles that helped me visualise the shape better.  This took multiple tries before I was somewhat satisfied with the base shape. The problems I had were mainly the proportion and also the perspective of the circles.

The videos I referred to were:

Photo of Perspective Scanning

 

ASSIGNMENT 2A – HELD . WORN . CARRIED – WEAVE (Task 2 (Pairs): Weave Technique Studies)

February 7, 2019 / / 1 Comment

This is Part 2 of Assignment 2A which was done in pairs. I was paired up with Ik Hwa.

Going into this, both Ik and I had no clue as to where we should even begin as we were both inexperienced in weaving. We started off by doing our own self-studies by watching videos provided by Sherry. We explored other videos when we met up to attempt the project. At first, we contemplated between the Hexagonal and Octagonal Pattern. However, as we went on with our research, we realised that the Octagonal Pattern was a little too ambitious as a first attempt. In contrast, Hexagonal was a little too simple and we want to attempt a pattern that was somewhat challenging but doable. Upon pinning several images on Pinterest, we both decided that we were going to settle for the Pine Needle pattern.

Looking through our Pinterest pins, we realised we were both drawn to the lanterns/light 3D pieces. We felt that the Pine Needle pattern would suit what we were going for as well. It will allow the light to be emitted through the tiny spaces. It also fitted the aesthetic style we were going for.

2D

We soaked the rattan provided by Sherry into water. This helped soften and moisten the rattan to allow it to be bent into shape without much fraying and breaking. The idea is that as it dries, it will retain the shape that we’ve created when it was wet and malleable.

We first had to create a 2D flat weaving pattern (20x20cm) and measured our rattan strips before anything else.

We had trouble starting it off as it needed to be stuck to a strong base to be pushed into place.

Hence, we laid the vertical rattan strips in a row with 2cm spacing between each strip.  We stuck it down to a piece of paper with masking tape and secured it further by placing it under something heavy.

After which, we started weaving with the horizontal strips. It went well at first and the rattan strips were secured tightly to each other without much struggle.

However, as we went along, it got tighter and tighter. Even after using pliers to assist the tightening process, it was still challenging and trick to get the strips to be pushed close to each other. We even tried moistening the rattan again which didn’t help much as well. The whole process was extremely time consuming.

We discovered that the reasons for this:

1. The vertical rattan strips were exactly the same size as the horizontal ones which did not create much space for the rattan to be pushed up and be secured.

2. The strips were not long enough which resulted in them being propped up as we went along since it got tighter.

The final result for the 2D weaving:

3D 

Knowing the problems we encountered and the reasons behind it, moving forward, we took note of all of it and rectified our errors.

For the 3D object, we drew inspirations from Pinterest and sketched out our idea on paper.

Again, we couldn’t figure out as to where we should begin. Hence, we started watching videos on youtube on wicker baskets etc.

Main video reference:

I had a previously used MDF board which I had cut into a circular shape. I brought that which we used as a base.

Since we had a problem with spacing in the 2D model. We decided to add two vertical strips (attached together) instead of one and kept the distance between each other to be 2cm. We marked the circular board according to the width of the two pieces of rattan.

After which, Ik used a hammer and a sharp object to create a inserts/slits into the MDF board.

Mimicking the steps from the video reference, I then inserted the rattan strips through the inserts and secured the remaining rattan at the bottom using the same braiding-like method used in the video. This was challenging as the rattan kept sticking out. Hence, we secured it with clips until it dried into shape.

We then started weaving the horizontal strips through the vertical ones. It was a much smoother process compared to the 2D model when we were still exploring the weaving methods. The rectification of our previous mistakes really mad a difference in making the weaving neater. We also taped the rattan together to make the process easier as the weaving did get a little complicated.

We wanted to add battery operated fairy lights into the 3D model. Hence, I brought it back and inserted the fairy lights before finishing it. Before that, we had discussed that we wanted a space between two sets of weaving as it will allow more light to be radiated out of the model to fit its functionality.

Finished the model off by bunching up the rattan and wrapping a piece of rattan around it. I tied it off with two knots (one in the front and the other in the back).

Overall, Ik and I are quite satisfied with our outcome despite the several hiccups we had. We learnt quite a bit about weaving and have a better understanding of the material.

One thing we would have done differently, given the chance, was to switch up the rattan for a thinner one like a cane or actual pine needles as it would create a better effect.

This is a video of our process:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LAm5d1_Ycq3WpK6PY4QIBu_hNXfzjeFU

Final results for 3D weaving:

 

Not lighted:

Lighted:

 

Page 1

ASSIGNMENT 1 – AXONOMETRIC DRAWING

January 30, 2019 / / 1 Comment

For this first assignment, we learnt Orthographic Projections before attempting to create an instruction manual based on a lego-built of our choice. The objective is to create a clear manual for others to follow and re-create my built.

This was to be done via Axonometric Drawings, specifically, Isometric. Apart from Isometric, Diametric and Trimetric are other branches of Axonometric Drawings. Along with those, we also practiced some Oblique Projection Drawings.

Sherry, our lecturer, provided us with Lego pieces for us to come up with our desired built. I decided to build a Dollhouse. As a kid, I was never really into dolls nor was I into girly things. As I got older, I realise that I missed out on the fun of it all; dressing up dolls, having tea parties in dollhouses. Hence, this is my simple take on a dollhouse that I never had, reliving my childhood as an adult.

Here are the different views of my Lego built.

Below are the raw drawings of my Lego pieces.

I realise that although my built looked quite simple and compact, there are many pieces that went into building it as I use quite a bit of “platforms” to raise the height of the built and create bases for my roof and base.

Some pieces from the above drawing were not drawn correctly, which I did not notice at first in Pages 1-2. Page 3 were the corrections of the pieces that were not drawn correctly due to the mistake in perspectives.

Lastly, the photos below are my Instruction Manual for The Dollhouse. I tried to make it as clear as possible with minimal steps per box. I chose to have a clean design with pastel tones for simplicity and to allow maximum focus to the instruction itself. I added small rounded boxes in each step to indicate the pieces needed for that particular step. In addition to that, I placed arrows to indicate the direction as to where the Lego pieces are supposed to be fixed.

The designs software that I used was Photoshop at first but halfway through, I switched over to Illustrator as Photoshop was too consuming to assemble the pieces.