Tag: foundation 3d

3D Final Project (Assignment 3) – Emiko’s Kind

RESEARCH & PROCESS

Part 1

Reference SEM Photo Chosen: Bee Eyes

Decided to go ahead with this photo as I thought it would be interesting to replicate.

We had to either use organic or manufactured materials and I went ahead with Barley seeds as I felt like it would be able to replicate the structure of the SEM Photo.

I glued the seeds onto a piece of scrap fabric and arranged it in a way that I thought, would look like the SEM photo. After I was done, I realised that there was a pointy/sharp needle-like structures that should be inserted in between these seeds to make it look like the photo. However, since the seeds were really small, it was tough to find a thin enough needle-like material to be placed in between the seeds as the scale would not match up to the one in the photo.

Hence, I decided to go ahead with another material that was bigger in size so that I could use wires to duplicate the effect of the SEM photo. I went with these peas. I hot glued them together onto a piece of organza fabric. This fabric helps to not distract the form that I was going for since it was transparent and light enough to be manipulated how I wanted it to. The structure in the SEM photo shows a slight curve in the form.

Hence, whilst glueing the peas together, I place a circular metal bowl underneath so that the structure that I was creating would take the curved form of the bowl. I then inserted wires in between the peas by bending these wires such that the ends of it act as a stopper for it not to come through the fabric. To secure it in place, hot glue gun was used.

Part 2

In this part, we had to create a Bio-Radiator for Emiko. As I was researching on cooling devices, I came across quite a few cooling techniques that could be incorporated into the design of the final outcome. I narrowed it down to three:

Option 1: Fiber Reinforced Polyester

Option 2: HVAC Tech Caloric Compound

Option 3: CAU-10-H

I went ahead with Option 3 as I thought the concept of it was intriguing.

These were the functions of Option 3 and how it works as a cooling device:

The unused, existing heat from Emiko was used to run the  energy-efficient cooling system.

FUTURE BENEFITS

In addition to that, in the future, this would be very effective and useful due to global-warming. This material is eco-friendly in terms of production and is able to make use of waste heat energy instead of normal cooling systems that produces waste but are of no use.

I used this spun cotton ball to suggest the compressed solid form of the powder form of the CAU-10-H.

To add to the cooling effect, I used these beads below that suggests that they are cooling crystals.

To further refine the idea of cooling effect for Emiko, I decided to use white acrylic plastic sheets which are good reflectors of light to reflect the light away from Emiko. I also used embossing foils since they are good radiators of heat, allowing Emiko to keep cool.

I decided to settle on a headpiece as my wearable since I’ve always liked the avant garde head pieces that I come across online. Furthermore, the head is the at the top which means that it is exposed to the sun the most. Hence, it makes sense that that should be the wearable piece to create to aid Emiko’s overheating problem.

Upon going through tons and tons of photos, I finally narrowed down my references to these three images.

Since I was unfamiliar with headpiece forms, I tried to recreate Image 1 as above.

This was my attempt to create a base structure of it first.

I was not in favour of how it looked and the idea of having an enclosed headpiece. So I experimented with the other forms.

I combine Image 2 and 3 as I really liked the form of Image 3. However, since Emiko was an AI based in Japan, I decided that I wanted to have it to adopt design elements influenced by Japanese aesthetics.

I attempted to create the folds with felt and acrylic plastic sheets. I liked how it looks but I decided to continue experimenting as I was not a 100% sure that this would be the style that I wanted to go with since it did look a little too bulky for my liking.

Hence, I decided to develop a structure first to fit it to the head then work from there.

I then explored the different ways I could incorporate the fan-like structure that was inspired by Japanese culture.

I still very much liked the structure of Image 1 above in amongst my reference image in terms of how the fan-like effect increased in size.

I tried to create a base structure such as that in the image below. I attempted to replicate the fan-like structure using individual pieces of acrylic plastic sheets that were cut carefully to show the increase in size. This was my attempt at attaching it to the base structure.

In the images above, the individual fan-like panes are attached the structure by puncturing it through the panes and twisting i around the base structure. The top of the wire was curved to serve as a stopper for the panes too.

However, it looked really messy and did not provide the more minimal look that I prefer.

Therefore, I experimented with a few different ways to attach the panes to the structure. This was the toughest part to craft as I found it a challenge to let the panes stay up without much support since it does get flimsy as it increases in size. Another problem I had was having to manipulate the arrangement of the fan-like panes to follow  curvature form of the base structure.

These are my attempts:

I thought it could still use improvements in terms of the attachment of the fan-like panes to the base structure. I finally thought of a ring attachment made by wires.

FINAL PROJECT EXECUTION

Afterwards, it was time to put the elements together to form my final piece.

This was after cutting the individual fan-like panes and attaching it to the base structure.

I covered the base piece with a black ribbon as I felt like the silver wire against the silver foil and white sheets were a little too muted and blend.

The panes were cut in a way that it would bend very slightly to follow the curve of the structure so that it would look more interesting from other angles as it provided variation.

This was the adaptation of Part 1 into Part 2. I pierced a matchstick through the spun cotton ball. The matchstick is the requirement for the organic material. 

A detachable nose piece made out of wire and beads that suggests it to be cooling crystals was also made.

FINAL OUTCOME

REFLECTIONS

This particular project was challenging as there were many factors that had to be considered. Apart from the structure & aesthetics of it, we had to factor in the proper measurements so that it would fit the model. Also, the fact that we had to consider the bio-radiator factor in to incorporate it into the design.

PDF BOARDS

 

Foundation 3D – Assignment 2B En Pointe

For this assignment, we had to watch 3 sets of dance videos and pick one that we’d like to work with.

I chose AMA by Julie Gautier, made in 2018.

My interpretation from the dance was that the dancer has lost her child through a miscarriage and she was devastated and in pain. The dance, to me, portrayed how she was trying to escape the feeling and the awful phase in her life and how she was trying to let go but something was holding her back, like a resistance. She wanted to hold on to the pain as that was the only memory she has that is attached to her baby that never made it to the world.

Hence, from the piece, the adjectives that I gathered were: Captivating, Elegance & Hope

Research

My initial idea was to have something elegant and to me, that translates to something that is flowy and has movement. Therefore, the first material that came to mind was organza.

I started researching on the sculptures that I felt best captured the essence of the adjectives I’ve derived at.  I decided that these three images were going to be my inspiration.

The sculpture by Linda Celestian and Maggie Casey both captured elegance yet control at the same time. I felt like this was exactly what the dance portrayed when I watched it. Therefore, I made draft models to experiment with different materials and ways to work with hanging sculptures.

Process:

[Inspired by Linda Celestian]

Materials: Wires, Crepe Paper, Glue (Hot Glue & Multi-Purpose Glue)

Firstly, I tried to grab hold of items I could find and this first experimentation was done with wires and crepe paper along with hot glue gun to hold things in place.

What I discovered was that the glue gun melted the crepe paper. Whereas when I tried using multi-purpose glue, it did not dry fast enough to hold the crepe paper in place. It also seeped through the crepe paper.

I liked how it looked but I continued experimenting.

[Inspired by Maggie Casey]

Materials: Crepe Paper, Cardboard, Masking Tape, Sewing thread & Needle.

For this next one, I attempted to recreate my inspiration photo with just strings on the sides of the cardboard to allow more movement for the crepe paper to replicate ‘Elegant’.

With this one, I needed to find a way to support my sculpture hence it needed to be either hanging or have a grounded base. Hence, I went with a cardboard as the support and held it together with masking tape just for the purpose of experimentation to see how it would sort of turn out in the end.

I created slits on the cardboard to allow the strings to be slotted through to hold the sculpture in place.

The crepe paper material lack movement and was stiff. To make it look more elegant and lively, I attempted to manipulate the shape of the crepe paper with needle and thread. I stitched it into place in the middle part of the crepe paper. However, on the two sides, I allowed the threads that run across the paper to hold it into shape.

Afterwards, I tightened the strings as it is slotted through the bottom slit of the cardboard. How I stitched the strings to the cardboard was to have it enter from the bottom, through the crepe paper and up through the top. From there, I leave about 0.5 cm of space and stitched the string from the top (continued from previous stitching) through the paper and finally through the bottom of the cardboard where I made a knot and tied it

Verdict: Initially, I preferred the 2nd experimentation model and decided to go ahead with that.

I then had an organza and experimented it with blue foam boards. I cut two foam planks and 8 foam cubes which was pasted onto the planks on the 4 corners of each plank.

I used hot glue gun and it melted through the foam. I then got a specific glue that was specifically formulated for foam and that worked but for the sake of experimentation, I taped it down for extra security.

I wanted it to seem as if the organza was free-floating. Therefore, I went ahead to have it attached by a nylon thread that is almost invisible. The thread was attached at the 4 corners of the planks and stitched through the organza with a needle.

I loved how this look as the organza had movement and looked soft and ‘Elegant’ but I knew I wanted my sculpture to be hanging and to be supported by curved planar instead of something angular like the plank.

Therefore, I had 2 foam hemispheres and painted it black with acrylic paint. The reason for this was because I wanted to introduce a reflective element that would replicate and capture the ‘Captivating’ essence of the dance. through the representation of water reflection that I intended to recreate via broken mirrors. Therefore, the darker surface would allow for that.

I broke the mirror with a hammer and glued it into the hemisphere to experiment.

Experimentation 4

However, I realised that I needed to glued the mirror pieces onto an MDF board instead which was where the string would be hanging from.

Experimentation 5

I needed the strings to be glued onto a flat, straight surface so that it would be easier to work with as I needed to tie it down and have it tight. Therefore, similar to Experimentation 3, I cut cubes of wood-like pole that have been measured to 0.5cm to be pasted onto the MDF board. They were also scored on the sides to allow the nylon thread to have a grip to be tied.

The MDF board was first cut into a circular shape to fit the interior of the dome and it was filed into shape. It was painted black with acrylic with the same purpose of it to help with the reflective element of the sculpture. It was then measured so that the wood-like cubes could be pasted onto it. This was done using hot glue gun.

Experimentation 6

I wanted to replicate Maggie Casey’s work; to have strings to serve as support to shape the organza. However, I realised that the organza would not hold into place. Therefore, going back to Experimentation 2, I sewed some parts of it to create folds that would be emphasised by the nylon thread when I stitched it through the organza. This did help.

Experimentation 7

This sculpture was a particularly tough one to make as it required something to prop it up while I had to painstakingly tie the strings at the top of the MDF board and the bottom through the organza. I tried to hang it with a masking tape to sides of tables and doors. To attach the bottom to the top before I added the strings, I needed to attach it to a wooded stick for support.

In addition, I experimented with both the nylon thread and normal white sewing thread to see which looked better and which could be tied tighter to support the structure and shape the organza.

However, as seen from the pictures below, I failed miserably. I didn’t secured the strings with tape first as I needed to adjust it as I went along. This was because the strings did not seem to be able to be holding down tightly.

Verdict: I did not like how it look as it was very messy and did not capture the interpretation of the dance that I was going for. I experimented for hours for this and realised it was never going to work out as I hadn’t figured out the proper way to have this done. Also, I felt like having it the top hemisphere attached to the bottom made it seem rigid which I didn’t like. I wanted to also feature ‘Hope’.

Therefore, I decided to have the hemisphere separated instead of having it attached. I wanted the bottom hemisphere to have a base. This means that, if time had permitted, as a piece, it would be propped up with a separate pole that would allow the the top part of the sculpture to be hanged and the bottom to be placed on a surface that would be attached to the pole.

I had also scraped the idea of the organza held into place solely by threads as it didn’t translate the movement I wanted to capture in Experimentation 7. Hence, I revisited Experimentation 1 as it would allow me to manipulate the organza with wires that could be bended into shape.

I also decided to stain one sheet of the organza with a Cyan blue colour with splatters of white to create a water-like effect as the two colours reminded me of water.

Before that, I stitched the organza to have a rolled hem so that it would not fray. Afterwards, I created the wire figures.

Experimentation 9

I then attached the organza to it with hot glue gun. Afterwards, I removed the multiple wood-like cubes from Experimentation 6 as I did not need the threads to be attached to so many of the cubes. I left a couple of the cubes for my final piece as I still need nylon threads to be attached to it for the suspending wired organza piece.

I also attached a wired handle that I bended into shape and pierced it through the hemisphere. I placed a foam at the end of the it to not have it pierce through the other side of the foam and for the purpose of a stopper, hidden inside the hemisphere.

The sculpture created a reflective effect that to me, capture the ‘Captivating’ essence of the dance and represented water reflections.

Click here for clip of effect of reflections 

Hence, this concludes my Process and Research for Assignment 2B – En Pointe. Overall, I had a very challenging time to create this piece and had to redo things multiple times. However, I think I tried to capture the essence of the dance and hoped it translated into my sculpture.