Category: Process

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Final Project Research and Process – The Little Mermaid

My final project is based off the story of the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Of which, I did some research on the story and presented my findings in class.

I have chosen the part of the story where the little mermaid jumps in to the sea and gains and immortal soul while the prince sails off in a boat after he got married to the princess.

I decided on portraying the story in the way the ball bearing travels in the artwork.

These are my initial sketches when I was planning for this final project:

I had also planned out 4 main parts for this artwork.

  1. The part where the prince and the little mermaid spends time together – to show that their fates intertwined which I use the crossing of two plastic tubes to portray that as the two ball bearings would travel along the tubes at the same time but pass by each other while they are moving down the tubes.
  2. But they ended up being separated as the prince chose to marry a princess instead of the little mermaid – shown by having one ball bearing exiting from the left and the other from the right.
  3. The little mermaid then jumps into the sea as the prince marries the princess,  but instead of turning into foam, she was given an immortal soul – This is portrayed by having the ball bearing exit on the left, dropping into a small metal bucket which then is lowered into the water in the container through the use of pulleys (representing the little mermaid jumping into the sea) and a plastic sphere moving upwards due to the pulleys (to represent the little mermaid gaining an immortal soul and going to heaven).
  4. The prince marries the princess and moves off in a ship – This is shown by having the other ball bearing representing the prince to exit on the right and then falls into a boat which then moves off

After planning out, I went out to source for materials. Such as the wooden base to place the tall structure with tubes, the containers for the water, wooden sticks, the metal frame to hold the tubes. I did have go out to source certain materials which were not easily sold outside such as a plastic tube/hose that could accommodate the size of the ball bearings and the pulleys. The image below shows the process of my work in progress.

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Creation of planes using thread (Process- Final)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working on my final model for this project, instead of using just black thread that previously looked slightly dull, I decided to experiment and used different colored threads of which gave it a more attractive look and gives the artwork more “life” to it. At the same time, I realized that with the prototype model, the bottom piece would not have enough tension to keep the threads in place to create a plane. Thus, for the final model, I made some modifications and replaced it with just one piece that managed to create enough tension to hold the threads. Of which, the one piece that i have used to replace the bottom piece was inspired by the sails of a sailboat. I really enjoyed the process of trial and error as in the midst of trying different methods to replace the bottom piece, I learnt that some methods may not work as there is not enough tension but at the same time, it allowed me to figure out the best way to create a three dimensional artwork with the plastic sheets and planes made by various colored threads.

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Creation of planes using thread (Process- Prototype)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started working on my prototype by using thick vanguard and black thread. Initially i started with just two pieces but added another two more pieces to the prototype as just two pieces caused the work to have a “back” thus it will not look fully three dimensional as required by this project. The  problem that I faced while working on the prototype is, the issue with the threads becoming loose as the vanguard sheet did not allow the threads to create a very strong tension. However, by creating this prototype, it has allowed me to have an idea on how i could create my final model as it acts as a template.