Our Goal for Concreting

These are clay miniatures of what my group, Living on the Edge, plan to make for the project.

Me Working to Make a Model

The Remains of the Model I Helped Make

Needless to say? Well, after pouring concrete into our mold, we discovered that .5 inch nail just don't hold up to the task!

Etched In Concrete

This is a picture I took of Bray and Kristina working on a model the three of us made.

Almost Done!?!?!?!?!?

This is me defining the design of one of our structures.



This is me and Clairissa using plaster of Paris as lube....not a good idea for cold weather!



Here are some of the molds from my group.

Today I went in early to check up on things and to work on my blog. I was very excited to see my groups castings and to see that they seem to be n one piece! They still need a day to set, but my fingers are crossed in hopes that they wont need to be recast.

Concrete Installment

Oh, ho, ho. As part of the "Edge"group, the site for my group takes up a lot of space, yet it contains little workable space. Some of my original ideas included planters incorporating the monkey grass at the front of the building, and making walls else where on the site. Kristina R. and I had started out with the idea of using curves and edges when we originally took photographs for precedents to include in the class slideshow.
Working in a group has been much more enjoyable than I expected and I have also gotten to know more people in the class than I knew previously. When my group was more or less shot down with the idea of wall making, I was surprised by the direction we went. Incorporating the four other groups is a challenge and I am pleased with the concept that we have come up with. Our forms now start out as square, angular figures and transition into circular, smooth figures. Paper is much more forgiving than 3d materials! On Monday, we first started to make molds for our concrete. I used several different tools, with help, to make a wooden box. It was a lot of fun. But today, he he. Today we mixed up concrete, using pine needles and Stinky Gink leaves for an aggregate, and filled up our mold. Well, the concrete started to pour out the corners of the mold and the sides of it fell apart! So I ended up having to hold the sides of the mold together while Bray tried to tape up the corners, but the tape wouldn't hold. So then Kristina had to try to scoop the concrete back into the tray so that it wouldn't get everywhere.So, now we are experimenting with using a cardboard mold.

Unity 2.0

These are photos of my unity project after some remodeling. I've taken out the center fan and clustered all of the remaining pieces together in the middle.

Dialog

For the dialog project I created an overall wedge shape. The two spaces are stacked and are facing different directions. To make the folds, I scored the paper, which is a technique that took me forever to think of. The skewers are all split down the middle and are straddling the paper as if the paper had actually cracked them.

Unity Project

Unity Project Comparison

The project that I wanted to use as a comparison is Hailey's cone-shaped model. Though it looks nothing like my model, I can still relate to it. For all three of the projects which we have done, my first ideal is always to make a cone. My leaf project looked like a cone until two days before the due date. The twig project started off like a cone, nearly identical to Hailey's, though I was able to change it up and simplify it. For the unity project I immediately thought of creating yet another cone, though I was able to refrain. It seems that a cone is a very easy form for me to work with, but the ideas that I have spawned from it have been very generic and haven't actually related well with the nature of the objects protruding from them. The thing about cones it that they have a definite base and also have a sense of progression since they move upward into a point. But I am glad that I have moved away from my first response for each of the assignments.
My final product for the unity project is very unique and it is difficult to compare to other projects. The theme of the piece is movement, actual movement. It took a long time to realize the direction I was going with it, I wanted to make sure that I understood the many ways I could manipulate the materials. I ended up cracking the sticks without severing the pieces. I broke the sticks in a z-shape which gives the impression of a circular movement. Then, after a long brainstorm (aka banging my head with my fist hoping for inspiration) I came up with the idea of pushing the implied motion of sticks further. That is how I came up with the spinning piece of paper in the middle of the project.
Though my and Hailey's projects look nothing alike, there is still a relationship between them in my eyes. Both of them have the idea of a circular shape and a sense of direction.

(Image from Hailey A.'s blog.)

Twelve Twigs Project

This is my final model for the twig project. Though it looks like there is only one stick, all twelve required sticks are present. I cut them into small pieces and stuck them inside of one another.

Twig Project Discussion

In class we discussed our twig projects, in great detail. Even though most of the time was obviously spent on examining other people's work, I still took a lot out of the discussion. There were many different types of binding agents used, such as hair and thread, that gave me a lot of new ideas that I could reference for future projects. Some of the important topics that came up included making wiser paper-color selections and executing better craftsmanship. It is an encouraged practice to experiment with different adhesives, paper treatments and cutting techniques.

Leaf Project

The top photo is of my final leaf product. The design was inspired by the negative space around the needles. The bottom photo is of my final product as well as all of the previous prototypes and brainstorms.

Precedent

The sticks I have chosen for the current project are all hollow. Like the pipes in the photograph, the sticks can be manipulated so that they interlock with one another. The parts of the sticks from which the flowers grow act as a cap does to a pipe in that they close off the "tube."

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