ASSIGNMENT: Create anything that combines two or more materials. The materials can't be plywood or acrylic.
RESTRICTIONS: Time. For this project I had a tighter deadline than usual because I was leaving for thanksgiving on Thursday 28th and wouldn't be back in time for next week's class. I had from Tuesday 26th after class (11:30AM) until Thursday 28th at 12:00PM. Essentially two days and a half of work.
Inspiration: Perch Light by Umut Yamac
#fabrication #design #tangibleinteractions
My inspiration for this assignment came after I saw this project in class. I really liked the color combination and the idea of combining a hard material like foil or sheet metal and a soft material like paper. My first idea was to get actual brass foil in order to make a more seamless combination by soldering the foil. However, because of time constraints I could only work with materials I could get the same day and preferably from close by so I didn't waste time travelling. That meant any ordering of materials was out of the picture regardless of how fast delivery was. So I decided to use sheet metal instead and spray paint it a brass-y/gold color. After making that decision I was attracted by the idea of using white cloth as my second material so I chose silk ribbon after an idea started taking shape.
Process
While looking at the example projects in class an idea started forming in my head of making silk flowers that had metal stems, effectively joining two materials and meeting the requirement for the assignment.
I also wanted to see if there was any way of incorporating leftover materials from previous projects so they wouldn't go to waste. So I decided I wanted my flowers to be standing as if rooted on a base or "ground" and to do that I was going to use magnetic buttons I ordered for my flashlight project. They came in a giant pack with many of them and I only used one for my flashlight.
Conclusion
If I had more time I would've done things a little fancier. Starting with using materials that could be soldered together like brass foil. I would've perhaps been able to use the foil to shape the stem completely of the same material. I would also perhaps have made different kinds of flowers other than roses and from different kinds of textiles.
All in all I think that it turned out great for the time it was done in. I learned to trust my gut and not question my ideas as much, just get the materials and move forward figuring out issues as they come up.