Summary of the Pathway Rotation - six weeks

Overall I have explored so many different pathways and different ways of working in the at and design field. Each subject offered something different and I really have enjoyed looking into each subject and learning how to create a variety of outcomes. I tried  really hard for each subject to achieve in the tasks. My favourite week was graphics and I feel that this is the topic that I will be choosing at the end of the six week rotation. I feel that the graphics was very appealing to me - I enjoy designing and coming up with solutions in a design sense to problems. I felt that graphics had a lot of variety and I know that my skills can be put to use. The most challenging part of the week was the fashion and textiles as we had a lot less time to experiment with the samples we would be developing - I found it difficult to come up with ideas without planning however I did like the practical side and the fast development period that fashion offered. Anther course that really interested me other than graphics was LMB because it has a lot of designing and planning which goes into the finished product - I really enjoyed making the storyboards and coming up with our own ideas. Over the last 6 weeks I have learnt that I can adapt well with new environments as well as getting work done - I feel I have grown as I have been exposed to the different areas and the different was of working.

3DD Pathway - Weekly Review

During the 3D week I explored many ways of designing and creating for 3D. And throughout this week I found myself trying to make things that I had no idea of doing. It challenged me in everyway and tested my skills which I liked - I liked that I didn’t know what I was doing as it let me fully experiment and be free with the creations I made. During this week we were given many different tasks to achieve, these include: creating a paper sculpture to hold a water bottle, creating a cardboard structure to hold my weight, making a spaghetti structure, and making a large bridge. And out of these, I was only successful with a few – however with my failures I was able to learn what went wrong and how I could avoid the same mistakes in the next tasks. It felt really good when I was able to create a piece that worked well. 

When I was working I often got comments from the students and teachers around me about my work I was making or had made. These comments often helped me to improve the piece I had made for instance when trying to produce the protective shell for the spaghetti task I found that after discussing the task and getting the reaction from what I had made - I realised that it may not have been strong enough and so used pillars to hold up the structure. Often times my tutors may hint ways that would improve the strength of the piece as well as things not to do. When my water bottle carrier didn’t work my tutor explained that this was a good idea even though it did not work – he suggested that if it was mad out of a stronger material it should have worked. This helped me when creating my next piece and guided me in things I should and should not do. 

One of the things that I have learned from carrying out these tasks was to plan before carrying out the creation – even if it literally meant just thinking about the factors that are needed to make it a success and the factors that could go wrong (such as what would be on it? What is the most effective way to make the material stronger? The height, how will it stand and etc.) This week was very practical; I had to learn how to come up with quick solutions to a problem. For instance when creating my structures I had to think of ways to make it stronger or for fixing a wobbly base.

I think that the work I created succeeded (even if it some of it didn’t necessarily work) because I spent time designing and planning the look and figuring ways to improve the use of the structure. I tried to make my piece look visually interesting to respond to the tasks we were set – and because I tried to experiment each of my work shows a unique look. If my piece did not work I often felt disappointed – I wanted to make something that didn’t work (so I instead thought of improvements for next time.) Another aspect that I didn’t like about my work was that sometimes it wasn’t measured out neatly and this meant that some times it looked a little messy.

I found planning and then making quite hard to do because most of the time the plans that I had couldn’t be made because of the material was unable to bend a certain way or etc. I also found the lack of materials hard to do because it meant I had only one or a couple tries at making a piece I had never made before. However I found this exciting at the same time and meant I had to make it (I wasn’t to hung up on ‘I don’t know what to do’ as I had only one chance. Most of the time I was making what worked well when I was making. The task that I found most easy way the spaghetti structure – this was because we were given more time in planning and making which let me explore lots of ideas before actually creating. I also really liked the material even though it was delicate it was something completely different. In order to save time I could have tried planning most of my tasks a little better and measuring the material I used a little more, in order to prevent any mistakes which could cause later problems such as the balance. By planning better I will be able to come up with a clear idea that will drive my work instead of sometime improvising. Overall I really enjoyed the excitement of the 3DD week as it was very practical and tested many skills. 

Building a Bridge

The class was put into six different groups and instructed to create a bridge that would span the

length of the room (separated with two tables.) The bridge also had to be tall enough to push a table in the centre. There could only be two points on the floor where any of the materials could touch the ground (the support legs for the bridge.) We had 2 and half hours to do this until the bridge would be tested with a remote control car - if the bridge could let the car travel from one side of the bridge to the other without any accidents this would prove the bridge a success.

 

We were given the materials to create the bridge from and this was all we were allowed: 10 sheets of A1 card, 30 bamboo sticks and 2 rolls of duct tape. In my group there were 6 people and before we started creating we came together to decide what we were going to make and where we would be starting. We looked to our paper bridge exercise for some inspiration however had difficulty to find any starting point. We then decided to look at the materials and see what we could make from what we were given. The bamboo sticks would have been an 'obvious' element to use as the bridge's legs so instead we decided to come up with alternative ideas for how the bamboo could be used - as well as giving the bridge a unique character visually. We thought that the road of the bridge could use the bamboo by crossing the sticks over each other to make a structure that would be both strong and visually interesting however we realised that this would be difficult for the car wheel's to travel across and we would need to cover the design up any way.  We then thought about wrapping the bamboo together to make a track (with two of these bunches) - however another challenge we found was that the bamboo wasn't very flexible when it was taped together so it would be nearly impossible to arch the bamboo to create a bridge high enough to fit the table. Instead we decided to use the bamboo as the first slope for the bridge and then to use the card as the legs and main road. We created the bamboo slope first. After creating the 'track' we needed to decide how to support the bridge - the legs.

When we were planning the legs we wanted the card to serve as this support. We decided the strongest shape would be a cube. From our previous exercises of supporting weight we understood that the best way to support weight was to have a strong base. Therefore we planned the cubes, we later decided to add a twist by turning the cubes in different angles to create a stacked look - I really liked this part of our bridge since it was a bit different than simply piling the cubes straight. Furthermore it meant weight could be spread out more. To keep the boxes together we cut slits so that we could fix them strongly together. We used 5 boxes on each side. We didn't face many challenges when creating this part of the bridge and  felt we worked especially well as a team during this part of the task as we were each given jobs - measuring, cutting and assembling the boxes together. We were able to create the legs quite quickly. The only real problem we faced thinking of a way to keep the boxes together however I suggest we add slits so they are bonded together. We later had to add more cubes (it was originally 8 boxes but we added another 2) for more height.  

 After assembling all of the cubes and creating the legs we laid out the pieces that we had created to see where our next move would have to be. Above you can see that we laid down the bamboo into two sections to create a 'track' that the car wheels could sit either side. We leant this onto our boxes and they were able to balance but we knew that we had to attach these pieces together so it would fall apart when weight was put onto it. One of our tutors suggested that we cut into the top of the cube leg so it would stay in place. However we had trouble with the angles when trying to do this because the boxes have been stacked in an unusual way. Instead we used the duct tape to place the bamboo onto the legs. Whilst creating this part and looking at this photograph I feel that this part of our bridge looks very unique, I like the look of the bamboo tapes together because it looks so organic against the cardboard boxes. I like that the bamboo is leaning onto the boxes. If we were allowed more bamboo we would have continued to use it for the whole bridge. After this picture we decided to play around with the angles of the leg - we were going to play the leg at an opposite angle to the bamboo by cutting a section of the card from the bottom square. This way the leg could balance on its own. This was very challenging as the angle had to be measured correctly otherwise the whole bridge would fall to one side and collapse. We were able to balance the leg with help of the bamboo which was taped onto the cubes. We only did this to one leg as we didn't have enough time to do both - it was a very lengthy process of cutting the right angle. If were given more time I think we could  have balance both legs out giving our bridge an even more appealing and unusual look.

From the beginning we planned to have a tunnel - this was because we knew we could not use bamboo for the main road and would have to have a simple cardboard as the structure. So in order to add the character we had given to the legs and slope we wanted something a little bit different.  We cut out the tunnel with different sized strips of card that bent in the middle. We was going to cut out designs into these strips like windows however we had a lack of time. If we were going to redo this part of the bridge we would have spent more time in giving the tunnel these designs. However I do like the triangular shape that is created throughout the tunnel - the sections in between generated shadows within the tunnel that was a very beautiful detail. When we assembled this part of the bridge it was clear that the bridge was almost finished and for the first time actually looked like a bridge. We used several bamboo sticks and taped them together to create the length of the bridge. We made two of these which we taped to the bottom of the card so that there was more strength in the middle of our bridge - this bamboo would help to straighten this part and prevent it from collapsing in to itself (stop it from being flimsy.) At this point we were given lots of compliments by people outside of the group for its unique look. It took several of us to lift this part of the bridge up and tape to the bamboo slopes either side of the legs.

The last thing we had to do was to place brackets either side of the slope so that the car wouldn't drive of of the track before getting to the other side. This was pretty simple to make. Once the main part of the bridge was out onto the legs we realised that they couldn't support this part of the structure - we needed more support. And in order to sustain our bridge we had to add more legs - which we did with four extra bamboo on the inside of the legs. After this and other small details the bridge was completed just in time for the end. Overall I am really happy with how our bridge turned out - we were able to challenge ourselves and use our skills to get the bridge completed. I felt that our bridge looked the most sturdiest as we discussed together how the car would fit and cross our bridge safely so added details such as the bridge to protect the car. I was surprised with how well our team worked we got on very well. We could challenge each other ideas or suggest better ones which meant we all were able to have a say and express our opinions. No body was 'slacking' but we all wanted to help each other and find jobs to do even if it meant simply assisting. We were all efficient with time however at the end it was a little bit of a mad rush to get everything done (however so were many other groups.) To improve our time management we could have planned in advance different sections for people to focus on instead of deciding after we had finished one section.

When the time came for the car to drive over our bridge were all nervous although secretly confident because we knew we planned in great detail for how it would turn out. The slope enabled the card to climb up the angle with ease as the wheel's followed the bamboo tracks easily. As the car got to the start of the main road it travelled at the fastest of any of the other cars - this was because the tunnel protected the car from falling of and the tutor felt at ease speeding the car through the tunnel - however the speed the car was travelling at meant the car flew out of the other end before it could travel down the slope and fell of. Nevertheless our bridge worked! It was a success.

Day 3 - Paper Bridge

 

 

 

On the third day of the 3DD exploratory stage we were asked to generate several paper bridges spread across two pages within our sketch books. I found it difficult at first to produce a bridge that was creative and worked well -  was able to stand up or its self. I really like the paper bridge within in the sketchbook because it looks like a pop up inside of a children's book. This idea is interesting and let me explore cut out as well as sticking paper onto the open pages to generate different effects. The first I created was the image above, it was an extremely simple design which I don't like very much - this is because it was very flimsy and didn't have much impact as far as a bridge goes. If I was going to redo this design I would make it longer (to fit from one edge of the page to the other) this way we might have been able to see more of the design. I think it would have been interesting to add more of these designs and overlap to make a new design. I really like my concept however of 'cut out' - here I have used cut outs to decorate and to form my designs. Furthermore I like the shadow that is generated from my design which shows  of the bridge better than the paper.

 

Protective shelter

In the second half of the day we were making a structure from paper to cover our spaghetti buildings. Our tutor explained that we needed to protect the spaghetti structures from a force. We were only given one A1 page of cartridge paper and two A3 pieces of paper to do this with. We could use this paper in any way we thought would prevent the structures from being destroyed by this 'force.'  I decided to lay my piece on its side as it would make it more stronger than its normal state (which is more fragile.) At first I wasn't sure what would be most effective to prevent any harm of my structure - I tried scrunching the paper to serve as a pillow for any force or weight. However it was soon apparent that there wasn't enough paper to fit inside. I then decided to create pillows to sit on the top and bottom by folding sections of paper - this gave the piece more bounce. I decided to then wrap the rest of my paper around it, in the hope that if any impact was placed on the structure the paper and paper pillows inside would absorb this and prevent any damage to the work inside. And for extra protection I folder paper and used the folds in the paper to point up to also add extra bounce.  After I had made the protective structure I was still worried that my piece would not last under any force. Once talking about this with a tutor and other peers I felt maybe adding a column inside would help - in buildings pillars are used to support the floor above and so I adopted this idea. I used the remaining pieces of paper to roll tight cylinders which I dotted around inside of my protective layer. I felt more  confident after that this may protect my spaghetti piece more. Overall I am very pleased with the look of the protective structure because it has a very architectural look - the different shapes that I have used in particular give the work its own character. I like how I have left a small area uncovered so that we can look inside at the interior like a window. I found standing the pillars up right difficult - this was mainly down to the fact I added them last, they wouldn't stand where I wanted it too. How ever I was able to move them about to find the tightest section inside of the structure that would hold them up.  

 

 

 

Above are a couple of photographs that I took of my structure with a lamp inside - which illuminated the entire structure and showed the interior of my piece.  I really like these photographs because of this light. In the first photograph (top) the layers of paper have been revealed with the lamp and the different shadows that have been casts give the piece extra dimension. I could see this piece being a arena or building very easily because of its unique dome like shape. I have placed the small figure to this wok also to show the scale of the work (if this was a model.)

 

 

Day 2 - Spaghetti sticks

On the second day of 3DD we were given our task (for the first half of the day) to plan and create a structure that could hold up 3 balls off of the ground. None of these three balls could be touching or balance of one another. The balls also have to be detachable. We had only 20 spaghetti sticks to do this with and a hot glue gun to make the structure. The first thing that I did was to plan out several ideas - the tutor wanted our ideas to be flowing and free even if we couldn't possibly create half of them he wanted us to explore every idea. Above are some of my designs - you can see most of them I could never make with spaghetti sticks but I was able to take different elements. One exercise that the whole class took part in was closing our eyes and scribbling over the page - then adding the three balls within our scribbles. I also decided to play around like this through drawing the balls and then making a structure around. Once I got into the designing I really liked it and had no trouble in drawing weird shapes and structures. I used some of the drawing exercises we did on our first day of 3DD. After I had completed my designs I had to decide a final design I could use for the real structure. I decided to take inspiration from a 'z' type design. When I held my 20 spaghetti sticks it didn't look that many - I thought it would be really challenging to create.

 

There were many challenges I faced when first constructing my spaghetti structure. First was the problem of how its would stand - it could not be glued onto any surface, it had to stand on its own. I decided to start with a rectangle to form as a base (the rest of my structure would be made on top of this.) Once I had a solid starting point I began gluing the spaghetti together with the hot glue gun. However as soon as I started I realised it was really difficult to glue together - I had to hold the spaghetti together patiently in order for the glue to work. Another problem I found out was that spaghetti sticks can be delicate (with enough force these sticks will snap.) This happened several times toward the end of making. This right angle shape to the right was the start of my structure -  you can see how my original 'z' design inspired my outcome. The diagonal line came from the 'z' but it also helps the structure to be more solid and will serve as the first area one of my balls will sit.

I built onto to this triangle shape ways to add a second and third ball. When I had placed the second ball it was apparent I was building my structure like a pyramid (the shape was getting skinnier towards the top - larger on the bottom.) I decided to place the last ball at the very top and so used a small triangle shape to sit it on. When my structure was finished many people said that it reminded them of a house with a chimney. And I can see how they got this conclusion however I had no intention of making it this way. I do like the shape of my structure it has some many places where my balls can sit. I also like how certain areas of the structure are more complicated and it adds detail to the work. The only thing that caused be some trouble at the end of creating the ball holder was that one side was wonky and meant the structure leant to one side - even though it balanced okay. I felt I needed to try and fix this however I ended up snapping the spaghetti - which meant I had to spent time gluing the pieces back together. In the end I decided to keep the structure the way it was. Below you can see the finished piece with all three balls placed onto it. As I looked around to all the other structures I felt mine was unique as everyone had different outcomes. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the cuboid at the bottom if I was going to re-do this I would have tried to balance the shapes so it didn't need this support. Furthermore I would have tried to experiment and see if I could balance the balls in places which made them look as though they were floating (making the structure more visually interesting.)

After I created my structure I photographed my piece with a small model to pay around with the scale and create another piece entirely. For instance by placing the small figure in front I've made my structure become into building with pods as rooms. I placed the little person actually on top of the structure to show its a piece that can be climbed on (giving it an extra purpose.) Furthermore I also used lighting to cast shadows from my spaghetti structure. Seeing these shadows was very interesting as I was able to t see the structure and all the individual spaghetti structures overlap and produce a 'echo' behind the structure itself. With the camera I can change the angle to create different perspectives and sizes for my structure.

I placed different objects within my structure to create something new - giving my structure a new purpose other than what it was. I first added pencils (objects I found in my bag) to create a complex pencil holder. I really like the outcome as the pencils are balancing. I would have never thought of this idea for a pencil holder however my adding pencils to another separate concept I was able to make this. I also added paper to the structure - I did this by folding the paper. The outcome reminded me of a ship with its white sails. I would have liked to continue placing more papers onto this structure and see how it would turn out.

Lastly I tried seeing how many balls I could balance onto my structure (they are touching) - I was able to fit around 9. I tried placing these balls with the structure stood up normally and down on its side. I really like the photographs above as my structure seems more 'whole' with more balls to fill it out - as I had a lot of empty space. In particular I really like the shadow cast on the above right photograph as the structure and balls are projected diagonally almost symmetrical to the real work.

Constructuion to hold my weight

 

After we had spent the first half of the day creating a paper structure that could hold a bottle of water 20cm above the air our next challenge was to make a structure out of cardboard, that could hold our weight 30 cm above the floor. We were given four sheets of cardboard to use and masking tape/ duct tape to make a chair or object that would support my weight and let me lift the lowest part of my body (feet) of the ground. When approaching this task I referred back to the water carrier exercise to look at the success and failures of that task.  I think the reason my water structure didn't work was because the middle section was too skinny and couldn't support the full weight. However I feel that I was able to learn about balance from this task as a result - since I was able to balance a lighter water bottle on the top. For this new task I was going to use a wider base and middle section so that this area would not collapse.   

It took me a while to get an idea of how I could strengthen the main base of the 'seat' but I decided that using a second identical triangle could spread out my weight between the two. Furthermore I really like the look of these two shapes stacked on top of each other - from above these two shapes looks like a star shape. I decided to cut slits into the two shapes so that I could push them together and make one shape I could call 'the base.' I felt that this made the construction stronger however when I pushed down onto this shape I still felt it may possibly collapse.  So I then decided to add a piece of card on the very top and use the extra card around the weaker parts of the structure. After I had finished a majority of my structure I realised I had created a piece that was unsymmetrical - the piece was different from every angle. The challenges that I faced when making this structure was mainly trying to understand the weaker areas and attempting to help making them stronger through more card or cutting.

The design of my cardboard 'seat' I felt was plain, so I decided to create a back rest with a cut out 'a' in the fold (my initial) to make the piece look visually more interesting. I am very pleased with the outcome as it ties in the whole design - the back rest adds to the irregular angles. The photograph above makes the image appear as though there is a square balancing over half of a triangle. The work looks unstable even though I have made a solid base.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome - the structure looked like an unconventional chair with its own character. I liked the way there was a variety of shapes and different elements. The chair was just able to take my weight when I sat down on it with my feet on the ground. Even then I was scared to put my full weight on it as I could feel it ready to collapse. Even though it stood pretty well for this part. When it came down to sitting on the seat with my feet lifted up, I'm sad to say it collapsed right away - I fell straight through. I feel that the reason this happened was partly because the second triangle base was not pushed all the way down to the floor like the first base - my me sitting on the chair I forced it down, the impact collapsing the other base at the same time. If I was going to redo this I would have tried adding a third base so it was extra strong (so that the bases were stiff.) If the two triangles were at the same level they would have been able to with stand my weight.

 

Above is a panoramic view of the different outcomes that my class made (mine is to the left.)

making a water carrier

 

We had to create a structure from one A1 page of paper to carry a bottle of water 20cm above the table or ground. We were only allowed masking tape as long as our forearms to construct this - at first I struggled with thinking how to make a structure that would be strong enough with the limit of materials that we were given. However I began with folding the top (found shape) to produce a paper shape that had folds to tape a second part of the structure - I wasn't sure where my idea was going however I though of ways that I could make the structure stand and be capable of holding a lot of weight (for its size.) And because the structure had to be at least 20 cm tall I decided to use a square tube like shape that would be able to attach its self to the top part - giving the piece its necessary height. The top part of my water carrier structure didn't require any masking tape at all to make because I folded the paper - the advantage to this is it made this part stronger and a lot thicker for when the water would stand on top of it. And it meant no masking tape (which was good for me as the next part of my construction needed lots.) The tube I  have a lot of problems with as it was slightly wobbly - it was also quit difficult to attach to the roof of my structure as every time I tried to place masking tape here the top roof would bend so I wasn't able to secure the tape as tight as possible. After I had finally managed to get the two parts attached I found that the structure leant to one side a bit. Therefore I thought of ways to tackle this problem - I didn't have enough time to take everything apart so I decided to focus on what was causing the problem to see how I could deal with this. When I realised that the tube was slightly placed towards the left of the roof which was causing it to lean. I then decided to use a small base made out of folded paper - this way the structure was more balanced as folds on all four sides of the tubes was holding it in place. And to ensure that this was enough I also taped a strip of paper around the bottom of the tube and base so it would stay in place.

After making my paper creation I photographed with a small figure and other objects I found in my back to play with scale and give the structure an entirely new purpose. By placing the small figure I made my paper sculpture look like a building or a watchtower - and this could inspire later ideas. By placing objects on top and around the piece means I can change it from just a simple structure to a small side table where objects can be kept on top. Its important to play around with the concept of my design as it could spark new ideas and challenge existing ones.

When it came round to the tutor putting the bottle of water onto my paper creation it was immediately apparent it would not take the weight. I hadn't considered that the bottle containing the water would be so heavy - it was probably three times the weight of my plastic water bottle (which did balance well on my creation.) When the tutor placed the water bottle on the top it went straight through and my creation immediately collapsed with the weight. In the image below you can see my tutor resting the bottle on the side of the creation as there was no way it could rest anywhere else. Although my creation didn't work (when it mattered.) It did work for a lighter weight - and the tutor also mentioned that this structure was good but it should have been made of a thicker material to work. If I was going to redo this project I would have made more legs to spread out and balance the weight better. Also maybe making these legs shorter and having layers in between where the bottle could have sat instead of being balanced on top. A problem that I with my structure is that you could only place the lighter bottle if you balanced it on a point where the leg met the 'roof.' I needed a better way of supporting the bottle instead of simply balancing.

3DD Day 1 - Generating ideas

To start of the 3DD pathway we were given an A1 piece of paper and asked to scribble one line on part of the paper. Everyone including me nervously drew our lines wondering what this had to do with 3DD. After we had done, we were then told to make our lines into a chair that two people and a cat could sit on. I had drawn the craziest lines and so came up with the weirdest looking chair. However this way of working did make me feel free to have messy work and to not worry about it looking perfect. I liked that I didn't know what I was doing but just going with the flow (literally.) Everyone's chairs on my table looked really different and it didn't matter that they all looked deformed because they were just rough ideas. After doing this we lots of other exercises that let us experiment with generating ideas in different ways.