Papercraft Objects: First Phase Prototypes

For this assignment, I had to take my best design from my previous idea- generating assignment and create a prototype of what my final assignment will be. Because this assignment ended up being my lesson in extra planning and learning from failures, I feel confident going into the next phase of this assignment.

When I created this tube of lipstick in the first place, it looked big. I felt like the design looked more like a trophy than a tube of lipstick, so I decided to run with the idea. My first order or business was to find a beautiful, shiny paper to build my final project out of. I decided on this holographic paper to give my project an extra punch. I also decided to use some lavender card stock as a plan B in case all of my pieces didn't fit of the holographic paper.

  

I knew that printing a 24"x24" diagram on 4 pieces of 12 x 12 paper wasn't going to give me the big trophy that I was looking for, so I started thinking. I realized that I could bet more size to work with if I took all of the pieces apart and tried to fit them onto one sheet (which I, for some reason, decided to do by hand). 

 

It was about around here that I realized this step was only confirming what I already knew, that squishing pieces of this figure together would save space.

So I decided to look at my original diagram and do some measurements and figure out which pieces took up the most space

So, now that I knew that the sides of the octagonal prism would be my longest pieces, I knew that they had to be my benchmark,since there's not way I could split them between 2 sheets of paper. I made the sides of the prism about 11" long, while keeping the rest of the measurements relative, and decided to work from there.

Here, I decided to switch up my plan of attack, because I realized that if something goes wrong and I have to use my backup paper, the design will look a lot nicer if I have the top and bottom a different colour than the sides, rather than each side a different colour. I decided to fix my blue print so it would fold up lengthwise. 

I plotted the pieces on 4 12 x 12 sheets of paper, like the ones I would be printing on, with accurate dimentions so I knew exactly what I would be working with

All of this being said, the original blueprint has not been abandoned. The form is successful, the tabs were placed well -after a mishap I have also pictured- and all in all I feel like I have a solid option for how I will tackle this final project (my other option being the "lengthwise blueprint")

Right now, my plan is to print the blueprint on normal sheets of 8.5"x 11" paper and cut out the blue prints from the holographic paper while using the prints from the printer paper as a template. I have tested the gluestick on the holographic paper and although it doesn't work as well as I had hoped, I have a hobby-super-glue that I will be using with an old paintbrush

Papercraft assignment: Digital Samples

For the brainstormimg section of this assignment, I had to come up with 10 different objects from my life to create out of paper.  This is done by creating a multi-faceted 3D object, and "unfolding" it to create a blueprint.  This means that all of the sides of the object are connected laid horizontally, so the object can be printed onto paper or sheet metal, and then folded back up to create a 3D object

The First Image I created was my water bottle.  I decided to represent this because I thought it would be interesting to recreate a curve without attempting to warp paper.

 

The Second object that I recreated was a bottle of nail polish. I had to separate this design onto two sheets of paper

 

 

I then thought that maybe I should divert from radiating blueprint patterns, so I recreated a piece of my Tetris lamp, I like this design because it's only made of perfect squares.

 

and then a bonus Tetromino with radical colours so I could keep track of which squares were which

Enjoying my diversion from radial designs, I decided to recreate my little, decorative easel:

 

For the next design, I wanted to explore different facet shapes, so I recreated a decorative star of mine:

   

I'm also including a picture of the process because this design turned out to be more difficult than I had initially thought

The next design I made was an apple. I made an effort to use triangular faces rather that quadratic faces

 

Next, I recreated a tube of Lipstick that ended up looking way more epic than I thought it would 

 

Next I made a texture out of hexagons

Finally, I remade an eraser of mine 

Papercraft research

For my research, I have decided to look into the New Geometric Paper Art from Matthew Shlian

fig 1.

fig 2.

fig 3.

I chose these sculptures because or the way the portray an effortless harmony. In figure 1, The first thing that comes to mind, for me, is a wave, rather than hundreds of tiny paper sculptures, or the incredible precision that was needed to fold each individual sculpture what, what seems like, microscopic differences.  This sculpture, represented in figure 1, reminds me of a fabric that I could run my hand over, and push the fibers over so they would change colour, like this:

The sculpture represented in figure 2 further illustrates the artist's precision and experience. Besides folding an intricate, interlocking design out of paper, he made copies of these perfect folds, with either no flaws of undetectable flaws.  I have to keep reminding myself that this sculpture is made of paper, because it reminds me or needle work, or something crocheted.

In a biography[1] by Ghostly international, he spoke about how he had difficulty with math in school, although he was drawn to math in reality, which, I think, is a very common theme in today's society. He admits to being a tactile learner, which means that he grasps information by using concepts in physical examples. Besides his enthusiasm for geometry, he mentions how his work feeds off of his curiosity, and how he makes sculptures because he's unsure how the finished product with look. At the University of Michigan in 2010, Shlian gave a TED Talk[2] where he mentioned that he actually completed a dual major in ceramics and print, as well as testing other art forms.  He took the knowledge that he gained from exploring and being curious, and eventually let it inspire him in what he was truly passionate about. 

In the TED Talk, he mentions that if his works had to be "about" something, they would represent curiosity. To me, it is clear that these sculptures represent curiosity, because after understanding the amount of work that goes into these sculptures, I think it would be difficult to visualize a finished product. He talks about these sculptures like the are experimental, which tells me that he sees failure as more of a learning experience, therefore he's not afraid of it; this mean that, not only, are the sculpture visually exhilarating, but they also stand for concepts that I believe in as an artist: curiosity and experimentation. 

SOURCES

fig 1,2- 2017- Matt Shlian, https://www.mattshlian.com/2017

fig. 3-New Geometric Paper Art, http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/08/new-geometric-paper-art-from-matthew-shlian/

Colour changing pillow - Steve Novello share colour changing pillow, http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/13/the-internet-is-freaking-out-over-these-colour-changing-mermaid-pillows-5620234/

[1] Biography- Ghostly International presents Matthew Shlian, https://vimeo.com/47502276

[2] TED Talk- (29) TEDxUofM - Matt Shlian - Implications of Paper Folding, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS-17zki1i0

Mesh Mashup: Selection and Refinement

The object that I chose to fine is the hair brushing robot. I like this creation because it makes you wonder if, in this instance, creating a machine to do work for you is really beneficial, i.e does it just add more steps to a simple task such as "brushing your hair"

When I discussed this object and how it could be improved with my group, the biggest suggestion was that it should be clearer that the machine is more difficult to use than it is worth. The best way that we decided to display this was a power cord. Power cords introduce a lot of problems with machinery like this: They need to be plugged in in the first place, they will always be tethered to a wall (even if you have a really long extension cord), if the cord is damaged the object may not work, ect. For this project, I found the peer feedback to be very useful.

This object is made of a manual tool (the hairbrush) and an automated tool (The robot). I put these two objects together because I believed that having an automated arm do a tedious task such as brushing hair would be helpful in most scenarios.

Hairbrush head: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1455262 by stano316, published Mar 31, 2016

Robot arm: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:408402 by fazzy, published Jul 27, 2014

Hand: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2285383  by mechracer84, published Apr 30, 2017