Finished Projects – Page 86

Laser-cut / Water Carrier

Laser cut- referring to the act of laser cutting, it is a technology often used in industrial fields or programs to quickly cut materials such as woods, plastics, metals and papers

Water Carrier- this has multiple meanings. It can be a literal translation or refer to a symbol in religious iconography. I chose the more literal definition.

Because the word carrier made me think of movement and the idea of traveling. I decided to create a very transient object that is reusable and easy to transport.

I wanted a cup that was flat when transported and that punched out of a sheet of whatever material I chose. That could be assembled and then disassembled easily so that it could be transported. I compared images of paper cups and camping cups.

Process:

I started by making sketches on and out of paper. My original design was a more complicated three part cup. After trial and error I arrived at my final design. I used the simple shapes of a pyramid and a prism in the end. I found that these shapes fit easily into a 8.5x 11 in sheet of paper or plastic.

Once I arrived at my design in paper I used Illustrator to create a file for the laser cutter.

I used the red lines to tell the machine where to cut and then the black lines to tell it where to score the material to allow for it to bend.

Assembly:

To assemble follow the instructions on the 8.5x 11 punch out.

1.Punch out the two pieces

2. Fold along the score lines to form the prism and pyramid shape.

3. On the pyramid fold the tab over the lip to hold it together.

4. On the prism insert the tabs into one another to create a base.

Fill the pyramid with water or another liquid and enjoy, set it in the base when you get tired.

Awkward + Privacy Device

Thanks to my enjoyable words, I had an enjoyable brainstorming process, which I thought about awkward personal situations requiring privacy.. I focused on phone calls. We have many phone calls during a day and during many of them we could rarely find a private space to talk on phone. My idea is to create a surrounding speaker and mic product which allows user to have phone calls in public. This product helps users to hide their chats from the others.

I tried to reach a futuristic and simple form with my initial sketches.

I built some mock-ups to try these ideas. My intention was to create a headphone which can be rotated when privacy is needed. In order to create a tight headphone which sits on the ears I used aluminum wires. The result was not satisfying because the device fell down.

Then I tried to find a simple form that sits on the shoulders and close all the surroundings of the mouth. This simple cylindrical form is more helpful to absorb the human voice.

Before making the final prototype, I visited Chinatown to find some material sources and got this sponge foam from “Canal Rubber” which is located at 329 Canal St. In order to find the fabric I visited W 37th st. There are several fabric sellers.

My awkward privacy device concept is a mouth surrounding headphone with a microphone integrated to it. The user plug it to his/her phone and then be able to have private calls in public.

Fuzzy Terrarium

The two words I drew for the mashup were:

Terrarium and fuzzy easily go hand-in-hand. Terrariums have recently seen a huge resurgence since their glory days in the ’70s, as noted by this New York Times article. Nearly all of the terrariums in this new craze house soft, fuzzy moss. Not only is the moss warm and fuzzy, terrariums in general can make people feel warm and fuzzy inside. They are usually beautifully designed, house small wonders and are overall very pleasant, like this one from Twig Terrariums:

Seeing that fuzzy and terrarium go so well together, I googled ‘fuzzy terrarium.’ Immediately, I discovered the dark side of fuzziness and terrariums. Countless terrarium owners struggle with unwanted mold growing in their terrariums. These little ecosystems are difficult to balance and white fuzzy mold easily flourishes in the warm, damp environment.

Rather than ignore the dark side of terrarium fuzz, I decided to embrace it. If mold easily grows in terrariums, why not intentionally grow it? That is the basis for the Fuzzy Terrarium.

Mold on food is usually a sign that it lacks preservatives and is natural. I’m sure many of us are still haunted by the images of the never molding McDonald’s fries in Super Size Me. After 10 weeks in a jar, the McDonald’s fries showed absolutely no sign of molding. You can check out that video here . The Fuzzy Terrarium is a way for you grow healthy mold as an indication of the amount of preservatives in your food. If you have ever wondered if the fries you get from the corner bodega are any better or worse for you than one’s from McDonalds or other fast food restaurants, the Fuzzy Terrarium can help you decide.

I did some tests to see how much mold would grow on different foods over the course of a week. I compared organic tomatoes from the Union Square farmers market to non-organic tomatoes from the corner bodega. The organic tomatoes, on the right, definitely started to mold faster, but then the non-organic caught up and they produced about the same amount of mold:

I also compared never frozen, fresh cut fries from an organic burger joint, Bareburger, to McDonald’s fries. There was very little action in both jars for most of the week, but now some white fuzz has started to develop on the fresh cut fries. I think in a few more days there will be plenty of mold. I knew going into this test that nothing would happen with the Mcdonald’s fries. Even though I knew this was the case, it is scary to see it in person.

Below is my process for building the case of the terrarium.

First, I made a prototype out of foam core:

Then, I laser cut pieces of acrylic. I beveled the edges by hand on the band sander since the laser cutter cannot cut at an angle. I then built a jig so that I could assemble the dodecahedron at the precise angles:

Next, I gathered typical terrarium supplies including sand, soil, charcoal bits, rocks and little figurines and layered these inside of the case:

Here is the final Fuzzy Terrarium:

Embroidered + Musical Instrument

Exploring : different meanings of Embroidered, Musical instruments, techniques, integration of the two words

Challenge : How to learn an old technique while keeping it unpredictable. How to embroider an instrument into being.

Making : I decided to embroider an instrument (not over it). It would feel like its the embroidery which helps it make music. After many glitches and failures, I made a guitar like instrument which plays with the idea of old and new. Metal and electric guitar strings + embroidery.

🙂

Nutella Chandelier

For the mash up project, one of my words is a perishable food while the other is a timeless object. This combination allowed me to explore how a chandelier, a decorative hanging light, can be created out of Nutella, a much loved chocolate hazelnut spread that people across the world enjoy. In fact, it is so addictive and fantastic that one jar is sold every 2.5 seconds. Nutella has quite some fame which I enjoyed learning about here. With further research, I found that nutella has been an inspiration for other products on the market. Check out this Nutella phone case. I guess having a chandelier in your dining room that constantly reminds you of chocolate spread isn’t too bad of a thing, right?

Although Nutella is great in any shape or form, I had to keep in mind that a chandelier is a sustainable light fixture. I started thinking about how I could change the composition of this gooey spread in order to better preserve it through time. Although it is possible to liquify it or harden it, I decided that using the packaging rather than the spread itself would be not only more durable, but also much more maintainable.

While learning about what types of chandeliers are on the market today, I felt inspired by contemporary hanging light styles. One recent trend in particular has been glass jars that expose the light bulb. I love this raw and simple look and decided to use the Nutella jar as a light pendant for my project.

After taking a shopping trip to Canal Lighting and Parts, I began the handy work. First, I drilled a hole through the bottom of the jar in order to fit the socket. Since the drill was not large enough, I expanded the hole by filing down the edges.

After that, I began the wirework. I stripped both ends of the fabric cord and attached one end to the socket. Next, I drilled a hole into the lid of the Nutella jar and slid it onto the cord. I chose to use the lid as the top piece of the chandelier, which will be installed flush to the ceiling and serve as the platform where the jar hangs down from.

Next, I stripped the power cord wires and used a soldering iron to bind them to the light pendant wire. Then I covered the soldered wires with heat shrink tubing. Although a minor electrical explosion occurred along the way, I finally was able to successfully bind the two cords together and light the bulb.

My last touch to the lamp was putting the label back onto the jar right-side up. I used a spray adhesive to bind the label to the plastic. Although a simple procedure, it is the most important since it adds the mmm delicious touch.

And here it is: a nutella chandelier. This is intended to hang in the homes of avid nutella lovers that can never get enough of it. With this chandelier, they can get an eyeful anytime.

Camouflage Luggage Tags _ Brandon Washington

This project is about camouflaging medication that people take to suppress their emotional and mental baggage/luggage.

The popularity of abusing pills has put a certain type of stigma on taking pills in public. Even the name and the shape of the pill has become notorious enough that someone might look at a person differently if seen consuming a certain type of pill.

My project is a reaction to this stigma. I created gummy pills that have the feeling or state of mind we want written on them. Turning the pills into candy camouflages the actual pill and the stigma attached to it.

We acquire a lot of baggage traveling through life, and a lot of us use medication to cope with our situations. If you’re in pain you want to feel numb. If you are feeling a lot of stress or anxiety you want to say fuck it. A little trouble down under or you want to impress a date you want to be a stud. Having trouble focusing and felling dull, you want to become a whiz.

I used pieces cut on the laser cutter to create a candy mold then, used a gummy candy recipe found here and poured the contents into the mold. After a few hours in the refrigerator I had gummy pills.

Breakfast Motel Art

When I pulled the words “Breakfast” and “Motel Art” I instantly thought of… cheesy still-lives, the same faded poster over and over, nostalgia, retro signs, bad carpet, horrendous wallpaper, postcards, pancakes, disposable art, kitsch

At first I thought of creating a gorgeous breakfast inspired bedspread, but this person beat me to it, shucks.

Below you’ll find the “Breakfast Motel” spinning postcard display, complete with six custom breakfast themed designs that will capture your experience forever, and even let you share it with others.

The spinning rack was designed to hold all six cards neatly, it was fabricated out of plywood, and painted a fleshy peach color.

I designed each postcard using different techniques including collaged clip-art, photoshop filters, and photographing a still-life setup. It was important that I include a variety of styles that you might find hanging in a motel, such as a watery landscape, and black and white photos. Each postcard is equipped with a questionable title that will make you think twice about sending it to someone you care about.

Enjoy!

Upcycled / cupcakes

Initially, I was confused about the word—upcycled.

From wikipedia: upcycled is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value. Some of my classmates explained that to me with some interesting examples!

Like this picture:

An old discarded suitcase..I love how they used random pairs of legs which were most probably recycled…the possibilities are endless with suitcases.

How could I combined the Upcycled and cupcakes together? As you know, cupcakes are food, how could I design upcycled cupcakes? While I didn`t want to wix the cupcakes to make another food. So, I changed the direction to the cupcake lines which were colorful and pretty.

I just folded it arbitrarily and found it like a blooming flower!

As the Mid Autumn festival, a significant festival in China, is coming, I decided to make the cupcakes lines lantern to celebrate our festival!

In China, people will put the lanterns in the river to express thier emotion in the mid-autumn festival. The lanterns in the floor with shadow seem like the lantern in the river. Outside the window is Manhattan, inside the window is my deep thoughts. When I put them in the Ludlow dorm, my chinese fellows told me they all miss China now！

Pirate / T-Shirt

The physical t-shirt is often a collarless, short-sleeved or sleeveless ( usually cotton ) undershirt; also an outershirt of similar design.

The word pirate is defined as being the unauthorized use of another’s production, invention or conception especially in regards to infringement of copyright.

Knowing this, I wanted to create a t-shirt that does just that—a shirt that allows the wearer to create their own brand-name clothing at a fraction of the cost one would pay in stores. With a DIY approach, the XX Tee uses any 8 x 8 inch printed material to create endless graphic possibilities. The wearer can cut pre-printed artifacts such as shopping bags or magazines and can even design their own image and print it out via their personal computer. The removable pouch snaps free for easy washing or for switching between t-shirt colors, styles and sizes.

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Initial sketches:

The design of the pouch ( 8.5 x 9 inches ) uses .005 inch DuraLar plastic film, with a .25 inch fabric edge adhered and stitched on three sides to provide for a more durable, final product.

Sew-on snaps ( female ) were used at all corners and midpoints.

The male pairs were then aligned and hand-sewn to the tee.

Examples of graphic pouches and 8 x 8 inch self-printed sheets.

Vector images of most brand names can be found at seeklogo.com ( free to use )

Final product, tee / tee with pouch / graphic inserted

Edible / Superhero Accessories

The Superfood Superhero gets her power from fresh fruits and vegetables. Her clothes are made from fruit and she can ward off evil with larger-than-life carrots. You can spot her at the Union Square Green Market.

Process:

I was not one of those superhero-loving kids growing up, so I started this project by asking some questions and trying to learn more about superheroes:

1. What accessories do superheroes use?

2. What do superheroes eat?

3. What are some superhero powers?

4. What makes someone a superhero?

5. What’s the problem with superhero accessories?

When I think of superhero accessories, I think of plastic kids costumes that are sold in Halloween stores and worn once before thrown away. An edible costume would be all natural and create less waste. I wanted to make it out of healthy foods because a superhero should promote healthy eating. I thought about a kale cape or banana peels. But I wanted something durable. Fruit leather seemed like the perfect option.

It’s easy to make fruit leather by blending three cups of fruit and then cooking it in the oven at 175 degrees for 4-5 hours. I made two leathers: banana and mango for yellow and raspberries and strawberries for red.

I planned to make arm cuffs and a belt buckle from fruit leather as well as a mask from edible paint.

Once I had my material, I prototyped an arm cuff and belt buckle and measured the dimensions. I knew I wanted to use string to lace the accessories. I wanted to punch holes in the leather. Boris in the VFL suggested using grommets so the leather wouldn’t rip. The material was too delicate and broke when I tried to hammer in the grommet, but I tested out folding it a few times and was pleased that it worked!

For the face paint, I mixed corn starch, whole milk, water and two different natural dyes: turmeric for yellow and cherry juice for pink. Even the Superfood Superhero’s makeup is made from healthy food!

The Superfood Superhero helps kids learn to love great produce. Kids can easily make her costume for Halloween. Look for the Superfood Superhero at farmers markets around the world!

Special thanks to Jung’s GIF-making tutorial!

Julia Plevin