Dialogue Stage II

My final design for the dialogue project was well developed and of a higher level than I had been working with before. After gaining some reassurance from Tommy and Dana I decided to sit down and just draw. I began with drawing designs that I could possibly work with but when that began to go nowhere I started drawing the different materials used in the project. I manipulated paper while folding and twisting it and I also started drawing the skewers at a variety of angles and bends. To narrow down what I had to work with I selected the skewers that were subtly but noticeable bent and drew then side by side and arranging them in different ways that could create two spaces.

While arranging the skewers on the paper I came up with a simple but what seemed to be strong concept. In the way that the skewers were arranged there were two obvious spaces and by adding index cards to the sides, center, top, and bottom I could define the two spaces and see how they related to one another. My defending sketch looked very similar to the third image above.

While working with the skewers I found that the subtle bends I wanted were easily achieved and held in places without steaming. I divided my skewers into three groups and bent all the skewers with each set progressively more bent in a subtle way. I then glued three index cards together that were shorter than the skewers and then glued four skewers with equal spacing to the index cards. I decided that since the index cards were shorter I would leave only the sharp tip of the skewers poking out at the top and then a larger amount of the skewers sticking out at the bottom to allow the design to seem not so closed in but did not take away from the dialogue of two spaces. I then played with the three pieces I had made until I had an arrangement that I found suitable. I then connected the skewers to the base and added an index card with a curve to keep the curves consistent.

Dialogue Stage I

The addition of dialogue to the unity project eased my worry that I would not be able to come up with a decent concept because I then had a better idea as to where I needed to take the design. My materials were again limited to 12 bamboo skewers, 12 index cards, and a rubber glue like bonding agent. I knew at this point that I wanted to try something different and make an attempt at bending my skewers. I spent a few night playing with skewers and a steamer while i tried to vary the curvature of the skewer. When I mentioned to my father that I needed a way to hold the skewers in place while they set to a drastic bend he mentioned that I could place them inside a coffee can. That was the technique that I used to bend the skewers in my first "draft" of the dialogue project.

After steaming and bending over 20 skewers in the coffee can I began messing with them to see what kind of dialogue I could create with them. The point was to create dialogue between two spaces within the one design and I found it quite difficult to create only two spaces with the skewers being so dramatically bent. I finally came upon the design above knowing that it did have more that two spaces but it was a start and critiques from my peers would help to move the process further along.

Sticks and Cellphones Phase III

Unity Comparison

My project seemed different from most other projects because of how mine was not completely uniformed. But, I did see some that had the same concept but were more successful.

Arnis's project stood out to me because the skewers in our projects were arranged in the same way. All of the skewers crossed in about the same location and the top half of the model was wider than the bottom half.

Arnis's project differed from mint in the way that most of her skewers were mostly visible while my skewers were mostly covered. our projects also differed in how all of her skewers were being geld together by a single card while my own here joined with all twelve of my cards. Also, her skewers seem to be placed randomly into her base while mine were strategically placed.

Unity model progression

This project was very open ended and gave me some difficulty when trying to come up with model ideas. my first idea was two dimensional did not express much unity between the skewers. it resembled a sun of sorts and was very unsuccessful.

My final model idea was given to me through a suggestion of trying to final twig project idea again. I figured that it would be easier to use the skewers to accomplish what the twigs had failed to do.

I kept the skewers in four sets of three layers that gradually progressed up the base. this seemed unified at first but I later realized that it was not as I had thought.

The new assignment were we use the cards and the skewers to accomplish dialogue between two spaces has come much more easily and will yield a more advanced and well crafted model.

Sticks and Cellphones Phase II