Shape and Form

Okay, unfortunately Blogger saw fit to load up my Volumetrics post when I tried to edit this one, and I made the edits I wanted to and clicked save. However, it saved the Volumetrics contents over this Shape and Form post. I have no idea why it thought that would be a good idea, but I'll try to make the best of it. It won't be as in-depth as the original post, because it has been a while since this project was done.


In our second project, we were exploring the possibilities of shape and form. We had to start out by building three small models and then take elements from each to build one large sculpture as the final product. I began by doing some sketches that relied on various elements such as balance, organic, tribal, and architectural.  I ended up building all three of the designs on the left of this page. The top relies on balance, the middle uses both organic and perhaps tribal, and the bottom is almost purely architectural. The bottom one has a hidden compartment on the inside that is colored red to give the design a pop without it being too apparent.






The small models were all created out of folded cardstock and I managed to keep to the designs pretty exactly, with the only real changes being on the first one where the sphere became a ring, and the hanging cube was moved closer to the dipyramidal balance beam. It was definitely the most well made of the three, as it used super glue to hold the pieces together, whereas the other two were fastened with mostly scotch tape.

Once I had the small models to work from, I began designing the main project. I knew that I really liked the balance from the first one, and the overall shape of the organic one, and I definitely had to keep the hidden part of the third one, since that was the only thing that made it unique in the first place.

I returned to the sketch book and came up with this design. The ring comes from the first one and is balanced on the bottom spikes of the organic part. The ring also serves as an eyepiece which you look down into to see the hidden compartment on the inside of the base. I began cutting out all the parts and managed to make two perfectly identical "spiky bird beaks" as I'd come to call them, but some problems with the angles of the base forced me to make some changes to the overall design as it wouldn't allow the beaks to sit at the angle that I wanted. I ended up flipping the base over so that the shorter part was where the beaks would sit. I also changed the hidden compartment to a hidden shape, a red cube that would be lit from below and also have reflective tape to shine the light back down on it. With the addition of lighting, I had to build a small base to cover the lighting fixture as well. As for the lighting fixture, I had to build a custom one, even grinding out a groove for the wire to sit in a pre-made socket.

I finally managed to get everything together almost exactly as I wanted it. The only problem was tape lines and the base was just a fraction of an inch too small. It still covered it up good enough though. I was especially proud of the angle at which I managed to mount the hidden red cube. Altogether, I was and still am incredibly proud of this project. I really wish Blogger hadn't deleted my previous post though, because this just seems pathetic.