Final Project : (Re) collection of Objects: MAKE A TOY!

     When I first was assigned the project on making a toy I wasn't quite sure where I was going to go with it.  I knew what I had to do, the assignment meant sense to me, I just wasn't sure how I was going to tackle the problem.  Then the class watched a documentary called "Waste Land" and while watching the movie, the gears in my head started turning and I began to get more and more ideas on what I wanted to do.  I had so many favorite toys when I was a child, and each of them were my favorite for their very own reasons.  So now that I understood how to use recyclable objects to make my toy, I had to pick which toy was going to stand in the spot light and be chosen to be remade.
     I finally decided to remake my favorite stuffed doll.  She went with me everywhere when I was little and if I forgot her somewhere I would cry until she was returned to me.  I don't remember what the actual name of the doll was but all I know is that I called her "Pink Baby."  
     I decided to reuse plastic bags, paper, and rubber bands for my project.  There is an abundance of plastic bags and paper so that's why I decided to use them.  I grabbed a pear bag and began stuffing it with crumpled up magazine papers to make the bag into the shape that pink baby was.  I used rubber bands to help tie off certain areas of the bag so that the legs and hands would stand out and not disappear into the magazine stuffed bag.  Once I put the head on the body I tied the two together and then used tissue paper around the whole body to give the colors that I wanted.  The reason that I used tissue paper is because tissue paper is somewhat translucent so that way everyone could see that underneath the colors is magazine papers and a plastic bag.  I hot glued all of the pieces together because hot glue is stronger than stick glue and it dries quickly.  
     I am happy with the outcome of the project because the model of pink baby is actually about the same size of the actual pink baby.  All of the objects I used were easy to form so making my toy was not too hard because I was abled to move the paper around in the bag if one area was larger than another.  I also thought that I accomplished the task that was given to me because nothing that is used in the toy was bought recently.  All the objects used were indeed found either by mistake or by searching for them and are all indeed recycled.

Polyhedrals

Polyhedral’s Phase A and B

                For this project I had to use polyhedrals to create both a mask and a wall structure.  None of objects that were being created could have anything other than polyhedrals. 

                In phase A, which was making the mask, I used half of a globe polyhedral, several parts of a dodecagon, and I also created my own polyhedral.  Once I cut out the globe on Bristol board I used an ellipse template to create eye holes.  I was just going to leave two holes for the eyes but then when I looked at the shape that had been taken out I decided to use the cut outs for eye lids.  I was very happy with my choice because it added extra volume to the facial part of the mask.  The polyhedral that I made myself was used as the headdress part of the mask.  The entire mask was painted black except for the pieces of the dodecagon.  I also added some gold paint to the edges of parts of the mask to add some extra emphasis to some parts.  I liked this project once I started it, but in the beginning it was very hard to wrap my head around only using polyhedrals to create it.

                In phase B I had to use polyhedrals to create a wall structure.  I used one large cube with several different star polyhedrals on the inside of the cube.  I cut out certain parts of the cube to create volume and lots of positive and negative space.  The stars dangled on the inside of the cube.  I made the stars dangle because with the stars dangling, lots of cool shadows were created and in an apartment building that would look unique.  One side of the cube has smaller boxes popping out of it.  I imagined this side of the cube to be on the bedroom side of the wall divider because it allows some light in through the negative space created yet it provides privacy.  I liked this project a lot because I knew exactly what I wanted to do from the very beginning and my end product came out looking exactly how I imagined it would.

Project 2: Serial Planes

Reaction Paper: Serial Planes

                In this project there were two phases.  Phase one was making serial planes out of a book and phase two was making serial planes out of foam board.  The main challenge in this two phase project was to establish volume from something that was relatively flat.  I thought that phase one of the project was much harder than phase two because not only did I have to manipulate the book to make it voluminous but I also had to make it not look like a book.  Phase two of the project I found much easier because it was much easier to make the foam board into what I wanted it to be than the book.

                Although there were complications, at first, at how to make a book into something that didn’t look like a book I enjoyed this phase of the project much more.  I had no idea what I was going to do with my book until I started looking at pictures online.  After scrolling through many pictures I found one where a bunch of telephone books were made into flowers.  After I had my inspiration I went right to work on cutting my book into sections and making a number of flowers.  The total of flowers I ended up with was nine.  I used an old book and parts of a magazine so that I could create variety in the flowers to establish color.  I didn’t make one flower like another because nothing in nature is identical.  The book did not look at all like a book once I was done.  I thought that I was very successful at following the guidelines because I created a voluminous object with many serial planes.

                Phase two of the project was much easier to tackle because foam board does not have many limitations.  I decided to create a stairway to heaven with the foam board.  The stairs were shaped like clouds and at the top of the stairway there was a door that was partially open.  I cut out footprints in each cloud so that it resembled someone’s journey to heaven.  I took the paper off of parts of the foam board to give the clouds texture.  I didn’t like this part of the project as much because the foam board was very flimsy and I couldn’t really get the hot glue to stick to the board that well.  My final piece ended up being so large that it became weak and flimsy and wouldn’t stay together that well.  I liked how my piece came out but I wish that it wasn’t so weak. 

                My second phase of the project was somewhat similar to Maya Lin’s work because it could be easily made larger into a larger scale and has people interact with it.  Maya Lin is all about interaction with her work and how people react and interact with it.   My first phase of the project is not similar to Maya Lin’s work because it uses small objects and is much more appreciated on a smaller scale. 

“Anything but a Box”: Reaction Paper

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”  -Albert Einstein

Creativity is what allows people to express themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Without creativity, the world would be a pretty bland and boring place.  People’s creativity is what allows everyone to enjoy the certain types of styles in clothes, housing, furniture, cars, etc.  I chose a creative career because I wanted people to see my style and my creativity.  Since I was a little kid I have always been creative.  I was always the kid to be making things with Play-Dough, making houses with blocks, or rearranging the furniture in my doll house.  I figured that I should put my creative juices to use and go into an Interior Design career. 

I approached the assignment problem of not making the box look like a box by picking a box that had a lot going on to begin with.  The box that I picked had a lot of designs and shapes that made it easy for me to deconstruct the box.  After looking at the box for some time I decided that I wanted to make an aquarium.  The shapes on the box plus the color of the box made me think of an underwater environment.  The only supplies that I used to make the aquarium were a box cutter and a hot glue gun.  I decided that the best way to attack the problem was to cut out each individual shape in the top of the box.  I decided to do it that way because I still wanted to use the top of the box to make it into a different shape and put more objects in it.  I wanted my piece to be somewhat interactive;  it is especially seen in the way the coral reef was built.  What I learned from this project is that it is quite simple to take an object and make it look like something completely different.  All it takes is some creative juices, brain power, and patience.   

Project 1: "Anything but a Box"

What I did for the "Anything but a Box" project, is that I took an old perfume box and transformed it into an aquarium. 

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