My first pneumatic-and-fabric artifact emotes a feeling of hope and perseverance. With each pump of air, at first the bag inflates a bit but the air travels up the straw only to be met with fabric plugging the other end. However, a small hole in the neck of the straw allows air to be shot out and make the creature’s “cape” fly. I think the necessity of continuous pumps of air in order to make a difference in the cape’s level shows a dreamy quality to the project, demonstrating hard work and dedication in use.

My second artifact did not turn out as planned, where the intention was to bind two pillows of air together with elastic and have the elastic tighten as they inflated. However, with my amateur heat sealing abilities and not fully thought out construction, I was left with one slightly leaky pillow and no way to properly attach the elastic. I added some stability to the structure with a straw, some fabric covering, and tied on the elastic to paper clips. This created a structure that visibly showed the distance increasing between the pillows as air filled in them, which I characterized as strength of flexibility.

My last artifact came together after many trial and errors to display emotions in familiar ways. Originally, I was going to make one of those crazy inflatable men we see outside of gas stations to show off some chaotic energy. After lots of failed welding and air filling, I stumbled upon how the syringes respond to a fully sealed air container – they become tight and almost engaged. My video below shows how I developed this into surprise.

None of my artifacts made it to the point of being beautiful… but I had a lot of fun with the whole process of trying make different shapes and connections of air. I will definitely be continuing exploring this topic.