The theme of my push/pull objects was centered around the Lunar New Year. I wanted to create objects focused on this holiday because the timing was perfect and I wanted to embrace a part of my culture. Similar to my first project, I wanted to start from an easy level, utilizing the foundational and basic knowledge I knew, and gradually increase the difficulty in my work. Overall, my objects are mainly common food that can be found during the Lunar New Year as they all generally represent good luck for the new year.
Object #1
For my first object, I decided to create a dim sum platter with a dumpling inside. As a beginner in sewing, I wanted to start from the basics and build my way up. I wanted to create a piece that utilized basic shapes such as cylinders and spheres. My dim sum platter is essentially made from creating two cylinders that act as a lid and tray. As you look to interact with this object, you can open the lid and see four different-sized dumplings.
Object #2
Next, similar to my first object, I wanted to continue leveraging basic shapes to create my idea. For my second object, I decided to create grapes. Again, using basic shapes such as spheres and cylinders, I created the different parts of grapes. I made a cylinder to create the stem while creating a bunch of small spheres to form the actual grapes. However, I wanted to elevate this to the next level so I decided to incorporate velcro onto parts of the stem and all of the grapes so that you can take it off and interact with the object.
Object #3
Lastly, I wanted to really increase the difficulty of the object I was making so I decided to take a basic idea and modify it to incorporate more complex aspects. My third object is an orange that you can peel open and interact with the orange slices inside. For this piece, I wanted to incorporate basic and complex aspects to make it more interactive with the audience. There are five peels and five orange slices that form a full orange which is held together by a vine of leaves. To open and “peel” the orange, you simply unwrap the leaves.
For this Improvisation Inflatables assignment, I approached this by leveraging what I’ve learned from class so far and experimenting with my creative mind. I mostly utilized plastic bags, and tape, and occasionally leveraged the heat tool to seal pieces of plastic together. Throughout the design and making of the three inflatables, I played around with the different plastic forms from the start and gradually added more shapes to create more and more complex inflatables. I had a similar approach when deciding which colors to use for my inflatables as I specifically chose colors that would match well and go well with the shape of the inflatable. Overall, I’m content with the results of the three inflatables as they demonstrate different levels of experimentation and approaches I took for this assignment.
Inflatable #1
For my first inflatable, I approached it with an open-minded to really get comfortable with the material. I wanted to use basic shapes I was already comfortable with such as squares to build cubes. Utilizing colors of red and blue plastic, I connected three cubes together with black tape to form a heart shaped object. Naturally, I think this inflatable piece was a good starting point for me in the course and easy enough for me to get started and comfortable with the material since I started out with basic shape forms. This inflatable consists of leveraging basic geometric shapes and connecting multiple pieces together with tape and the heat machine. I was pleased with the results of my first inflatable as it showed my skills in connecting plastic materials to form a simple yet clean design.
Inflatable #2
Moving onto my second inflatable, I wanted to build off from the first inflatable I experimented with and build on the complexity of the structure and shapes. I decided to approach this inflatable with a similar design to my first one. I created basic shapes such as squares and rectangles to create a simple head-size-shaped inflatable that formed a cube. However, I decided to add more shape elements to the sides of the main cube to create more complexity and advance compared to the first inflatable I created. For instance, the cube has six sides and I utilized four of the six sides by adding different variations of cuboids on each of those sides to make it more complex and abstract. In terms of colors, I decided to use grey, yellow, and purple plastic material as I thought these colors would go well together, and I sealed it all together with black tape for a neutral-tone object. After my initial struggle of creating and connecting multiple cube/cuboid-like inflatable pieces together, I was really happy with the outcome of my second inflatable as it built off the complexity of my first inflatable.
Inflatable #3
For my last inflatable, I really wanted to play around with the shapes and complexity of my creation. Leveraging my experience with previous inflatables, I wanted to continue to build off this. My last inflatable incorporates different elements from the previous two inflatables I created. For instance, I took the simple cube shape design of my first inflatable and the different inflatable shapes from my second inflatable to create a more complex last inflatable. For my last inflatable, I created three shapes and connected all of them to form one cohesive “line” inflatable design. My three shapes included a toroid, a tetrahedron connecting next, and a cube as the end piece. In terms of colors, I approached it in a similar way I did with my previous inflatables by choosing colors that go well together. For example, for the toroid, I used grey plastic colors with maroon tape while for the tetrahedron, I used green plastic and black tape. As for the last shape, the cube, I used purple plastic with orange tape. After connecting these shapes, it created a “line-like” path that led to the cube so when I blew air, people could easily follow the airflow that inflates the object. I specifically chose these colors for these shapes because they placed emphasis on the airpath flow and highlights the end inflation. Overall, I was very pleased with the results of all my inflatables because it demonstrates the gradual increase in complexity of my inflatables, as I slowly incorporated more diverse elements to challenge myself in each design.
