ankitaj@andrew.cmu.edu – Inflatables and Soft Sculpture https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a 99-361 - Spring 2018 Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:12:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.21 https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/cropped-CMU-inflatables-S18-web-image2-5-32x32.jpg ankitaj@andrew.cmu.edu – Inflatables and Soft Sculpture https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a 32 32 Assignment 4 – Ankita Jha https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/assignment-4-ankita-jha/ Tue, 06 Mar 2018 01:48:23 +0000 https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/?p=506 This project was an interesting one. The object I chose was a battery pack portable charger. This object was hard because it had interesting curved but solid metal edges that are hard to sew on a smaller scale. Some things I learned from this project was the importance of learning when to sew each pieces – i.e. in what order. I found it more helpful to sew the top two pieces on before the main middle part as it made it less difficult to navigate around the fabric. I also learned that felt has the tendency to bunch/scrunch together when sewing, and that it must be pinned down thoroughly before sewing. Something I enjoyed with this project was having a model to directly look after. Having a physical object that I was replicating was interesting as I could stop and examine the object when I was sewing the pieces together. Two things I added to my doppelganger where: a mini felt pocket and a felt pocket enclosure. This were two functional pieces I thought of adding, as the pocket can be used to hold your chords and the enclosure can help keep the ports clean of dust. Something I would use again from this project is the mixing of materials; I enjoyed mixing the felt and softer cotton fabric together.

 

]]> Assignment 3 – Sommer and Ankita https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/assignment-3-sommer-and-ankita/ Wed, 28 Feb 2018 22:41:19 +0000 https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/?p=465 Something we realized with this assignment is the ease at which sewing comes when sewing larger items. We found the machine quite easier to control when the area you were sewing was large. Something we found difficult though was the marking of the fabric — making sure you were sewing the right pieces, make sure everything was aligned, and such. We found it to be more creative with this assignment as we were thinking of things on a larger scale. Ideas were more doable as every measurement did not need to be precise due to the larger scale. Overall we became more creative and less of novice sewers with this assignment.

 

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]]> Assignment 2 – Sommer and Ankita https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/assignment-2-sommer-and-ankita/ Mon, 12 Feb 2018 15:12:21 +0000 https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/?p=365 As two somewhat novice sewers this project raised some challenges. We set out to create a fun printed, safari animal that combined both a ram and an elephant. As you can see from the documentation, the animal, named Muffin, was quite small. Therefore sewing the underside of the elephant grew a challenge. While the print was very vibrant, it was hard to see where we were stitching and concentration on the fabric as a whole. We found that sometimes hand sewing items may be easier than machine sewing; for example, with the horns on the head, it was easier to hand sew those together rather than machine sew.

If we were to do the project again, we may have aligned the horns differently. While we enjoyed the off center-ness of the horns, we thought making the horns more aligned would make the animal more cohesive. We also may have made the animal bigger, and that way it would be easier to sew.

]]> Assignment 1 – Jha https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/assignment-1-jha/ Mon, 29 Jan 2018 15:42:46 +0000 https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/99-361/s2018a/?p=160 I learned that smaller does not always mean less work. In this case it was very difficult maneuvering the tape and plastic when the inflatable I was making was of smaller size, as well as find the holes where the air was escaping. I also learned that two sets of hands may be easier than one in some cases, as I found it difficult to keep the plastic in place while placing the tape on it. If I were to continue I would obey my initial sketches less. While it was helpful to sketch out some ideas beforehand I found it difficult to stay true to those designs as I was carrying out the project — it would have been more helpful to use those as a starting off point and then see where the project took me (i.e. change some things about the plans if need be). If I were to do this project differently I would think of an overall theme that these inflatables would have. I like the idea of all the smaller projects being connected together by one or two similar characteristics, and have I had more time, I would have liked to incorporate this idea with this assignment.                                                                                     

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