denisen@andrew.cmu.edu – Inflatables and Soft Sculpture

Project 4 Doppleganger – Denise

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 22:53:26 +0000

I learned how to pattern so now everything seems more possible because I have always wondered how people mimicked objects. I think next time I would choose a bigger object to pattern, one with less circles, and also choose monochromatic colors as fabrics, especially if it’s my first time patterning. The coffee cup was so much harder than I thought. Everything was going well from the taping to the cutting, but then when I got to the sewing…the concentric circles were very hard to do. I think after I spent 2 hours on the bottom circle, I quick iterated and turned the coffee up into a bubble tea. I like Miranda’s pillow and might want to try something like that out next time.

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Project 3 – Denise Nguyen & Miranda Miller

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 01:04:41 +0000

Write a paragraph about your project, what you learned, what you would want to try next if you were to continue, and what you might do differently.

We learned how to enlarge a pattern we made ourselves. We tried cutting the pattern from paper but found the projection method to be the easier. It was actually easier in some ways and hard in other ways. The sewing was easier, but the final form was less predictable so we had to be more precise . If we had more time and opportunity we would have added toenails and also made it more red like a lobster. It’s interesting the the foot is more prominent in the inflatables version than the stuffed animal version. Perhaps, we could have made the head bigger so the elephant part is more visible. We also didn’t add the claws, but if we had more time we would have added that.

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Project 2 – Denise Nguyen & Miranda Miller

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 23:19:46 +0000

Write a paragraph about your project, what you learned, what you would want to try next if you were to continue, and what you might do differently.

We initially picked an elephant and crab, but found the pattern for the crab to be uninspiring, so we decided to incorporate a foot and made it look more like a lobster. Miranda was better at sewing and Denise learned a lot from working next to her. Miranda patterned the foot and Denise would like to learn how to pattern her own foot as well…eventually. If we had more time, we would have added a shell or made the trunk more elaborate.

Our animal collage is named JaRvIs.

Include photograph or video documentation in the post.

(Sorry, I didn’t know how to rotate the portrait images in WordPress.)

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Project 1 (Collaborated with Gabe Borrus Bamforth)

Thu, 01 Feb 2018 03:10:16 +0000

Prompt: One paragraph about your project with reflection on what you learned, what you would want to try next if you were to continue, and what you might do differently.

I learned that making inflatables is very enjoyable, but also very hard and that being patient and going slow is the key. The hardest piece for me was actually the experimental ice cream looking microphone one. That one has a hexagon, triangles, pleated parts, and a cylinder believe it or not. I also learned that I much prefer working with my partner than alone. The red and black disk was a collaboration piece and I think my partner helped me slow down and also we were both supportive of each other. It’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, too. I LOVED Miranda and Patrick’s piece where they had to blow into it at the same time. I want to try to build more collaborative and romantic pieces like that. In the future, I think I might use the washy tape to structure and map things out things into place and then a stronger tape to seal things up. I also would build all my objects A LOT larger since I realized that 90 degrees don’t show up very well on the smaller object (e.g, my Tetris piece turn out to be more bubbly than I wanted it to be).

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