Improvisation Inflatables – Julia Nishizaki
Throughout this project, I mostly experimented with combining straight edges and curves to form more complex inflatables, and using pre-existing, familiar plastic forms, like grocery bags or empty bread bags, to create organic and unexpected shapes.
Inflatable #1:
I approached my first inflatable by randomly cutting out and piecing together different shapes, some with curved edges, and others with straight ones, to become familiar with how plastic acted. I was surprised by how long it took me to create this first inflatable, and realized that I had to pay more attention to my craft when assembling the plastic, especially around odd forms like the hatch jutting out of the pink panel, as it started leaking and needed a lot more tape, covering up most of its yellow sides. It was also really difficult to create smooth, un-puckered edges when matching curved and straight pieces, taking away a little from what would have otherwise been a seamless, organic shape.
Inflatable #2:
Inflatable #3:
For my second and third inflatables, I realized that I had a lot of empty bread bags in my apartment from the previous semester, and due to their consistent, rectangular prism shapes, I wanted to experiment with them in a way that both celebrated their forms, as well as created new, more organic shapes. I approached these inflatables in a similar way to the first one, without too much planning. However, for these, I limited myself to just cutting the plastic with a straight edge. Because of this, these inflatables were much easier to piece together, and still turned out dynamic, as the bread bags were already 3-D forms without any manipulation. Although I knew the bread bags would puff up when inflated, I didn’t realize how large or round they would become, so I was able to use how the plastic acted in my first bread bag form to help me plan out how I wanted my second one to look like.
Inflatable #4:
For my fourth inflatable, I kept the same concept of using found or used plastic, but this time with blue and white shopping bags. I found that working with this plastic was a lot more difficult than working with the colorful plastic in my first inflatable or the bread bag plastic in my second and third ones, as the grocery bag material was so light, and didn’t want to lay still or flat while I was taping. However, due to the lightness of this plastic, it was a lot easier to match curved edges with straight, and to create oddly shaped protrusions.
Inflatable #5:
For my final inflatable, I went back to colorful plastic. Based on my experiences with my first inflatable, I wanted to create a form that had less pieces and was simpler, but I also wanted to incorporate a hole in the middle of the form. While the outside edges didn’t have too many wrinkles or puckers, I was still not entirely able to make the seam around the hole very smooth. Moreover, the large amount of tape I needed to use to patch up gaps made the inflatable a little stiff, unexpectedly turning one of the corners into a handle.
Overall, I really enjoyed the experimental and explorative nature of this project, and was really surprised by the variety and number of different concepts that everyone conveyed through this project. If we had more time, I would have liked to further explore the size of my inflatables as well as to experiment more with different found plastics as materials, and how they would interact with each other.