Push/Pull Part 2: Rebecca and Julia

Process

We started this project by looking at our different sets of objects, and identified a couple of features that we wanted to incorporate: Rebecca’s constellation and space themes, and Julia’s colorful inserts that were sewn into the outer seams. While we were initially considering a cube for our base shape, because both of us used cubes in push/pull part 1, we decided on using a sphere made out of 5 petal shapes, as it provided us with a lot more seams where we could add in colorful nylon strips and shapes, and mimicked some of the curves we had achieved through baffling and gathering in our previous objects. While sketching out our design, we decided on placing the colorful inserts inside the sphere for an element of playful surprise, and on depicting the little dipper on the outside of the sphere, as it’s a fairly simple, recognizable constellation, with clear plastic representing each of the stars, so that you could peer inside our shape to see the colorful inserts.

Discoveries

Right after we sewed up the sides of the sphere with a few inserts in the inner seams, we inflated our object, and immediately noticed that there was not enough color inside, so we turned our sphere back inside out, and added in several streamer-like strips of fabric attached to opposite sides of the sphere, so that they draped across the empty space in the middle. One thing we really liked about the inserts and streamers was that due to the constant airflow, the colorful fabric was constantly moving and fluttering in the “wind.” However, the streamers took a little bit of trial and error, as after first adding them in, many didn’t stretch across the inside of the sphere as we had hoped, but instead lay at the bottom of our shape. After adding in our “star” peepholes, we discovered that due to the roundness of our inflatable, it was really easy to move, roll, and push. This discovery not only added in an element of interaction and playfulness, but also allowed for the streamers and inserts to move around and hang in different ways, so that it didn’t matter so much if not all the streamers were fluttering around due to the air flow.

Challenges and Future Considerations

One of the challenges we faced was when blowing it up, the plastic for the peep-holes had ripped in a few places. Moving forward, we would use a stronger material to avoid that, or as it was suggested in class, perhaps leave the holes open to further explore the idea of inside/outside. Upon initially cutting out the petals we also came across a challenge, since there was a pink expo marker line and we didn’t know how to get that off, so we had to decide whether it would be better suited for the outside/inside. We also weren’t sure how, when blowing it up, the streamers across the inflatable would fully interact with the air flow from the blower. We realized that the air wasn’t pushing them as much as we had thought that it would, and so came up with the interlocking idea as a means of addressing that and ensuring that all of the colors could be seen.

In the future we would also perhaps consider a way to have it constantly inflated, so as to further explore how the colorful inserts inside could move as well as interact with people as they move it around. It would also be interesting to explore how else we could add elements of color to the inside beyond the inserts and interlocking streamers, or how it may look if we added even more.

Process Photos

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Final Form

Streamers

Interaction