Push/Pull Pt 1: Stephanie Smid

At the start of this project I wanted to explore some of the same ideas I looked at in the Improvised Inflatables. After my first form I aimed for my stuffed objects to have elements of surprise and interaction. The first object was rather simple to let me explore darting techniques without the sewing becoming too messy. The overall form started as a 10″ wide cylinder, which I then darted four times with the same curving line. After the whole form was sewn I was really excited with how the darts looked. After stuffing it, however, the curves became less pronounced and the overall effect wasn’t as dramatic. Attempting a second iteration of this form with more pronounced curves in the darting might produce a stuffed form closer to what I had imagined.

 

For my second form I wanted to create something with multiple parts. Inspired by some of my ideas from the list of sphere manipulations, I imagined a sphere with multiple layers that could be taken off to reveal the inside. Using the beach ball wedge pattern allowed for each pattern piece to become a slice to peel away. A happy coincidence occurred when I made the outer skin in that the slices have a sort of pocket due to how I hemmed him- this would be a fun idea to explore further in a second iteration. The inner form also uses the wedge pattern, and to highlight the actual pattern pieces I made ridges along each edge. I really enjoyed how this one came out, although getting the ridges to sew cleanly where all five pattern pieces joined was much trickier than I expected!

 

My last object was very ambitious- so much so that I only managed to fully sew and stuff one of the eight units I had planned. Pushing the idea of interactivity even further than my layered sphere, I wanted to make a cube that would be constructed out of multiple smaller cubes. By attaching cones to the cube faces the pieces could be slotted together to help hold them all in place. Fully assembled, all you would see is the simple muslin fabric. As cubes get pulled away it would start to reveal the colorful fabric and the cones. The cubes could also be slotted together in different ways to begin mixing and matching the different fabrics and faces. I would love to continue working on this iteration to fully finish all the other cubes!