Assigment 1- Ashley Burbano

First Inflatable

I cut out random pieces of all different sizes and then tried putting them together. There was no planning with this approach, and that made it harder to connect the pieces. I was still learning how to cut the tape too, so it is still very rough. I did not really like this approach, and tried to do change it for the next inflatable.

 

Second Inflatable

I changed the approach this time by using more of the bags corners and worked with more geometric shapes, mainly long and short rectangles. I still did not plan before I put it together, still trying to stick with the prompt of the assignment. I explored long rectangles and more wide rectangles and tried to see how the air filled each. I liked how the wide rectangle filled more.

 

Third Inflatable

Going off of the results of the second, I decided to work with larger rectangle cutouts and tried to create wider, bigger shapes. I liked the colors of this one, I felt really patriotic. I followed the same approach as before but tried to make it bigger. This inflatable was really hard to blow up though.

 

Fourth Inflatable

I was feeling really unsatisfied with the outcomes of the previous inflatables. I didn’t really like making random shapes, it felt more purposeless. I put three pieces together and it looked like a tail, so I decided to make a whale using these pieces.

I continued the whale, and attempted to work with rounder shapes than previously. I liked how this came out.

 

Fifth Inflatable

For my final shape, I wanted to explore more round shapes. After cutting out two pieces, I realized that it is easier to mainly work with repetitive shapes, similar to the exercise we did in class. I ended up creating a beach ball shaped inflatable. This one inflated very easily.

 

Takeaways

When I started using an exacto knife and cutting board to cut plastic and the tape instead of using scissors, I noticed that the craft of my pieces improved a lot. This sped up the process significantly and allowed me to focus more energy on thinking about the inflatable.

I also realized that its easier to work with repetitive, geometric shapes and that bigger pieces are the best.