The first inflatable inspired from a felted Christmas tree figure that I had made in the past. However, I distorted the shape so that the spikes of the trees would The first inflatable was inspired by a felted Christmas tree figure that I had made in the past. However, I distorted the shape so that the spikes of the trees would be smaller in size. I drew the distorted shape on hardwood, split the shape in half, and cut the two symmetrical pieces. Each piece was then replicated five times, ending up with ten spiky shapes. As it was my first inflatable with many pieces, it was challenging to figure out which part of the fleece to sew together or to leave open. As I was sewing together the spikes, I realized that the spikes had gotten way smaller than expected. Furthermore, the spikes were pulled inwards.
After receiving feedback from my classmates, I realized that the tension between the fabric remaining behind the seemliness had cased the inner contortion of the spikes. One comment that I remember is that the inflatable looks like five dinosaurs cuddling together.
The second inflatable was inspired by the lovely notes that were sent to each other during Valentine’s Day. The lovely notes reminded me of a personal diary that I used to keep as a child. I decided to create a heart-shaped diary that can open and close with the use of a button. I wanted to experiment with the quilting technique – where the fabric goes through the sewing machine with fluffy fillings inside. It was a huge struggle to push the inflated heart shapes through the small space between the stopper and the sewing machine. I find the color contrast between the pink outer and white inner layers interesting as it accentuates the form.
The third inflatable was inspired by the second inflatable. I wanted to create a book-shaped inflatable where the two sides of the book can be pulled together to be folded. I used a playful color palette of purple, pink, blue, and yellow. I added a cherry symbol that is from the game Animal Crossing. How I created the two sides of the book is sewing the all fabric together into an empty box shape, then going once more through the middle of the box through the sewing machine.
The final inflatable is a lock and key. The lock can be pushed through to reveal a heart shape. I wanted the reveal of the heart shape to have an element of surprise to it. So, I used blue fabric for contrast to the sides of the heart shape. After filling the inflatable with polyfill, the lock looked more like a portable bag with a handle. To give more identity to the object, I created two keys that be connected to the handle.
The critique was helpful in understanding and reviewing the pieces that I made. I discovered that my pieces resembled childhood toys where you could interact with the toys. I believe it is because of the interactive aspect of the pieces, the color scheme, the shapes, and the resemblance to real-life objects. I was also very happy that the class could understand my attempt for each object. Maybe the directness of my objects can be open for more exploration and personal narration to the objects. One more thing to mention is my developed sewing skills and my understanding of 3d forms throughout this project.