CMU | 53-330A
In the 70s, David Bowie had a musical adaptation of George Orwell’s futuristic-dystopian classic novel 1984. It’s harsh, ridges, structured, dark, pessimistic, and gloomy but also enlighting and inspiring. Thus, as suggested by the theme of the book, I adopted the book flipping motion along with concrete stabilized footing to hold up the weight of the message.
For this inflatable, I did not go into it with any particular idea; I just wanted to improvise and see where my instincts took me. I wanted to try using the heat sealer, so that was the main method I used to construct this. I started cutting out various different sized rectangles, squares, and diamonds and placed them in various arrays to make this inflatable. I started to become interested in the texture that the heat sealer was creating, so I utilized it almost to make these creases/seams throughout the piece. I also liked the idea of utilizing the clear plastic to create panels where you can see into the piece, so I put shapes behind the clear panels, so it looks like they’re almost suspended. The final thing I tried to execute was having strips of plastic that hung off the piece, so they were not completely included in the part that inflated but instead added another dimension to the inflatable.
For this inflatable, I went into it knowing I wanted to create a flower. My initial idea was to make a flower with a stem attached to it, but making the flower took a lot more time, so I decided to simplify the idea. Even though this piece is small, it was pretty difficult top construct. It involved a lot of tracing and making tiny shapes and a lot of difficulty arose in taping the inflatable because even the smallest hole caused it not to inflate. Another issue I noticed was that blowing into it too much caused the tape to lose strength, so I would have to retape it a lot. Despite these issues, I liked how it turned out, and I like that the straw almost mimics the stem that I initially thought of. It also gave me more knowledge on the issues I should watch out for for my next two inflatables.
For this inflatable, I went into it knowing I wanted to make a lot more of a basic structure, and I also wanted it to be larger since my first two were on the smaller side. Since I was just taping straight edges together, it was a lot easier to assemble, and I did not really have that many issues with holes. I used a shopping bag for the white aspects of the cube, and it was interesting that they inflated a lot more than the other plastic (but when not inflated, they did not hold their shape as well). It was a lot easier to assemble something to already be three dimensional than it was to create like a double sided two dimensional piece and then inflate it to make it three dimensional. This piece was the least time consuming, but I think it was the best executed and was also the most successful at inflating.
Hello! The song that I chose to inspire my form was Koi geba– by ATARASHII GAKKO!
The song is about being rebels and questioning the world. So I choose to constitute a classical architecture that is very ridge: it uses elements like repetition, symmetry, and rhythms. BUT outside of the facade is strings that comes form the center of the dome that is free flowing and had droplet/ball that falls off of them to show the uncertainty and add a little more playfulness to the tower, much like the song.
The construction was relatively easy. The overall structures are made of basic geometrical shapes that are connected and subtracted from each other to create depth and a sense of grandness.
This inflatable was the most impromptu because I had no plan for it, I just knew I wanted a mesh of shapes to create an abstract form. I assembled the 3 main sphere using a mixture of exposed and closed seams, as well as pleats. I sewed the main spheres shut, and then cut out a circle to attach the other sphere to it (hence the impromptu attitude). I added some appendages using a variety of cone shapes and techniques as well. Overall, I really like the way this turned out! I feel like just using grey helped it read as a single monolith. The size is also really satisfying to hold and cuddle with.
This is a giant jewelry clasp that is interactive. I started by sketching the mechanics of a real jewelry clasp, and then made a large pattern out of it by sketching on kraft paper. By having a separate tube in the center connecting all the pieces, the hot pink middle piece is able to move like a jewelry clasp and “open and close”. This one took a long time just because of the patterning aspect. It also has about 5 pieces that compose it, so it was a lot of individual piece to assemble. I also had a learning curve with learning how to sew inftatables with cutouts in the center. I hand sewed all the pieces with the cutouts in the center using a hidden hem stitch. Overall though, this one came out the cleanest because of the patterning and planning that went into it.
This piece was inspired by the Pigeon Bagel (in squirrel hill) logo on a T-shirt I have by them. I freehanded this one, but had a clear idea on my end goal unlike the abstract grey one. I used darts to make the shape of the bagel, and then attached them via zipper. Because I didn’t preplan, the zipper was really hard to attach and I had to do a lot of fabric maneuvering on the sewing machine. I then sewed the cream cheese as a separate part, and finally at the end cut out holes for the arms and legs. The arms and legs can be pulled to elongate one side versus the other. I also wanted to put a spin on the design so I made all the shoes and gloves different colors. I think this piece did a good job achieving the interactivity that I wanted it to have as a playful piece.
In this project, I explored different forms and developed three odd, playful, interactive while fluffy and squishy objects. Enjoy!
This object was inspired by the famous balloon dog. I think it would be cool to explore the boundary between the textural, material, and property differences between the stuffed fabric made by ‘balloon dog’ and its original form. To understand how objects can transform into an entirely new form, a basic geometry through folding, twisting, and closing/opening is the goal of the push and pull project. To accomplish the fabric version of the balloon dog, a tube was made with one side closed and the other for stuff. By following the procedure to make the original balloon dog, I had to fill and fold to the ideal shape and then secure it with strings to maintain the shapes. After that, I swapped out some linkage with velcros and pins to make the form more natural.
This object was inspired by the fabric sculpture ‘meat carcasses’ by Tamara Kostianovasky. The image of slaughtered livestock – the vulgarity of fleshy carcasses – is softened into plush cuts of meat. The grotesque, gross-looking, agitating form contrasting with the soft, sweet, detailed material creates great chemistry I want to explore in this object. The artist makes these sculptures using her own cloth, and I chose to get inspired by the leftover scrap pieces by our peers. I want to let those forms inform my design.
With knowing those, I started mutilating the fabric using darts, strengthening them to create volume, inverting them to create contract and etc. The interactive portion is that the bones ate removable, and the pieces of green, and purple fabric are all pullable to shrink and expand the form. Overall this is definitely a tough yet rewarding object I created.
This object came to my mind as my friend peeled open a mandarine while commenting on the orange fluffy fabric. And ya, here is where that landed. This is the only object that I had a pattern created for constancy and uniformity. The challenges in this object lies in the constacution: from sewing the peel becuase the flfy frabic are very thick or to stuffing all the slices into the peels, to have the explosive effect when someone takes out the stem to picking out the correct ratio of colors. It took a lot of thought and try and erros to get it right.
Now! You can pluck the stem, slowly peel open the ‘skin’ and take out the slices of ‘baby mandarines’!
When we were told about the project, I knew that I really wanted to try to make a sun. I knew that I would just use the baseball sphere pattern since I had made one the week prior and then, just free hand all the different rays. I kept accidentally making the rays too skinny so it was super difficult to reverse or stuff them. Also, at first, I tried to make the two wavy rays in almost a spiral pattern, but trying to reverse it was too difficult, so I decided to scrap that idea. It was really fun experimenting with combining different shapes and thinking through how to assemble/sew the shapes together so that they reversed in the correct manner.
For my second object, I really wanted to make something either with zippers or with some sort of interactive element. I was asking my friends for ideas, and one of them suggested to make a milk jug. I thought that that would work perfectly with having zippers since I could have it so that the jug reveals the milk that is inside. With this design, I approached it with a bit of a more technical approach instead of freestyling it. I measured the circumference of my circle (for the cylinder) and tried to align them with the length of the zippers and the fabric I used to make the half sphere on the top. It did not completely work out because I forgot to account for seam allowance and other factors, so there was some space in the back without a zipper. I was surprised with how much hand sewing went into this design, but it was good practice for trying to create even stitch lines and better lateral stitches.
For this object, I wanted to continue the use of interactive designing, and also, work on some darting/pleating. I saw a lot of red and green fleece along with red scraps of lace in the room, so I thought that that would work perfectly for making a rose. My initial idea was to make a rose bud and then make a lot of pleated strips of red and green with velcro, so that you could pull petals off the rose. It ended up looking a little weird, so I decided to turn all the red pleated strips into individual roses and sew them shut with the red lace fabric. My new idea became that you could pull these roses of the rose bud and when you have the green part flipped to the decorative side, it could be a bouquet, but when it’s flipped to just the green side, it just acts as either a rose bud/roses blooming from the ground.
During this project, I attempted to create three very different playthings, each with its own charm and interaction.
For this object, the main interaction I had in mind was to create a simple spherical shape with adjustable limbs that could be pulled from either direction smoothly. To accomplish this, I began with the spherical base using a baseball pattern and then incorporated tunnels within it using a white tarp (for smoothness) and a lot of hand stitching. The tunnels were very difficult to conceptualize, especially considering that there are two, but it worked out surprisingly well!
For this creature, my idea was to manipulate the basic form of a cone, and scrunch it up with string in a way that it could resemble a mole rat sort of creature. I used loud string so that the viewer can see how the form was made, and the uncut ends resemble whiskers. I added stuffed human-like hands to make it feel unnatural and a bit uncomfortable, but counteracted it with a soft scarf and button. Although she is a bit off-putting at first, people really warm up to her.
For my final object, I decided to realize a dream of creating a giant huggable carrot the size of me (or taller!). Considering the amount of fabric I would need, I went to the thrift store to get some used orange and green dresses and skirts. Using used fabric ended up dictating many of the formal qualities of my object, from its proportions to the details that I strategically placed, such as the pockets and the zipper. Making use of the forms and features of the original garments gave this piece a lot more character than I had originally imagined.
Thank you!
For my first object, I wanted to make a doll-like figure by combining a spherical and a rectangular shape. I first began making the patchwork body by laser cutting a bunch of little squares and sewing them to create the outline of the rectangular shape. Then, I combined one piece of the sphere with the body. There were a few holes in the patchwork rectangle and head, so I hand-sewed those. Since this was my first time sewing different primary forms together, I noticed that it was difficult visualizing how to sew the shapes together so the right side was only displayed before stuffing.
As an interactive feature of the stuffed doll, I added two baffles connecting the hair to the arms. In order to make the hair, I braided three pieces of fabric. When the hair is pulled, the arms cave inward. When the hand is pulled, the doll’s long arms are revealed and the hair looks like small little space buns.
For my second object, I wanted to explore sewing techniques like darting. I made a flower stem by making a green cylinder and hand-sewed two stuffed leaves on it. Then, to make the flower I put around 4-8 darts on multiple pieces of fabric circles. I used 5 fabric circles total, with each getting smaller and smaller. To combine them, I hand sewed them all one-by-one in their centers. Making this piece was super cool because it showed me how different ways of sewing (in a way that’s not just attaching two pieces of fabric) can resemble fun patterns and objects.
For my last item, I wanted to challenge myself by creating random primary forms and finding interesting ways to manipulate them. I had a cone and a cylinder, so I combined them to l first began by sewing them together. Next, I explored pushing the stuffing to look more rounded, so I added three fabric strips at different parts of the shape. Another thing I really wanted to experiment with was different types of fabric. The pink fur was a bit frustrating to work with because it kept getting caught in the sewing machine, but it was still a good learning experience. To me, this object resembles something from “The Lorax” 🙂
I wanted to make my first inflatable interactive and play with darting. I made a gnome out of a cone and then used darting to bulge the eyes. I had a lot of trouble sewing the eyes onto the cone, and the stitches look messy, but it does fit with the chaotic and goofy nature of the gnome. After the original string that allowed the gnome to be scrunched to the user’s preference was broken, I added another one in, but I don’t like the way this scrunches the gnome as much as the way the original string did.
My second inflatable I wanted to play around with connecting shapes together, so I made three intersecting spheres. This one was really hard for me to think through, and I needed to meet with Olivia to talk it through. I made it by sewing together the green, pink, and turquoise pieces together and then adding on the other halves of the spheres. I used 6 different colors both to make it easier on myself to visualize how it will go together and because I like the playfulness of the multicolored patterns.
For my third inflatable, I wanted to make the Murakami flower design because I really like the pattern, and I think it’s really simplistic but cool. This one also took me a while to think through and a lot of playing around by pinning the pieces together and then reversing them until I figured out how it would work. There was no pattern for the petals, so I had to make my own pattern, and I used the cone pattern for the two yellow circles that make the middle of the flower. I didn’t intend for the inflatable to turn out so large, but I do like the surprising and comical nature of the size. The face is a little bit scarier than I intended, but the sewing of the eye circles went a lot better in this version.
