In this project, I wanted to test the strength and limitations of plastic, utilizing tape and a heat seal as connection.
Inflatable 01.
For the first inflatable, I had a clear vision for what I wanted to create. My idea was to have clear spherical forms bulging out of one larger main body. I decided to execute this utilizing a royal blue plastic and a clear plastic to emphasize the form’s dome protrusions.
Making this inflatable turned out to be a bigger challenge than I anticipated. The first and biggest challenge I faced were creating the protrusions. I had imagined them to be domes and assumed that cutting circles would lead to the desired form. I quickly learned that to not be the case and instead requires way more material than I had assumed. Although I was not able to figure out how to create the perfect dome, I experimented with the sizes of the protrusions by increasing/decreasing the amount of plastic I left as excess when taping it onto the blue body. Another challenge was making sure that the pieces were all attached securely to each other. I had a lot of trouble inflating my piece since there were many holes which I could not locate upon inspection. I had to reseal each addition to resolve this issue.
Inflatable 02.
For my second inflatable, I chose to experiment with using only triangular and quadrilateral geometries. I layered a few plastic bags on top of each other and cut them all diagonally which gave me a set of shapes. I decided to try sealing this one with the heat seal since my first inflatable was sealed only with tape and caused a lot of trouble. I enjoyed how this piece takes on round forms despite its sharp edges. I also found the variation of visible seams interesting and unique. I tried to have a good balance of clear and solid plastic to allow for a more dynamic visual.
Inflatable 03.
My third inflatable was an exploration of connection and restriction. Initially, I had cut strips from green and white plastics and attempted to create a singular object with sections. However, it was difficult to connect each strip with the overlaps and I had trouble using the heat seal. The air was also not travelling or filling the spaces properly. I then took individual strips again and sealed them individually into tubular forms. I left a section open at the top to connect all of them together which create a curved spine. I secured this area by taping over it. This inflatable was fun because it was interesting to understand how air travels and the potential that has for other explorations. The way in which it inflated also allowed for it to take on a performative experience.
Sewing Practice / sphere + patches
