For the final three material translations, I worked with bubble wrap, pink-dyed white chocolate, and wired pink ribbons held together by pins. Initially, I wanted to work with materials that would make dancing nearly impossible, so I researched objects that defied the basic rules of ballet performance. In ballet, our movements need to be elegant and as quiet as humanly possible, so I decided that because of the its popping sound, bubble wrap would be the perfect solution. However, my other two material choices– chocolate and wired ribbon with pins– were less playful and more metaphorical. The melting chocolate represented how a ballet dancer needs to constantly watch what they eat and keep up with physical strains of ballet. The wired ribbon held together with pins represented the idea that the performance is beautiful to the audience, but painful for the dancer.

Bubble wrap shoe, details

Bubble Wrap Shoe, Full

Chocolate shoe, detail

Chocolate shoe, full

Wired ribbon and pins shoe, detail

Wired ribbon and pins shoe, full

What I found most successful in all three of my iterations was working with unusual and unfamiliar mediums and ultimately figuring out what did and did not work. Molding chocolate was the most tedious task of my project because I constantly had to melt and freeze the chocolate in order to achieve that clay-like texture.

Something I could change about the project is working with expanding my medium choice. For the ten iterations, most of my choices of medium were safe choices, and I realize that I could have taken the project in a different direction if I had time to carefully plan and teach myself how.

Looking back at the feedback I received from the critique of the three iterations, I agree that the way I display the shoes will make the project more visually appealing and well-presented. I am thinking of having the shoes dangling by ribbon from a hook in the wall, with the exception of the chocolate shoes which will most likely be presented in a ballet shoe box. In addition, I also agree with the impact of having a pair of shoes instead of one because its meaning changes when there’s just one shoe versus a pair. To take the project even further, I decided to add more pins to the ribbon and pin shoes, and also I looked into the concept of eating on a blue plate.