April 8, 2024
Our second project started with basic explorations in shapes and forms. We drew 2D shapes and 3D forms, later unfolding the 3D forms into 2D templates. Basing our templates on an equilateral triangle (below), we drew templates with which we would be able to fold pyramids, prisms, and truncated pyramids with a triangular base. We then chose some of these forms to replicate a fruit or vegetable geometrically.
I chose to replicate a mango, using a pyramid and a truncated pyramid joined at their bases. We also created scaled-down versions of these forms. These combined forms were made from our templates (below).
After the forms were created, the next step was to insert the smaller form into the larger form, through some sort of “surgery”. This means either bisecting or trisecting the large form and inserting the small form in the middle, or sinking the small form into the large form somewhere. Since we couldn’t do the same thing as anyone else in our groups, I ended up sinking my small form into the side of my large form, upside down, so you could still see the planes of the small form from the outside. We performed a “surgery” on our shapes to plan out our next steps. I subdivided my large form by bisecting it and creating a pocket on the outside for the smaller form to fit in. Because the truncated pyramid and pyramid were created from the same pyramid template, I knew that they both had the same slope. Therefore, I could flip the small form upside down and it would still fit into the large form.
Now, it was time to make a paper model of these new forms (below). I ended up making the bristol model twice because of difficulties in figuring out the measurements of the forms. Since I bisected my larger form vertically, this meant that I had to find the height of the forms to create an interior wall, which wasn’t found on the template. The second time around was successful, though, and the model served to help visualize the next steps in the projects.
These paper models reflected the final iteration of the project. Essentially, we wanted to recreate these forms as a solid mass. I chose to work with plaster, which meant that I needed to create a mold for it. Using foam core and a lot of tape, I used my paper model template (above) and created three molds: one for the small form, and two connected with one wall in the middle for the split larger form. I decided to make the larger form in a combined mold to ensure that the interior walls would sit against each other at the same angle, since there was no telling how the plaster would dry otherwise. Below are the molds as I was making them. I repeatedly compared my paper models to my molds, as the correct mold would be able to fit the paper model inside without any shape alteration.
With the molds complete, I mixed my plaster, poured it into the molds, and let it dry. The smaller form mold worked perfectly (below). There were no leaks, and my mold came off nice and clean. However, my larger form mold ended up with a big mess. It seemed that there wasn’t enough tape holding the foam core together, so as I started to pour my yellowed plaster in, the bottom started to leak. One thing about plaster that I wanted to play into was the chemical reaction-induced drying time. So, I poured the plaster back into my bucket and started to mix it more. With more movement and heat comes a faster drying time. I wanted to make the plaster as stiff as possible while still pourable so that it wouldn’t be able to leak through. I had to pour in and pour out the plaster multiple times because of how much it leaked. In the end, some plaster dried while I poured new plaster in, so I knew that there would be some fixes I’d have to implement in the finished form.
My larger form came out with some holes due to the drying time, which I decided to fill with air-dry clay. Below are the finished plaster pieces.
After this, the final component of the project was to make a “skin” for our chosen fruit or vegetable. Since I chose a mango, I decided to replicate a champagne mango (my favorite) by using a bright, warm yellow felt for the skin. My process is below.
I hand-sewed the felt together with brown thread, flipped it inside out, and put my plaster pieces through the flap to complete the project. Below is my final design.
Finally, we drew axonometric plans. These include paraline views and exploded form views. These were another fun and challenging puzzle to figure out, as drawing triangles on a parallel view rather than a perspective view is hard to wrap your head around, and makes the drawings look wrong. Nevertheless, the finished views are below.
Overall, I do think that there were some instances that I could have worked through better, such as the skin. I underestimated how much time the skin would take, and so I wasn’t able to fully flesh out an interesting design. I also think that I could have put some more thought into how I finished my plaster pieces, for example, dyeing the air-dry clay the same color as the plaster to have a more consistent look. Nevertheless, I am proud of the general project, as I chose a complicated form and combination of forms, yet I still pushed through to make the paper models, molds, and skin. I had a lot of fun figuring out the paper models and molds, because even though I struggled and messed up at least once for each form, I enjoyed using math and other skills to get what I wanted, and it was extremely satisfying to see the forms fit together in the end.
Below is the Presentation Board I made for the entire project called MANGO. Created in Adobe InDesign, I essentially covered everything in this post, but with chosen typeface and curated visual design. I had fun making it!