What inspires me to do a shell house project is my sweet childhood memory with my cousin Amelia as well as a fairy tale about a princess living in a shell house once I heard when I was little. When I was a child, I used to go to the beach with my family. I always went to pick up shells with Amelia then. I can say that all my fond childhood memories are about the sea and shells. Even now, I seldom go to the beach, as long as I see something about the sea and shells, I can’t help thinking about those wonderful days and Amelia, who lives in Seattle now. I still keep some shells that I picked up when I was a child at home now, so the shells have already become my everyday item. Also, I thought back to the fairy tale I mentioned before——it was the dream of Amelia and me to become the princess who lives in the shell house when we were just about five years old. That’s why I decided to create one.
At first, I chose to use sculpture clay to make the room structure inside the shell. However, I found that the hardness of the sculpture clay is too hard, so it can’t shape the bed, sofa, and bedside table very well. And the color of sculpture clay is single, which is not the same as what I imagined. So I chose polymer clay with strong plasticity. The advantage of polymer clay is that it can be better extended to shape the shape I want, and it has many colors, which can facilitate me to match. However, polymer clay also has disadvantages, that is, its plasticity is too strong and its texture is too soft, so when I tried to make another floor lamp or table lamp, I couldn’t finish it because of the weak support. And although the polymer clay won’t stick to the tabletop or hands, they will stick to each other. I put the carpet in the wrong position the first time I tried, so I couldn’t move it again. I had to do it again. But compared with sculpture clay, I still choose polymer clay because I think it has more advantages. I did the whole project three or four times, and the sofa and the bed five or six times to finish it. When I failed and remodeled again and again, I didn’t feel very tired or frustrated, because one was that I drew the sketch very finely and expressed my ideas completely, so I had a clear goal and motivation; the other was that the process was like I’m back in my childhood playing with plasticine – mixing these polymer clay to blend in new colors; pinching out the shape what I want and put them together. So I never wanted to give up. I was very relaxed in the process of doing this project. At the same time, in this process, I also gradually distinguish the different kinds of mud – their hardness, ductility, color, all make them have different uses and functions. This is the first time that I have completed the assignment of integrative studio. I feel that I have gradually begun to understand the process of making a project and have learned to turn ideas into entities step by step. From the initial brainstorming to drawing sketch, and then to buying materials, I turned the sketch into a physical object step by step, which greatly improved my creativity. After finishing this project, I have many new ideas, and I am confident to put them into practice next time.
This shell house is a kind of expression of the beautiful memories of my childhood and like fairy tales come true to me. The process of making a shell house has taught me how to compare the advantages and disadvantages of materials, so as to choose the most suitable materials. Also, I have learned how to deal with limited materials flexibly——although I bought a lot of colored polymer clay, none of them have the color I want. So I kneaded two pieces of the polymer clay of different colors together to achieve my ideal color. However, even though I tried to integrate new colors, I was still not satisfied with the color matching of this project. And the bed’s unreasonable size makes it hard to place other items. If I can do it again, I think I will adjust the proportion of the internal structure of the shell house better and pay more attention to the color matching. Because I didn’t specify the proportion in detail when I drew, the bed I made was too large, and the sofa was too small, resulting in the imbalance of proportion. Next time, I will focus on the problem of proportion more. At the same time, I will try to combine materials —— I did not consider that this time. For example, desk lamps, I could try to use sculpture clay with a higher hardness to make the lamp and use polymer clay for other items. But I just used polymer clay to complete the whole project this time. Next time when I face the choice of materials, I may be more flexible.
