FINAL
Final Drawing Making Proposal-1d7lr14
First few drafts
- Experimenting with the different layers before laser cutting
2. Creating files for laser cutting
3. Laser cutting
**First time didn’t cut through, 3 times! Burnt marks on the edges**
4. Layering/switching orders
**Doesn’t match up, reordered > I made it too short!**
** Edges do not align!**
5. Trimming edges so that all are equal and filing edges
6. Experimenting
**tree don’t work! Doesn’t look as good, doesn’t show enough depth, switched to flowers**
Final layout & elements as reference
7. Marking the layers with painters tape
**Messed up one layer, had to replace it > can’t draw numbers on it without leaving a mark**
8. Engraving with dremel engraver (one element at a time)
**So loud! Had to switch layers very often!**
**Later on realized I’m scratching the negative spaces**
9. Went to Canal plastic to buy solution for fine scratches
**Didn’t work, but polished it**
WOODEN BASE
- Measuring wood base dimensions
**Didn’t have paper**
2. Drawing on the cover, where to cut
**Measured it wrong at first, had to sand the measurements off**
** had to cut off one edge to cut the strips out and later on glue it back together**
3. Cutting strips out with band saw + filing with small files
does it fit?
4. Laying them all out
5. Adding second layer base
** Couldn’t see the engravings, had to lift it higher with scrap wood from woodshop**
**Need a layer to support the four blocks of wood and align with the outer edge**
6. Need more sanding!
**Not everything was aligned after adding another layer**
7. Gluing the blocks of wood onto the platform with wood glue
8. Pen doesn’t fit through the gaps, so punctured marks with awl
**How to mark where the strips go?**
9. LED strips installation
**The gaps in between are too close to each other, LED Strips wouldn’t hold: tried using wire and nailing it into the wood for 1 hour didn’t work
**I used nails and wires: hammered in between strips and side of the birch wood**
** ONLY 7 STRIPS! I HAVE 8 LAYERS! > decided to do the first 7**
10. Drilled hole for cable to go through
** wood split into two! too close to the edge**
**Broke one strip of LED light… Had to go get connectors**
11. Cut and attach with connectors
**Mixing strips, rearrange, broken connection with Red in RGB LED light**
**had to use electrical tape to hold LED strips in place, at a certain angle…**
11. Trimming the edges to fit the cover
12. Gluing the side pieces together
**Had to sand more because it didn’t fit**
13.Gluing side pieces and cover
**strips weren’t aligned to the gap! Got to readjust before enclosing**
14. Testing if it works!
15. Cut small cubes from scraps to hold the layers with equal distances
supposedly use them to support it by gluing onto the base
**Plexi wouldn’t hold, used the cubes to hold as dividers temporarily until dry for 24 hours and rubber band for first two layers**
End result:
The outcome looked quite different from what I had in mind. I wanted it to have more layers and details and since my concept is to play with light and space, similar to Larry Bell’s, I wanted it to look more three dimensional. However, it was still successful. The layering and the idea of using multiple two-dimensional pieces to create a space and depth were well executed.
If I had to do this again:
If I had to do this all over again I would definitely plan it better before I started working on it, especially taking the materials I use into account: the weight, how they stick together, what adhesive, stability and so on. I had to change a lot throughout the process.
- What the inside of the wood base would be like considering that I engraved the flowers way too close to the edge
- Where will the LED strip end
- How many layers the LED strip can light up
- What I need to complete the LED strip circuit
- How to prevent the scratches on plexiglass
I probably would have engraved more, shaded the flowers/leaves to create depth. I would’ve made the layers taller so I have more space to engrave.
In relation to other classes:
This is my first time working with light, using laser cutter and engraving on plexi-glass and wood to make a base. This project ties into my other elective where we were experimenting with color therapy. The different light colors and its intensity evokes a different mood. I’ve also used many of the techniques I have learned from space to make the wood base: gluing, sanding, cutting and constructing. My space class is all about community and experimenting with various materials, and how they work in a space.
In relation to my life/world:
Like many of my other artworks, I tend to be clean, organized and structured. I also tend to play with vibrant colors. My purpose of being in art school is to produce artworks that make people feel happy, to make them feel comfortable and most of all to de-stress them from school or work. This work consists of flowers and plants, which are known to be elements that relax and/or uplift people’s mood.
Presentation points –
- Larry Bell is a contemporary American artist and sculptor
- Lives and work in Tao, New Mexico
- 77 years old
- Larry Bell’s Pacific Red II with multiple glass cubes place outside of the Whitney Biennial
- He makes art as “response to their urban surroundings”
- Focuses on light ans space, interlaying both in an environment
- Likes to add light into his work, natural or synthetic
- Emphasizes on simplicity
- SO effortless, only pieces of glass glued together with smaller versions in the middle
- I want to play with light and depth, not in such simple way that people can’t understand
- Should be more decorative, at least makes people say ahhh
- Also using transparent medium, plexiglass
- Instead of box, I layered plexiglass
- 2D to 3D to create space
- LED light for synthetic light
- Process was tedious
- Had to change a lot, measurements and everything
- I don’t really do 3d things
- It makes me realize that I have always been so afraid of making 3d pieces because I thought I don’t have the skills and am scared to ask professors or technicians
- I didn’t have the resources
- It takes a lot of time, more than drawing! Maybe because I am not familiar with it
- Still do not appreciate Larry Bell’s artwork. He did not build a wooden base, all he did was cut glass and enclose them, creating a cube within another cube
