Process
Final Object
Reflection
First of all, I made hexagons with thick wires and created my own style of snowflakes inside of the shapes based on the Geometry of Nature. I created a total of four wire hexagon snowflakes. I liked the second one than the first one and liked the third one than the second one. I like the latest fourth hexagon snowflake the most because I spent the most time and considered the colors of wires for a long time. As time goes by, since I practiced many times and got more used to handle different thicknesses of wires, I enjoyed more making these hexagon snowflakes. I only used silver wires at first, but I also used gold wires and black wires to add more aesthetics in the later ones. For the reason I used wires is because they were easy to get from the stores and were the only materials I had in class at the time. Even if the wires were not the first material that caught my attention, I would have done the same using the wires because they are easy to handle to form not too big solids. Also, their great textures and images are attractive enough for me to let them be used in my nest. Thus, I would again use wires if I get to redo this project. When I finally gathered four hexagon snowflakes, I put them together with thin black wires to form the core part of the nest.
Afterward, using the pipes in gold colors, I made a tetrahedron. I used gold pipes because I frequently used gold wires in the snowflakes. I wanted them to collaborate well through the colors. I cut the pipes into pieces in the sizes I want and connected them with black thin wires. I first put the wires through the pipes and went all the way around the three sides of the triangle on each side of the tetrahedron. Then, I connected them all together to shape the tetrahedron. It’s important to remember to put the four hexagons solid inside the tetrahedron before you close it. Otherwise, you would have to untie the wires and do everything over again. After I finished nesting the four hexagons solid inside the tetrahedron, I thought they weren’t connected strongly enough. Thus, I added more of the black thin wires around the sides of the two solids to hold them together more tightly. I pretended these parts to be part of my design. I think, overall, nesting these two solids was the hardest part of this project, which perhaps took the longest time to complete.
For the third nest, dodecahedron, I wanted to use transparent acrylic plexiglass because I wanted everything inside to show through the third nest. To make the dodecahedron with the acrylic plexiglass, I needed to use the laser lab. Before I actually scheduled the appointment, I first demonstrated with chipboards to double check the size of it. When this trial went successful, I created an illustrator board for the laser lab using Adobe Illustrator CC. Since it could only contain 6 pentagons due to the size of the plexiglass, I had to cut two boards of the plexiglass with the same file. So that I would have 12 pentagons in total. Also, it was important to make small holes near the corners because that’s how I would connect all 12 pentagons together. Since it was my first time going to the laser lab after the orientation, I was nervous about using the machines and challenging new methods. However, the instructor was very nice and helpful. She guided me to use the machines properly. With her help, I was able to cut two boards of the plexiglass successfully. When I gathered all 12 pentagons, I formed two sets of the half of the dodecahedron. By doing so, I can put in the first and second nested polyhedra inside the dodecahedron. Following these steps, I finally created the nested polyhedra with three layers.
Although there were some challenges, such as tightening the wires and putting the pentagons together into the shape of a dodecahedron, I am very proud that I successfully produced my style of nested polyhedra. I think I feel more proud of this project because it is the only design that I can create. It is not something that everyone can make. Also, it is more precious for me because I spent a very long time and put a big effort to produce this work. Moreover, through the process of this project, I was able to learn how to make solids with wires and how to use the laser lab. It was very useful to learn the methods to create the laser lab illustrator boards and to use the laser cutter to cut the materials in the way I want. Taking away the experiences and lessons I earned from this project, I expect my next project to be a step higher than this project.
