Examples of Hype

Here are some examples of hype to help me design my Materials class project:

1.) PETA's facebook group to release Tilly into the wild, the whale that recently killed her trainer.
2.) Slow Food Movement Tea Infusers made by Towson University students to encourage the slow consumption of tea
3.) Hope for Haiti concert to raise money for Haitians affected by the 2010 earthquake
4.) thetruth.com anti-smoking campaign: commercials, songs, and apparel
5.) Livestrong bracelets to raise awareness and funds for cancer research
6.) (RED) products raising funds and awareness for aids prevention and research
7.) Breast cancer 3 day march to raise funds and awareness for cancer research
8.) Dove Campaign for Real Beauty
9.) Dirty Jobs raises awareness of people who do the unattractive jobs that make this country run
10.) Grocery stores selling reusable totes at a good price to reduce overuse of plastic bags

Sugar Lighting Design

I have been working on designing my sugar addition to those boring college lamps. I first measured all the specifics for the opening of the lamp and then mapped it out in illustrator. In doing this I was able to measure out 8 evenly spaced slits around the perimeter of the lamp. I will create a cylinder of sugar that covers the rim of the lamp by 1" and has a 1/2" overhang. The slits will be fabricated into this overhang and will hold sugar slabs of some shape. I haven't nailed down what shapes I am going to use but I am thinking of creating scythe-like slabs that will meet evenly in the center (I measured this in illustrator). This would project light beams in a sunburst pattern and would successfully diffuse the harsh lighting. It would also add a dynamic element to the plain lamps. Here is a 1/2 size mock-up of my plan (cardboard and bristol board).

This design will also cater to the wet-sand nature of the uncured material. I can create this shapes with a decent amount of ease, thus focusing on the material's durability and finish quality.

J2: Lamination Inlay Difficulties

Today I attempted to sweat solder my top sheet of 26ga copper(shape already pierced out)to my 20ga brass base. I laid it on the stand and wire mesh and heated it with a large flame from below. I stood there heating for about 25 minutes with no results. I tried just heating one corner, knowing that the sheet was too large to solder all at once. No luck with that. I am going to attempt double-fisting some torches with a large flame below and a small flame above. The piece is just too large for its own good.

Creative Caffeine: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Sugar:
• Cane
• Powdered
• Crystal
• Syrup
• Granulated

How can granulated sugar be manipulated?
• Combined with cream of tartar (acidic salt) and a small amount of water to make wet sand consistency
• Molds well, much like building a sandcastle (form to mold and immediately pop out to let air set the mixture)
• Very fast process but takes a level of finesse, requires many trials and patience
• Successful in simple molds but also has ability to form thin sheets that diffuse light nicely
• Need to find a way to mix something else in or coat end product in such a way to increase durability and prevent crumbling edges.

Manipulated even further:
• Can I combine Elmer’s water soluble glue with water before adding to the sugar-tartar mixture to increase durability of end product?
~ Requires more liquid mixture because glue makes it thicker
~ Tougher to mix but not bad at all
~ Makes molding slightly easier
~ Compare durability to plain water compound
• I know combining iron oxide with the dry mixture will result in a nice brown shade in the end product, but is there any other way to pigment the sugar?
~ Tried adding drops of black ink to mixture after it was removed from the mold.
~ Will try watered down food coloring to make a colored frosted glass effect.

Can the same process be applied to salt?
• Requires more water
• Much more difficult to mold and shape
• Take pigment nicely (iron oxide)
• Crumbles while forming
• EXTREMELY delicate and crumbly when set
• Overall unsuccessful


Milk:
Can manipulate to extract casein, which is a base ingredient in many paints and plastics.
• Simmer milk
• Add vinegar and stir
• Strain mixture to collect clumps of casein
• Squeeze out excess vinegar
• Press in mold or flatten to sheet
• Let dry several days

Observations:
• Experienced significant shrinkage
• Smells unpleasant
• Becomes very stiff and mildly water-repellent
• Sheet warps while drying- nice organic shapes but not controllable
• Opaque

Manipulate further:
• Added iron oxide to milk before adding vinegar to attempt a pigment- worked well but made end product look like beef jerky
• Tried regular vinegar vs. apple cider vinegar
~ Apple cider vinegar extracted casein much faster
~ Overall prefer cider vinegar
• Attempted to process on a screen like handmade paper
~ Very unsuccessful
~ Bonded to screen very quickly, ruining both plastic and screen

Jewelry 20 Sketches

Theme: Youth

AVM Project Experiments

Here are some images from my experimentation with a milk and vinegar compound as well as a sugar and salt compound.

Plastic from Sugar? Emiliano Godoy

I spotted this guy's work while perusing an eco design book and thought his approach to plastic was really innovative and intriguing. He uses a combination of sugar and cream of tartar to create an environmentally friendly, dissolvable plastic that is both aesthetically pleasing and very useful. Here's a great article about where he got his ideas and where his work is heading.

http://www.mnn.com/the-home/interior-design/stories/sweet-sugary-stylish-solutions

There is no exact recipe available to make the plastic but maybe I can experiment and come up with a working compound to use in my Materials project. I am either going to make a sugar plastic or a milk/vinegar plastic. This seems like a good place to begin my research on green plastics.



Here's another artist, Greetj van Helmond. He/she (I have no idea what gender Greetj is) creates fascinating, intricate jewelry pieces out of the same basic process that is used to create rock candy. He/she makes gorgeous crystal forms out of such a simple material. Very inspirational! Check these out!