silicone molding process

Here is the story of how I made multiple copies of my photo holders.

First I sketched how I wanted the photo holder to work. I was inspired by the idea of having it look like two little people were leaning against each other and holding the photo with their hands. Since the two little guys were identical halves, it was perfect for a multiples casting project.

I carved a hunk of wax using the bandsaw, jeweler's saw, Fordom (like a Dremel), X-acto knife, and smaller sharp carving blades. It was tricky to get the 3D geometry right (this is not the first piece of wax I attempted to carve this design in...).

Then I bent aluminum into a U shape large enough to contain the little guy, cut two side acrylic panels, and sprued my wax carving in the center (the pink wax above) to create a path for the wax to flow.
I filled the mold with silicone and got the bubbles out by letting it set up in a vacuum chamber.
Then I cut the mold basically in half, but actually the dissection was a little more complicated for this shape and it had about 4 main cuts. All this slicing ended up breaking the original wax guy, but that was fine because now with the mold I could inject lots and lots of little wax guys.
Here is the vacuum chamber, original blue wax carving, lots of attempted half-injected pink waxes, a couple of good ones, and the mold at the right.

Whole World SuperSanitizer

For this project we all designed art interventions that were thematically related to our thesis topics. After getting frustrated trying to come up with a good intervention to do in a bathroom (mirrors in toilet bowls...?), I decided to try and make a point about overuse of hand sanitizer. Some bugs are good, after all... So this is my world sanitizing machine. It spits out sanitizer (actually water). I think it just ended up confusing people and creeping them out a little bit. It is a very difficult thing to design both the artifact and the experience to elicit a specific reaction from people.

a ring

My first investment casting project for silversmithing class, finally all polished up.

A Utopian Story and Artifact

For the "expression" side of thesis this year, our first project was to imagine a utopia based on an expanded view of issues related to our thesis topics. Within this utopia, we were to imagine several scenarios and then create a physical artifact from one of them. Starting with an imagined story is always pretty difficult for me - I usually find inspiration in shapes, movement, and materials and then work backwards to the big-picture story. After some struggling, though, I worked out a utopian vision that was convincing enough for me. In my utopian world of Morphago a new branch of science has evolved to address the relationship between a person and his or her individual body, analagous to the way psychiatrists of the 20th century addressed the relationship between a person and his or her memories, feelings, and behaviors. Doctors who specialize in this field of sarcoscopy (literally "examining the flesh") meet with patients and help them understand their bodies (healthy or unhealthy) using tools such as x-rays, blood tests, or specific exercises. A mirror is one of the most basic tools used by the sarcoscopist and patient; it has a symbolic value as well as a practical use. The mirror I made magnifies on one side and shows a wide-angle view on the other, and it comes in its own carrying sack.

Holiday Presents

Some earrings and a necklace, both made out of brass. The gears are from an old clock.

The Pelican in progress

Testing out some parts of a piece named "the pelican" for its awkward way of moving...

Personal Statement Piece

"Personal Statements" is a project that all of us second year design students just finished. We each spent the last two weeks creating a piece with the intent of introducing ourselves to the design community. On Friday night we had a big presentation and party with lots of alumni and faculty, plus friends and family. It was a wonderful night - everyone's project was just a perfect presentation of the variety and talent of the design program.

My piece was inspired by a toy I had when I was younger that was made up of a hoop with colorful washers strung on it. If you spun the washers and the hoop just right, you could get the washers to hover on the side of the hoop. I built a much larger version and powered the hoop with an old typewriter motor hooked up to some pulleys I made. The hovering rings I made out of acrylic and polycarbonate, and each one has a magnet on the inside. Initially I thought the magnets were what made the hovering thing work, but I was wrong... it's a purely mechanical effect caused by the wobble of the rings as they fall in a helix around the hoop. As the hoop spins, it gives the rings a little lift. It's a pretty magical effect, and the noise the spinning rings make is great. My favorite part of the evening was watching how the hovering rings fascinated people and hearing their crazy explanations for why it worked.