Why and What’s Next?

I began this project with the intent to build a minimalist styled alcohol stove and for the most part I would say I achieved my goals. I started with the idea of making a stove that had a built in pot stand, variable temperature control and some sort of external fuel reservoir. In the end, my final product turned out very close to my original goals, minus the external fuel reservoir aspect. Alcohol stoves had interested me for a while before this semester, so this project was a great way for me to explore my interests and practice some crafting techniques.

The Atlas Expo was an awesome way to show this project to a wide range of people in person. I received a lot of great comments and questions about the project ranging from how it works to simply being amazed by how small it is. Seeing so much interest in my project from the public was very encouraging for future endeavors of mine.

This class and project have taught me a great deal. Learning about the different design movements and aesthetics gave me a much better understanding of many styles I see in everyday life, which is great. I have noticed I am much more aware of the design influences on furniture and architecture all around me. Working on this alcohol stove project itself has also taught me a lot about both myself and making things. I really had some great first hand experiences with realizing how much longer certain tasks can take compared to expectation. I think the most tangible lesson I learned during this project is how precision takes practice. In order to refine and perfect my stove I really had to just practice making them over and over until I got it right.

Now that I have completed the project, I plan on keeping the stove I’ve made on my shelf mostly as a decorative piece. In the future I hope to use the skills I have honed to make stoves which I will actually take camping  and not be afraid of breaking them in actual use. Additionally, I want to make stoves as gifts for a couple friends of mine so we can all use them during wilderness adventures.

If I could start this project over from scratch there isn’t a whole lot I would do differently. One thing I would do differently is decide on the stove design from the beginning and only make prototypes of one style so I could perfect it more and have more time to work on the other aspects. I spent a lot of my project timeline working on prototypes of different styles of stoves until I found one I liked, then I got really sick which left me with less time than I would have hoped for figuring out the pot stand and temperature control. All in all, I am very happy with how the project turned out and I appreciate the lessons I learned along the way.

Presentation:

https://vimeo.com/164914120