To begin this project I thought about which material I wanted to use. I wanted something that gave me a lot room for creativity and didn’t push me into a certain style. I also thought about what functionality do I want to get out of this project and not make something that has no purpose outside of class. I came to using wood because I felt it gave me that creative space that I wanted. With what I wanted to make I wanted it to first, be unconventional and second, be useful for me. That’s when I started thinking about designing a wooden cup, but just any cup, a cup with a functional design. Big enough to be close to a beer stein but modeled differently. So currently I am planning to carve a skull into the cup to where you use the eyes and the nose to get a firm grip on it. I am still in the process of fully solidifying how I want the orientation, the rim, and the inside of the cup to look. I was able to obtain a nice enough piece of wood from my boss at work. After explaining what I was planning to do she told me that they had wood left over from a tree that was cut down in their neighborhood and that should we see about acquiring a piece that would fulfill my needs for the cup. Now I just need to shape the wood, clean it, and possibly fill in the cracks with a mold to have a nice effect on the finish product.
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[…] Upcycle Progress: Ideation & Materials […]
Hi Joseph, looking forward to see the final product! II think filling the cracks with epoxy like you mentioned is an excellent idea, if you do choose to go that route I have some experience with it and have some left over about 400ml (I dont know how many cracks this could cover). I think carving the skull or cup will be the most difficult part but definitely an interesting, fun challenge.
It’s good you decided that the goal of the artifact was to be useful for you. It can be easier to design with those constraints. I like the idea of using a piece of wood, but just keep in mind the scope of carving a piece of wood and the issues that may arise. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Joseph, I am really inspired by your use of wood from a chopped-down neighborhood tree. It makes me think of the walnut tree that was growing out of our house’s foundation that we had to chop down. I’ll have to check if I still have some of that wood. I would also like to learn how to fill in cracks in wood scraps and make a wood product look presentable.