For this project I decided to focus on the aesthetic of sailing. Sailing is a part of my family and has been passed down through generations. Every year my family travels to Michigan to sail and partake in our favorite hobby! For those of you who do not know what a Hobie cat is, it is a twin-hulled catamaran primarily built for racing. It was designed in the 60’s by Hobie Alter and was built to be incredibly strong and durable as seen in the photo below.

This photo was taken in California and shows the actual Hobie Cat jumping out of the water.

The reason I decided to chose this project was mainly because I have been sailing since I was roughly 8 years old and have always been in love with how quite and peaceful it can actually be, even while traveling at high speeds. Additionally, it doesn’t pollute the environment making it very fitting topic for this upcycle exploration project. With this project I decided to incorporate the sail shape into the design and construction of my project. Below I begin to talk about the construction.

I began the construction of my up-cycled materials to make something that forms to the Aesthetic of sailing. A couple weeks ago I ran into this real old bottle of Seagrams Canadian Whisky and the name Seagrams made me think of the Sea and I decided to make the bottle the base of my aesthetic design.

I also found a random metal base shown here in the lower left and the parts to make a lamp. These parts include wire guide rod, lightbulb socket, and cord.

 

 

I decided many parts need a little paint job. But before all the parts get paint some need holes!

This is a hole through the lid of the bottle! Had to be big enough to fit the cord rod through it.

This is me drilling a hole through the bottom of the bottle. Notice the water-bottle to the right. That was to keep the glass cool while I drilled so it didn’t shatter.

This was a metal piece to make sure the parts stay tight in the bottle. But now some paint! I painted the brown base, black and the gold cap, black as well.

 

Here I started constructing the pieces!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This involved some soldering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the almost complete for the progress so far however I need a means to attach a mast to the side of the bottle and add a sheet metal sail that will hold up the lamp shade.

 

 

 

I decided to weld on a peg that I could attach to in the next couple days.

After I welded that on I painted the base again and tested it out with a light bulb! I am super excited to see what the rest of this will look like!

I used some black light bulb so it didn’t white out the picture!

Following this I decided to cut out some sails from some sheet metal. I ended up cutting four sails in all. Once the sails were cut out I started to bend the metal to give it the appearance of a sail full of wind.

Once the sails were cut out I welded them onto the steel base at the bottom of the lamp.

 

At this point in the project I am starting to get a medieval vibe from my creation so I decided to thrown some nautical line onto it to sort of head back towards the direction I intended. Also to counterbalance the medieval vibes I also decided to create a lamp shade that I believe turned out really well!

And Finally

In the end I am pretty happy with how it turned out. In terms of my functional goals I was pretty spot on because I knew I needed a lamp and one that would be fairly nautical in theme for the room it was going in. In terms of my aesthetic goals I think I was a little far off and could use a little upgrades to bring it up to my standards. In regards to whats next with this project I have decided to scrap it and use its parts to try and build a full sail boat out of sheet metal that also doubles as a lamp. This aesthetic project has given me a lot to think about.

Citations:

Picture Sources: 

Gfycat. “Best Steel Mill GIFs.” Gfycat, gfycat.com/gifs/search/steel+mill.

cdn.architecturendesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/AD-Badass-Trees-That-Refuse-To-Die-07.jpg.

“Righting Bag Test.” Hobie Forums • View Topic – Righting Bag Test, www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9728.

 

Information about Hobie Cat Sources:

Hobie. “About Us.” Hobie, www.hobie.com/about-us/.