M&M: The Birds Nest

In our materials and methods (M&M) class we started the semester learning about natural materials. For our lab portion of the class, we were given two weeks to learn our way around the woodshop and build a container. I decided to build a birds nest. I used pine, I cut it into strips, sanded it, stained it with charcoal, and finally waxed it. For a person who cried twice while working in the woodshop, I think I did just fine.

During critique we discussed changing up the attachment method.. by either using a ton more string, or none at all. When I get a free minute I’ll see what I can do.

Design Studio One: Open Design (Part Two): Fab-Shoes

 

 

For the second half of the Open Design project in our studio one class we as groups exchanged projects. Our group inherited the Open Design shoe file. We decided we wanted to go two different directions with the project, one would be making a 3D printed heel, and the other would be modernizing a traditional Arab mens sandal. We ended up with two files for the heel, an illustrator file for the upper, and a Rhino file for the wedge, both files can be edited and printed at any fab lab in the world. The idea for the second shoe was actually to use an Eskafi (shoe makers) to build a shoe for us, and so we would be considering the labor of one man equivalent to the machines in a fab lab. But they actually didn’t have an Eskafi’s in Qatar (weird?) so we had to modify our idea and use a local shoe factory to assemble our shoe (which kind of makes it not an open design project, but there is nothing we could do about it..). For the sandal we created a basic illustrator upper that can easily be modified and cut.

Design Studio One: Open Design (Part One): PEPACAM

Throughout last semester we worked in groups in our design studio one class to create two open design projects. Open Design is a type of design that is based off of the principles of open source sharing of information, it basically means to create a digital file that people can then use as is, or edit, then print/cut at home or in a fabrication lab. Ronen Kadushin’s name was used a lot in our class 😉

For the first part of the project each group came up with their own idea for an open design product. My group at first was really interested in the theme of travel, after we talked about the concept of travel for a while we deconstructed it into the activities that go on during travel. We ended up discussing photography as a big activity for most travelers, then we decided to examine photography in itself. Noticing that analog photography is actually a big trend right now (Lomography) we decided to build a pinhole camera using the Pepakura folding technique we learned in our fabrication class. The file we created is the most basic shape that we could think of, the idea is to allow users to expand off our simple design and do what ever they want with it. We named it Pepacam.

Though its really simple, this was my favorite project of the semester.

Know Your Jinn

Well, here it is.. my first MFA project.. www.knowyourjinn.com.

In my fabrication class we were supposed to learn how to use the laser cutter and the vinyl cutter while producing an installation piece for the lab. I really wanted to try something I had never done before, so I drew up all sorts of crazy installation ideas, but nothing really seemed like my work. In the end I did what I always do and looked at my surroundings for inspiration. One of my closest friends was telling me how their mom had been attacked by Jinn in their house. This friend went on to tell me that they bought a pigeon that is supposed to eat the Jinn as protection for the family. The whole situation really made me think about our culture.. and being surrounded by westerners everyday I wondered how odd it would be to talk to them openly about what my friend was going through.. so I decided to start a Jinn awareness campaign to help expats understand our culture better. The image above is the installation I made for our lab, its supposed to be minimalistic (the bird has Surat AlKursee etched on it for protection against the Jinn). Click here to see the stickers from the awareness campaign hanging all over VCUQ.

I know the project is kind of quirky, but it was really nice to step away from what I normally do.

Some fun things that have come from the project include seeing images of my stickers as chat icons for various students, being told that some students are freaked out by the campaign, and finally being approached by a colleague to possibly work with them on an illustration book.

Building Yoda

 

We put together a stop motion video of our Yoda print 🙂

MakerBot Makes

Yesterday we took our MakerBot for a test drive. It wasn’t until we actually ran the MakerBot did we realize how appropriate it was to choose to print Yoda. Apparently the MakerBot makes all these crazy beeping noises as it works, and it sounded just like R2D2 while it builds. As you can see we had a few technical difficulties from the get go, starting with our raft not printing because the plastic wasn’t being fed into the nozzle by the motor. Once we worked out the motor issues everything seemed to go well until the barring fell out and the whole platform started to shake, we quickly fit it back in but it fell out several times during the build. Finally we were getting pretty excited to see Yoda almost fully built then the computer crashed.. we tried to reboot and resume the print but it was getting late and we decided to just start fresh today. Wish us luck.

The Arab Fund Building of Kuwait

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The images in this post were taken at The Arab Fund building in Shuwaikh. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a gem tucked away just outside of Kuwait City. Being able to tour this building was a breathtaking experience. I highly recommend locals and tourists alike visit this building for a morning of visual stimulation and quiet reflection.