Final Report Part 2 // Industrial & Rustic Hexagonal Wedding Arch

Check out my final presentation:

In this section of my final report, I will detail exactly how I made my industrial/rustic aesthetic wedding arch. Shown below is a flow chart highlighting my design, iteration, and creative problem solving journey in order to complete this project.

Each block represents about a week’s worth of time. I first began by deciding which aesthetic I would try to achieve and what “thing” I would try to make. After I decided on a wedding arch, I got to work designing it. I ended up redesigning the arch about 3 different times due to lack of resources because of COVID-19. I spent the majority of Spring Break working on this redesign.

I found creative ways to build my arch without needing a machine shop or other on-campus resources. By using foam-core ABS piping and pipe cutters, I could make my arch, although not out of copper as originally intended.

The upside of this is that it gave me a lot of leeway to cut the pipes exactly as intended since it was easy to change. By using cheaper, lighter materials, I was really able to iterate. The shape of my arch’s base was originally way to big, bigger than I pictured when I was designing it. It took only about 30 minutes to cut the base down and make it smaller.

Once I got the shape of the arch exactly the way that I wanted it, because my design is completely deconstruct-able, I could take my time and paint it really nicely.

If not for the pandemic, I would have wanted to make this out of copper, even though it is expensive. I also wanted to do my own floral arrangements, but since all craft and flower stores are closed, I had to order what looked like a good alternative.

I’m not as pleased with the flowers as I think I would have been if I had been able to pick them out and arrange them as originally intended. I want the flowers to be more full. Once stores re-open, I really want to improve upon this and find the light fixtures that I originally intended on using.

I am really pleased with how the Himmeli inspired, geometric icosahedrons turned out. This was a great upcycling mini-project as well because it uses straws in a way that saves them from ending up in landfills or the ocean.

Concluding Statements:

I really loved the way this project turned out despite the setbacks. I certainly have some next steps to fully achieve my aesthetic, including working on the lighting fixtures and the flowers. I intend to use this at my wedding in July and it has become central in guiding the rest of my wedding aesthetic and all the other things that I am building and making for my wedding. It was really important to me that this project was easy to assemble and disassemble and I think that I achieved that as well. I started with a vision of non-traditional wedding decor and I ended up establishing the aesthetic that will guide the rest of my decisions for my wedding.

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2 Comments. Leave new

  • Abdulrahman Nashawi
    May 3, 2020 6:56 pm

    Hello Brooke! First of all, congratulation on getting married soon and good luck in your post-college life!
    I am sorry to hear that the pandemic affected your project where you had to redesign several times due to the limited resources. However, I think your final project looks really cool and the paint job was done really well. I love the idea behind it where you get to use it at your wedding which is super cool! The icosahedrons add a lovely touch to your project and I think once everything opens and you get the opportunity to select the flowers you like, it will look really nice. Well done!

    Reply
  • Mary Rahjes
    May 3, 2020 6:49 pm

    When I first saw your featured image, I thought that you had made everything out of copper piping! The paint you chose did a wonderful job giving the same feel that your original design would have, so great job on that. I’m really impressed with your ability to adapt to so many COVID-19 related issues. I know it’s difficult to redesign a project so many times, or to choose new materials part way through a project, but you kept at it and ended up with a beautiful final product. I’m excited for you to make your wedding arch with your originally intended materials once all of this clears up. This will look so beautiful at your wedding!

    Reply

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