Here’s the final product, I ended up using some tape on the bottom to fully secure the positioning of the rim pieces, and also create some soft feet for the stand to sit on rather being directly on the metal. I found a piece of foam and glued it on the top to have a good place to put the helmet on and then finally spray-painted the entire thing black to go with the Gothic aesthetic. Overall, I’m happy with how this came out I think I was able to get the main effects that I was looking to get out of it and ends up looking cooler once you actually put a helmet on it. Through this, I learned how to use unique subject matter to create interesting effects in a functional product with specific goals in mind. My main goals in mind at the beginning of when I started to manufacture this was firstly, the Gothic aesthetic, but also wanting it to simulate motion and have clear symmetry. I think I was ultimately able to achieve all those effects, but I think I could’ve planned slightly better and could’ve had better methods for putting the things together. I wanted the entirety of the project to be up cycled hence, why I wanted to only use the spokes to fasten the rim pieces to the main structure. But ultimately they were just too difficult to form to get something that wouldn’t move and so I had to use some tape in the end. I also learned that small touches can make a world of difference. The final spray painting to make the entire thing black makes a huge difference in terms of the aesthetic and how finished the whole thing looks. For the next project I will likely try to start earlier and fully plan out how I put things together and even test things that I am unsure of going into the manufacturing of the project. If I had just tested a little bit, how hard the spokes would be to bend I might’ve come up with something else to put them together, but in the end, I was already committed to using the spokes. I’m excited for the next project and I’m proud of this one. Note, I forgot to take a picture of myself with the fully finished product, but there is a picture of me with the helmet stand before I painted it in the previous post.
