I recently finished construction of my iris mechanism table. The progress so far can be seen in the previous few blog posts. My progress since has been the assembly of the table and figuring out how to make the mechanism operate smoothly. First I put together the base of the table by gluing and nailing…

Since my last post, I have purchased materials and began working on fabrication. So far, I’ve cut out all of the pieces from the plywood sheet I’m using, which can be seen below. To cut the trapezoidal pieces seen on the left side of the image above, I first cut a plank out of the…

For my main project I want to implement an iris mechanism into a table. An iris mechanism is similar to what is used in a camera aperture that opens in a circular pattern. I want the top of the table have a rim that you can spin, and when you spin it, the center will…

A designer who I’ve admired for a long time is the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was born in 1852 to a family of boilermakers. This awarded him with a good sense of space as he worked in his family’s workshop growing up. Around 1870, Gaudi left to Barcelona to pursue his studies in architecture.…

As I talked about in my last post, for my artifact, I chose to create a bird from a variety of recycled materials. This idea was inspired by several different artists who have done similar things using scrap metal and other materials. I began my project by researching and sketching different kinds of birds and…

Since my last post I have been gathering materials to use in my project. From a variety of recycling bins, including both in my home and more industrial spaces such as the engineering center, I have found boxes, tubs, bins, cans, computer parts, and more. This array of materials is giving me the freedom to…

My upcycling project aesthetic is going to be artificial nature. Artificial nature is the use of man made things that are put together or presented in a way that mimics a part of nature. To do this I am going to be using a variety of recycled/discarded materials to create a bird. I plan on…

Maximalism, as one might guess, is an aesthetic that heavily opposes minimalism. Where minimalism says “Less is more”, maximalism responds with “No, actually, more is more.” Maximalism is a form of expression that relies on excess. Although the word maximalist has only started gaining prominence in the last few decades, the concept has been around…