Ashley Zimmerer
14 posts

Desk Garden Final Report Part 2

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
1 Comment
The desk garden is currently a nice addition to my desk. I made it because I like plants and wanted to start keeping some. My desk is a little bare, so the desk garden livens it up. Originally, I thought I would use a square footprint and that the planter would have an overhead watering…

Desk Garden Final Report Part 1

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
6 Comments
  I made a desk garden. I wanted to work with water, plants, and light, and while it took me a very long time to settle on something, I finally did. I want a nice looking, modern planter for my desk. Here’s an image of the CAD for my final design. I really didn’t want to make…

Progress! Desk Garden Update

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
3 Comments
I made the structure! Yay! It was super frustrating and took way too long, but I did it. Let me tell you the story with pictures and several words… I coated the mold for the base with WD-40. WD-40. Nothing seems wrong yet… Then I mixed up a batch of fast setting concrete. This stuff…

Another Desk Garden Update

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
3 Comments
I have had almost no time! Yay! Since last week, the only updates I’ve got are little ones. I ordered resin to use to cast the dirt box. I also laser cut the pieces for the dirt box mold out of cardboard. I keep forgetting that I have electronics, but next week I will have…

Desk Garden 3/30 Update

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
5 Comments
I wasn’t as productive over break as I would have hoped. I got sick, but I did get something done. I finally nailed down my design (yay!). I also built a couple parts of it and got everything else ready to 3D print. I haven’t looked at the electronics again, but I will as soon…

Desk Garden Update 3/17

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
3 Comments
I now have a pretty solid idea of what I want this thing to look like! I haven’t had time to do any CAD (surprise surprise…), but I’m planning on doing that soon. I’ve got the electronics, and I played around with some of the LEDs and the RedBoard (basically an Arduino Uno). Turns out…

Desktop Garden Constraints

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
4 Comments
At the moment, the items below are the top five constraints I can think of for my desk garden. The garden must be able to plug into the wall for power. It must be leak-proof so it won’t ruin my desk. All electronics must be concealed (and kept dry) within the 1′ by 1′ by…

Desk Garden: Minimal Care Required

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
6 Comments
The Idea So as usual, I’m having difficultly sticking with an idea. Originally, I kind of wanted to build a living computer case. However, I don’t need another computer, and acquiring all the working computer parts I would need is going to be way too expensive for it to be worth it right now. I’m…

Plants in Unlikely Places

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
2 Comments
I’m kind of going back and forth on ideas for my main project right now. Before I come out and say it, I’m going to do a bit more thinking. I can go into my inspirations though. There’s no shortage of them.   I really like plants. All kinds of plants. Especially green ones that…

Things I Want to Do

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
2 Comments
At the end of this semester, I will be graduating. That’s both exciting and scary, and I don’t know which is more over powering. Anyways, I’m really hoping to use as many of the skills I’ve learned in my projects this semester and develop them further. Using thermo would be great, maybe heat transfer, fluids, system…

Ashley’s Skills

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
2 Comments
The featured image is a picture I took while machining some copper parts I made for a scientific rocket payload. I programmed the Prototrak CNC in the Idea Forge Shop to produce the parts.   A corner desk I’m in the process of finishing. I’ve had a lot of experience building and manufacturing things over the years. I’m…

Decorative Aspen Branch Light

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
53 Comments
Initial Design Process My original idea for this project was to create a thing. I knew that I wanted to make something cool, so I looked up pictures of upcycled projects on Google. I saw a lot of cool things, and I thought that I wanted to make something out of doilies. I had in…

Progress on Aspen Branch Light

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
1 Comment
I love aspen trees, and I thought that using them to make some sort of decorative light would be really neat. I started by gathering a bunch of fallen aspen branches and logs on a hike up by Nederland High School. I didn’t want to cut anything off a living tree because firstly that would be…

Modern Rustic Design

Ashley Zimmerer
2016, Student Work
2 Comments
  The Modern Rustic aesthetic is my all-time favorite design style. Its warm, natural and inviting, yet also clean and simple. Also know as ‘rustic modern’, this design style became recognized at some point in the 20th century. The earliest book I could find describing this aesthetic was written in 2000 by Ali Hanan: “Modern Rustic: Natural Ideas…

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