Aesthetic Explorations: Theo Jansen and His Strandbeest

Theo Jansen, a dropout physicist become artist, has created his very own aesthetic. In 1980, Jansen began with 1500 combinations of 11 linkage sizes. Using a new technology at the time, a computer was utilized to dwindle the different configurations down to just one golden combination, the “eleven holy numbers”. These numbers allowed for the most efficient, elegant, and stable motion of what would thereafter become the locomotion of the Strandbeest. Watching his PVC creatures move both invokes curiosity and mesmerizes. They appear to move…

Sand Frame: Final Project Report Part 2

I am really happy  with how my project turned out. Finally the long hours of prototyping payed off. I think people at the expo liked my project. I am glad I build a wooden frame to go around the glass it really made a difference. What it means? I thought of what this means  for a while but wasn’t able to come up with a nice statement about it. However, just by asking people what they think they said that by looking at the sand falling down gave…

Sand Frame: Final Project Report Part 1

Introduction: This part 1 of the final blog post, which unwinds the story behind my Sand Frame project from the inspiration to the final build. Even though building the sand frame might be simple and intuitive, roadblocks and challenges were discovered along the way of building the frame. This post will discuss the ups and downs of the build project and will educate the reader on how to make a sand picture frame with minimal tools.   Inspiration A look back at what inspired me…

Building the Sand Picture Frame 🙂 (April 13th update)

Last week was a lot of purchasing, planning, designing and prototyping but no building, this week I have been mostly building. I am glad I started because I ran into a lot of issues with my build and I think I am close to solving them. I started by putting the two glass pieces together using the silicone: Two glass panels with spacers and silicone Before doing so I had to make a setup to make sure that the glass and the cutting pad are…

Sand Picture Frame 4/6/2016 update.

A quick recap: I am working on the sand picture frame. The frame houses sand, air gaps, water and alcohol. Please check my posts about this project by going to the students page and searching Aly Badran. This week has been a little slower than the last in terms of building, but I am moving forward in with my design and finding materials. Sand I finally found 3 usable sand samples that have approximately the same size grain. The colors that I am going to…

Sand Picture Frame: Update and 20th Century Design Movement Influences

If you haven’t been following this project, I am building a sand picture frame as shown in the image below. (My first prototype) First Sand Picture Frame Prototype I will break this post into two sections, the first is a quick update on the progress since the last post, the second section will cover the aesthetic influences on the sand picture frames. Update: This week I got all the new materials in and am ready to start building my next iterations. The next iterations I…

Badran: Sand Picture 16th of March Update

I think I am off to a good start on my project. Since my design review presentation I have followed the schedule as much as I could. Even thought I am not as far as I want to be, but I feel that I am getting promising results with all of my tests and prototypes. Last two weeks I have been: Experimenting with an existing Sand Picture that I borrowed. Some of the liquid of the one I borrowed evaporated over time and I am…