Tracy Steepy

Tracy Steepy is someone Jan had mentioned to investigate. Some nice brooches seen here...

My fav is the chartreuse and white one top right--interesting way to fulfill the hollow form:)

Design 3 Artist Statement

The information I obtained from Materialise led me to base my fabrication project on the idea of mulitiple images and repeating forms. Noticing the view in my daily drive home, I decided to incorporate the sunray into my design. I pulled about 10 pictures, then tracing interesting forms from those photos. My first maquette, done as a bracelet helped me solve a few design issues and from there came a second maquette. I would like to etch in silver the top band, and stick to the bracelet format. The design for the top band came from researching lattice patterns similar to that of sunrays. Importing them into photoshop and tweeking the pattern a bit, I now have a black and white image to print onto PNP. I will try a copper etch test strip of a few different patterns. I hope to get some feedback on my second maquette tomorrow, as well as attempting a copper maquette...

I changed my piece from a bracelet to a pendant. The bracelet was out of my league, for now, as far as skill level. It was bulky. It had to fit my wrist, and every time I binded it I couldn't help but pull those ends together, making it unwearable. To start my new piece, I cut a 9 inch outside band. I wanted one band, with one scored and bent line to make it easier to solder down. I shaped and scored it to my satisfaction, but as I moved it a bit more the scored line broke. I was able to line it up closely but have two small visible gaps. I ended up leaving them alone but would like some thought on maybe filling that space with wire. The pendant is scribed on both sides, as well as roll printed. I rolled wire on one side, intending to use the other side so the wire were a sort of ghost image. On the side I was to use I rolled lightly wire mesh and fabric. I like the subtle results. They mimic the cloud form. The patina is a bluish color to also mimic the cloud form. I suspended the piece with 4 chains to replicate the idea of the sunray. Overall, I am happy with the final results, but would like to finish the bracelet in the future. I had not soldered much all semester, so the bracelet was again frustrating. The pendant I ended up creating gave me alot of solder refreshers. I enjoyed this assignment.

Podcasts-Dubai

This podcast is about a writer for Fast Company magazine attending a conference in the growing Middle Eastern area of Dubai. A lot of big names in design were apparently supposed to attend this conference but ended up not showing. Their goal here in Dubai is to top everything as far as the tallest building, and largest mall. As much as they would like to take design seriously, the pace at which they are constructing their buildings and the resources they are consulting are prohibiting them from making intelligent design decisions. Mixing of styles becomes bizarre and far out. The idea of old vs. new is great but there is no attention to detail in that matter. There are some nice attractions in the historical area. One building in particular becomes an architechtural motif. The outside is elegant while the inside is abstracted. It is not typically acceptable for a male native to the area is allowed to begin a career in design. They need to work on how to shape and define human behavior through design.

Podcasts-Digital Manufacturing

Yanni Kitani is being interviewed about Rapid Protyping. He briefly describes how they work and then goes on to explain how those machines are now being used for direct maufacturing. Plastics, metals, starch, paper can all be printed. How students can get their hands on technology like this is also explained because the cheapest commercial device is still just under $20,000. It is expected for the machines to not come down in price for a few more years. Rod McCormick gave great insight on this technology last night. I really enjoyed it:)