Picnic

Spent all day finishing up the desk–applying the patina and waxing the finish. Finally got it set up in the Kemper Gallery. Here it is!

More Patina

I've got some pictures for you, my lovelies. I've put patina on one of the bronze end pieces of the Morton Desk. Because that's all we had of the patina stuff, sadly. So I'm going to be a little late to the gallery opening, but fashionably late. About a pint comes in tomorrow, and I'm worried that it won't be enough, but I guess I'll just have to make do. (You can see the original bronze piece on the right, all speckled with black because the patina mixture is in a spray bottle, but the difference between the two is amazing.)



Check out the light burnishing I put on the edges with a brillo pad. It really adds a lot.



Anyway, I should get the other piece done and both waxed by early afternoon, so I'll take my camera and get a few snaps of it in the gallery.

Shoots and Boots

So the petina didn't come until this morning, which wouldn't have been enough time to apply it, so I got pictures taken without. But it's alright because our facilities for pictures are severely lacking. But it was fun to see all the shop professors taking picture after picture of every single detail of the desk. And Troyer was really interested in the recipe and process for the soap finish I used on the birch. So many people kept asking me what I was doing as I was applying the soap, and I was surprised to realize that barely anyone, not even most of my professors, had heard of the soap finish before. So I felt all knowledgeable and such. It was nice.



In other news, I need boots! These chucks aren't cutting it. 5 inches of snow magically fell in the three hours between when I fell asleep and when I was jolted awake by my alarm clock. One question: when did it become winter?

Patina

I've been working non-stop the last three days on shop, since it's due Tuesday. Yesterday, I completed the soap finish on the wood piece. Then I spent a nervous few minutes putting the bronze pieces back on, hoping the wood hadn't warped:



A detail where the wood meets the bronze.



Today, I put the black patina finish on the bronze. And then pictures on Tuesday.

So Weet.

The cast pieces arrived today around 3pm. I'm cutting it severely close, but I think I'm probably closer to finished than about half my class, so it's all relative. Plus, it's just about as far beyond my control as I can get.

I add insult to injury, I made quite the booboo that I didn't realize I'd made until today: I planed my big, pretty birch board about 1/4 inch too far. Luckily, there were some spare birch and maple pieces laying around, so I spent this whole afternoon and part of the evening planing them down to 1/4 inch and getting them ready to glue on the bottom of my desk top. Also luckily, you won't really be able to tell I made the booboo unless you're looking at the underside of my desk, which will never really happen. Anyway, on with the photos!

How they arrived:



And a sort of side view:



And a nice little close-up at the top, where the wood slots in:



I moved them away from the sharp metal saw blade pretty quickly, out to the hallway. They looked so much more golden out there, in the sunlight.



And they weigh about 50 pounds! Each! And I'd say my birchle (hybrid of birch and maple) piece weighs nearly that much, so this is going to be one mother of a desk. So much for "easy disassembly."

Can't Buy Me Love

I'm starting to feel more like a graphic design student nowadays, with all the posters they're making us do. The design of the actual piece of furniture took about a fraction of the time as this puppy:



The desk had been called the workgroup desk, but for no real reason. So I changed it to Morton, short for Mort(is & Ten)on, which happens to be the only joint used on my piece. The tagline sort of came from Steve, who told me that when the desk is done, he's sure that it'll hold anything and that he'd be able to dance on top of it–. And if that happens, you'll be the first to see the youtube video, followed closely by the rest of free world.

OH MY GOD, I AM SO COOL!

Today goes down in history as one of the most awesome days ever. I arrived at Eligius Bronze around 10am and was taken to their foundry, where Steve was talking to Jeff, the guy who would be showing us how to pour the mold. First, he showed us how to create the negative mold out of sand, hence, sand-casting. He put the pieces I made out of Trupan in the bottom of the molding plate, and covered it with a fine layer of sand. The sand they use is actually from the river bed just outside of the city.



After packing the sand in to the brim, I helped him turn over the plate. This is what it looks like at the bottom of the plate. The white powder is actually a resin, although I'm not quite sure what it does.



Then he attached another molding plate and again packed it full of sand.



When he was done, we took the top off and removed the Trupan pieces. Then he created little grooves in the sand as pathways for the liquid metal to travel through.



Then Jeff and Steve put the plates back together again, with the mold-shaped void in the center.



After securing the two plates and placing them on the floor, they were ready for molding!



Here I am, pouring 2200 degree liquid bronze into the mold. It was like harnessing the sun and making it do my bidding.



I also did a couple other pieces of mine.



After only a half hour, even though they were still smoldering, they were ready to be taken out and looked over. Perfect!



Rick says that after grinding the pieces down, welding them together, and sanding them, I get to take over and finish them how I like. I'm thinking of blackening the metal with a petina.

While I was in Kansas City, I stopped by Schutte Lumber and picked up wood for the desk. I had planned on genuine mahogany, but didn't realize that I'd have to fork over a kidney and my first born for it, so I went with birch instead. It's a pretty birch, though. A "glad I have both kidneys and my hypothetical child" kind of birch.

Shiny!

I've been dividing my time up pretty evenly between shop, studio, and programming. I turned in my Trupan pieces to be cast yesterday and decided on bronze instead of aluminum, mostly because Rick thought bronze would be better, but also because the pieces will be slightly heavier with a tad more strength. I've talked to Rick a few times about the process, asking if I could be present for the casting. Not only can I be there, but he told me that I can pour the metal!!! My shop geek status just went up about 10 points.

In studio, I've completed my floor plan and am rendering it in Photoshop. And since the odds of my turning this in for the competition are slim, I've decided to reward you with a glimpse at the unrendered plan. Since it's "underground," all walls are concrete and the rockwork walls are shotcrete. The plan's not going to be very informative at this point, without crazy explanation, but my project is based mostly on the story and the products and plan that create that story:

A meteor has entered the earth’s atmosphere and crash landed, creating an enormous crater. However, instead of resting in the center of this giant crater, the meteor has broken through the earth’s surface, revealing a previously undiscovered series of caverns. In order to study the meteor, scientists have set up a laboratory at the site.
You are invited to be a part of this new and exciting expedition.

The WOW factor / twist: The meteor has brought with it microorganisms and small creatures that have begun to call these caverns their home.

The Second WOW factor / twist: The organisms might not be as "micro" as originally thought.



What's left for me is pretty much taking my product sketches (about 8 of them or so), turning them into line drawings in Illustrator and rendering them in Photoshop.

As far as programming goes, the book is on its way. Ideally, I'll be spending all weekend on it and order it before Thanksgiving break. I've been working on my poster for the project and in the process have created a vector image of the VW Bug, which I'm showing here in a multitude of colors:



If you look closely, you can see that the headlights look sort of like eyes and that the center grill looks like a little smiley face. So I was thinking of playing that up a little bit for the poster, but I'm still not sure. It's not due until finals week, so I'm going to worry about it then.

But now it's time to take a break and go see Role Models with my homeboy, Josh.

News and Such

It has been another extremely quick and busy week here in Manhappenin'. And, of course, I've got news and such. The much awaited internship poster display has been put up all over Seaton, where students from Landscape, Architecture, and Interiors can show off what they did last semester while playing hookie. Here's my submission:



I decided to do something a little different than a standard poster. It's more like a "map fold" poster, if that makes any sense. I've thought about using this format for mini portfolios to mail out to firms and thought I'd test it out with the internship poster. Here's what it looks like folded up:



Also, in the good news category, I won a few little inner-college competitions in the last week. The first is the t-shirt design for the Landscape Architecture Department. So yay! Free t-shirt!

Second is the metal casting competition for Eligius Bronze located in Kansas City, Missouri. Take a look at their stuff, I'm totally impressed. I especially love the Meadow River Dining Table. Anything minimal makes my heart swoon. I'm currently in the process of making the Trupan prototype for the cast metal pieces. From there, Eligius will take it and create a mold and then use that mold to cast the metal pieces. Then they'll weld and finish it, and I get the finished pieces, which I'll use to measure my wooden table top insert. The most awesome part is that I can at least be present if not participate in the casting process! I'm a geeky shop nerd, so that's like a Christmas present for me.

This weekend is going to be extremely busy. I've got some pretty fun stuff going on with studio, as I'm starting to get down to the tiny details of my coaster. It's still got an insane amount of work to be done on it, but that's how it goes. I'm also hoping to finalize the layout for my book on cute. I guess we'll see.

So Lo Lounge

I've finally done my working drawings for my lounge chair. I added a little color to give you an idea of what it will look like when built. At least in profile:



Right now, if you sat in it, your butt would be about 6 inches off the ground. I realize that that is extremely low, but it's for me, so nyah. And I made the seat extremely large, about 2 x 2 feet, so that I could sit cross-legged and work on my laptop. As soon as I actually get some pieces cut or some actual progress done, I'll take pictures and post them.

Recent Developments

There have been a few new developments as far as some of my projects have been concerned, and I'll start with the most exciting first.

My shop professor all but guaranteed that my desk design would be one of the three pieces to "win" the competition, so I've been working on my technical drawings for that. He also let me know that I would pretty much not need to do anything for at least the next month while the metal pieces are being fabricated, so...

I decided to go ahead and build the lounge chair that I wrote a post about a while back. This puts a bit of a strain on me, I understand that, so I have made it clear to Steve that this project may be carried into next semester. But, I went ahead and ordered the wood: 9 board feet of 2" dark walnut. I'm so excited to start work on it and finally get back into the shop! I miss everything about shop: the smell of all the wood, being covered in wood shavings, narrowly escaping death when the jointer decides to act up. Sigh.

Anyway, the lounge, aptly named the So Lo Lounge as the seat sits 6 inches off the floor, is going to look exactly as it does in the picture. No wheels, no brass footings. The only difference is in material choice: walnut and white cotton/nylon strap (as opposed to what I show in the model as beech and dark gray strap). I'm currently finishing up technical drawings, and will print out a full-size side elevation shortly.

The good news ends there, sadly. This last weekend, Kelsey attended a landscape architecture get-together in Pennsylvania, and to her surprise, a Disney Imagineer gave a talk on the future of landscape architecture in theme parks. Long story short, our fantastically one-of-a-kind idea has already been built at Tokyo Disney Sea, so we're going to have to shift our story a bit, or possibly go back to brainstorming phase. It's quite a setback, but I've got some ideas already brewing. I'm confident that I'll have a good idea developed and drawn up for my mid-crit next Friday.

Basically, all the hard work that I'm doing and will be doing over the next few weeks is going towards the ability to take off Halloween and the weekend following it, so I can go home and visit with family. That is my current motivation, so if I'm a hermit during this time, please don't blame me. It's the system.

WorkGroup Desk

So in true Kate fashion, I'm not doing a chair for my shop project. (At least not my main shop project.) If you are not familiar with my work methodology, it's that my first idea is always crap. I know that is not true, but it helps me feel better about switching my project up a month into the school year. The final proposal (a small 8.5 x 11" with images and text) for the project was due today for those that are participating in the cast metal competition. It's not so much a competition as it is bidding to be one of the three students who gets their casting process done absolutely free (which would save me hundreds of dollars).

Steve let me know only after my inquiring into the use of cast metal footings for my chair that this competition was up for grabs. So i figured I would focus on metal as the main component of my design. I went back to some earlier sketches for some inspiration for my new, mostly metal piece, and voila! The WorkGroup Desk!



Click the image to read the description.

It isn't shown in this proposal, but the wood "slots" into the hollow aluminum ends, so there are only three pieces to put together. It'll be nice for me when I move at the end of the year, and it's a good selling point for storage and shipping and such. I've drawn up a bunch of "variants," which I won't be building, but plan to propose to the head of the cast metal manufacturing plant if my piece is chosen.

So let me know what you think! And questions and ideas are definitely welcome.

The Science of Cute

I've mentioned in a previous post that I think this next year kind of hinges on the first few weeks of class. Welp, that's pretty true. I'm almost certain of my final furniture project scope for Spring semester. We spend this entire semester creating a design brief (or program), doing tons and tons of research, doing case studies, writing design narratives, etc. etc. Then next semester we design and build. Last week, I wrote 3 short papers detailing ideas for my final project. So if you're going to mentally check out, now's the time to do it.

One was on Seasonal Affective Disorder and furniture that utilizes indirect light that could help combat that. It was my least favorite, as it has sort of been done before, but it could prove to be informative.

Another was on arthritis and designing furniture that could ease the pain of those that suffer from the condition. I'm pretty interested in this one. I could do a lot of research on different types of arthritis and their symptoms. And case studies could involve Alvar Aalto's Paimio Chair (for TB patients) and other types of furniture/products made for people with arthritis or other physical incapacities.

But the one that I think could keep me interested for upwards of 8 months involves the science behind "cuteness." This one is a bit more theory and psychology, an aspect of design that I have been in love with since I started at K-State. There has already been a lot of research into the psychology of "beauty," what makes something look beautiful, the attributes, proportion, etc. But cuteness has had very little exposure. Scientists are just now looking into this area of study–what attributes make something look cute (like low-set eyes, round head, baby-like features) and why it affects people the way it does. I want to delve deeper into the evolutionary reasons why cuteness is attractive.

And oh, the case studies! The VW Beetle, Mini Cooper, oodles of children's toys like the Furby or Cabbage Patch doll, Mickey Mouse (over the years), Hello Kitty, any Japanese cartoon, and of course all those adorable animals out there such as pandas, koalas, manatees, or maybe Oggie and Oden.

And the options I would have for a final project next semester are pretty much endless. As long as it involves cuteness, I'm pretty much set. So I would have a nice safety net of opportunity at the beginning of next semester.

I've also made some big strides in my product design studio, but there's a limit to the amount of words I can write in one go. And I've exceeded that already by about 4 million.

Eureka!

I think I've found my idea for shop. I've been kicking it around since Denmark. It's not completely finished, but here's the "chair" portion of the project:







What I propose is a "hybrid"–a classic Danish lounge chair merged with a striking, modern feature. I want to put two rather large (about 14" diameter) wheels on the back legs of the chair. Then, it becomes easily movable furniture, and you can carry items in the seat portion of the chair, like a wheel barrow. It would be very handy when moving, something I've been doing several times a year for the last 5 years. I know outdoor sun chairs have been designed like this before, so that people can easily move the chair to a sunny spot or to group them together. This would make living room furniture rearranging much easier. It'd actually be very neat to do a couch version of this too, but that's probably longer than a semester project.

I'm still working on the wheels. They won't be the prettiest or most accurately made for this model, but they'll give me an idea of what the final look of the chair will be.

I'm not sure whether I want to do a weave, as it is shown in the model, or if I want to stretch leather or do wood planks with padded cushions. If I get the chance to do two, I may experiment with a couple different options. But that's a question I'll have to bring up with Steve (my shop teacher) on Wednesday.

And now that I've spent the entire weekend doing shop stuff, I think I'm going to take tonight off and see if I can convince the guys to go bowling...

Bertha and Beatrix

I apologize for the lack of posting this week. A mixture of not having internet in the apartment (which is a whole story in and of itself) and pouring EVERY EXTRA MINUTE into my internship journal has left me absolutely no time for myself. My closet is also suffering a bit, with the monstrous pile of clothes inhabiting one of its corners. Buuut, I'm making up for it with pretty pretty pictures of what I've been doing this week.

Firstly, I moved into Studio! I'm loving the digs. And so is Bertha (my monitor) and Beatrix A. Macbook.



Secondly, the internship journal is well under way. In a previous post I mentioned my idea of writing a book entitled "Things They'll Never Teach You in Design School." Well, I'm going through with it. I spoke to my "professor" (I put quotes because Vicky's just grading our journals and posters), and she seemed very enthused about the idea. Here are a couple sample pages and the cover of the book:

[Note: The text is just filler text, taken from the journal's criteria sheet and is the same on each page.]



The book is 7"x7". The cover is a wrap-around image and will be changing before print. I will add redlines onto it, handwritten in red ink of course. The title will also be handwritten, but will be in the same font and size. I haven't decided if I want to scan the final cover into my computer or take a picture of it, with the red pen resting on the sheet. It would be neat to have the pen on it, so that it looks like you're looking down at a desk when you view the cover. I may test both options, post both the pictures and get a vote.







And now, furniture design studio. I'm SO FREAKING EXCITED for this year's furniture studios. I've been sketching like crazy, and yesterday I finally bought some model-making materials and went to town.

This semester, I want to work mainly with wood and upholstery/fabrics. I also want a simple, classic look. I've taken a lot of my inspiration from Hans Wegner and Danish mid-century modern design. This fact alone has gained special interest from Rod, who I will ask to be my major mentor for next semester's furniture capstone. He not only specializes in chair design, but he is the resident genius on upholstery and is a HUGE fan of Wegner.

For this studio, we are allowed to design either a casegood (TV stand, coffee table, night stand, etc.) or a chair. I'm keen on the chair idea. And we only need to create one piece. Of course, I'm wanting to make about three or four. I may have to settle with making two or three of the same piece with minor differences, such as materials, finish, or high/low/no back.

Here are two initial studies. The first is a stool. the main idea is the separating of the base legs from the seat, creating a simple, flush look, but with about an inch-long gap. You'd have to look under the seat to figure out the structure. Right now, I know it wouldn't be structurally sound, and there are ideas in the works on how to fix that, possibly with steel.

The fabric is woven straps, stretched and mounted.







Next is simply a study on proportion. The actual look of the chair is a bit "hospital waiting room" for me, and with one bad choice in upholstery, could look hideous. This model is more of a statement on how I want my final piece to be detailed. I like the flush-ness in the transition from upholstery to wood. The angles are simple and attention to human proportion is important. It doesn't really deal with joinery at all (because the pieces are too small to detail that well), so it's not a "true" miniature, but it's definitely got the aesthetic down.







So that's what I've been wasting my time on this week. I would love to build other pieces this semester, and I've got some ideas I've been kicking around, including a modern head board that integrates hinged lighting. Sketches posted when I make them.

Now, it's time to ask my peoples for a favor. I'm taking a product design studio, and we've been given free reign to design ANY KIND OF PRODUCT WE CAN IMAGINE. Everything from egg beaters to jet plane interiors. I've been doing some research in the library, trying to brainstorm a bit, but I need some input. If any of you have any ideas whatsoever, vague or specific, I want to hear them. I'd like to get as many ideas as possible down on paper and then start narrowing my scope.

These next few weeks pretty much determine how my last year at KSU will go, so it's been a bit stressful the past couple of days. As soon as I have current/future projects worked out, I'll be able to settle into the groove a bit and start using those wonderful time management skills that I've spent the last 8 months honing. I'm still feeling a little out of place back at school, like I'm a "continuing education" folk, but I'm sure I'll feel right at home in no time.