Balsa Wood

For this piece I started by focusing on texture by creating a mix of crumbled stock paper and wood glue on top of a piece of balsa wood. As I worked on creating a base for the piece I ended up creating for long legs out of the balsa wood, which changed my concept to scale because of the contrast in size between the large textural top piece and the skinny legs that are holding it. The top is very bulky and heavy, while the legs are very skinny and delicate. When I started this project I would never have expected this would be the final product because it is not my style of work, but I love how it turned out, the refined long legs and the textural top work together so well.

For this piece I created a very symmetric, simple geometric piece. As I worked on the piece I developed a focal point from both the front and the back of the piece by connecting the group of pins to seem as though they are coming through the wood and can be seen from the back side. I started designing this piece by using different square sized balsa wood pieces and connected them with pins, I then created a base to hold the squares together. I outlined the squares with masking tape to create unity. I placed bunches of pins on the interior of the square and then added a bunch to the other side to create a focal point that connected both sides of the piece. I had a lot of trial and error with this piece but in the end there was strong unity in the design as a whole.

For this piece I intended to show repetition through the layering of triangles made from tracing paper and white stock paper. I started by layering the triangles through a pin and connected it to a rectangular piece of balsa wood. Next, I built a square prism to hold the swinging layered triangle piece in the middle. I then cut smaller triangles and layered them onto a smaller rectangle and placed it on top, to create a layered, repeating pattern. My final solution turned out a lot different then I had planned, but through trial and error the end design created a frame of balsa wood that enclosed the hanging triangle pattern.


Process Pictures

Masking Tape Shoes

Process:

The challenge of the this project was to build a pair of shoes with only masking tape. I started by cutting up an old pair of vans and measuring each piece of the van and tracing the pieces onto a stacked layer of masking tape. Once I had the basic shapes of the shoe created, I began to add layers of tape onto the individual pieces to create a sturdy base. For the sole of the shoe I began with an outline of the shoe and added several pieces of tape to create a thick bottom layer, then to add padding to the shoe I rolled pieces of tape and placed them on the sole and then added an outline of the shoe on top of the padding. Once I had the sole and base of my shoe secure, I began to create the outer sole of the shoe by layering thin pieces of tape and tracing the perimeter of the bottom, covering the padded area and creating a sturdy base for the top of the shoe to be placed.
The next step, was to take different components of the top of the shoe and continue to layer the tape to make each part sturdy. Once all of the top parts were created, I could fit them together and tape them to hold the shoe in place.
To create the decorative elements I decided to layer tape and cut out an outline of the sole and the outer sole. Then I placed the tape over the sole and embossed the design with a ballpoint pen. For the outer sole I took the layered tape and my exacto knife to slit little lines in a diagonal fashion.
Using masking tape as the one and only material created a challenge in using this material as a foundation and a decorative tool. Visualizing a shape and trying to recreate that shape takes patience. To solve this problem I decided to create puzzle pieces of the parts of the shoe and fit them together, rather than trying to create one large piece.