cradle to cradle

fast company has this story on william mcdonough and the cradle to cradle concept. designboom had this blog post a few days ago as well linking to the fast company story.

bits

just found out that shapeways is now available state-side! yes, i'll totally be making use of this...
shapeways 3d printing

happiness...

... is a dog to keep me company in the studio. He came with an adoption of a mexican grey wolf, therefore his name is Tequila. This was a most awesome surprise for my Tuesday and totally made me grin like a fool.
Now every time I look at him I will remember to breathe, and that I can do this, and I can make it through mid-term, and I will make good work.... and I will smile and remember all the things that matter.

weekly photos

This is my space this week... I think I need to remember to get a picture when it's really a disaster as opposed to minor disturbance....


Refined the bust for my wearables project this week, and got all of the wax bones that will act as the (there is no way to avoid puns here) ribs for the corset made, along with creating the vellum pattern that I'll be using to sew from.


And the bust is also doubling as a knife stand. At least I took them out of the chest...

social design project 2 in progress

Been working on refining my idea and prototyping. I was trying to figure out a way to tie in the idea of trash into the overall form of the bracelet (starting there, will expand out), and I hit on the idea of using a plastic bag as the form. I did a quick prototype out of a bag from a roll of vellum.



Overall, I think it conveys the idea, but I want a more crinkly look- like you get from the cheap grocery bags. Those were too wide, but I found a couple bags that I thought would work. I decided to fill them with alginate so that they would hold the right volume and form for when I mold them.
Here are the 2 bags I used all alginated up.

Not sure which one will work better yet, but I'm planning to do the silicone mold Monday and go from there. Potential Casting materials so far are: slipcasting plastic (translucent), a flexible rubber, I'd also like something that is totally green. The plastic references the actual bags, the rubber would be sanitary and easy to clean, so I'd like something that is completely biodegradable as well- I'm thinking maybe corn starch?

apropos to this morning's grad discussion- frogdesign's blog post on experiental design- and how designing experiences is important. (from designmind)

I thought these were beautiful- I like the line quality- it reminds me of charcoal or photgraphs somehow.... Debbie Smyth (via designboom)
Helping you be "Less Bad" (via Deisgnboom)

On Social Design (via Core77)

pictures....

So this is my space as of last week:


The bust I've carved for my wearables project- pink foam!:


Playing with photsensitive paper and last semester's work- I'm hopingto get more of an X-ray look- or maybe draw on top of these...:


From today- finished piercing out the first brooch for the Anatomy IS, and I like it. I also really like the masking tape that I used to sandblast on. Maybe I can use contact paper to get a similar effect? or the latex sheeting?:


The pendants for Social Design Project 1.2 in flat form:

social design project 2

For my second social design project, I'm going to pursue the bracelet idea I had talked about earlier. I'm thinking to expand the scope out from just a bracelet to a series of pieces. (original post)
I want to make these pieces something that can be mass-produced and marketed. So that to me means smart design- is there a recycled plastic I can use? I'm currently planning to RP these- what are my material options. Would it be better to fabricate them? Possibly Smile Plastics?
Considerations: ease of use, appearance, material choices.
Possibilities: bracelet, belt buckle, clip-on attachment for purse, pendant, keychain fob?
It doesn't seem that there has been much of anything done to tackle this from a wearbles persective.
Potential issues: Will people use them? What to do with the trash after it has been picked up- display/portability?

project 1.1 post-report

Project purpose: Raise awareness of consumption of food and the choices we make regarding nutrition.

What worked: I think that the packaging of the rice in the vellum was sucessful. The placement in the food cases also worked well to get the point across.

Improvements: More packets. Better seal on the packets as they leaked a bit. Getting the packets distributed to a wider audience and being able to leave them in situ. Also, I think that in addition to the cartons and the packets, mimicking other styles of food packaging would be useful- the plastic clamshell containers, foil chip packets.