Category Archives: Week 5: Learn a New Craft Project

Week 5 Assignment

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I identify myself as 

  •  learner: I’m always ready to learn. Self-development flourishes my life.
  •  artist: I have painted and drawn for over twenty years and taught art for ten years.
  • craftsperson: I became a craftperson when I was 10 years old. I made my own binder with hard cover for my diary many times and gave my friend the covers for their birthday. At the first work, I wasn’t saticfied with my cover, because it wasn’t a good looking. Through trials and errors I made better quality covers.
  • maker: I have a huge tool box in my hometown. I wish I can bring it to here. I enjoy cooking. I care process of cooking, taste and presentation of food.  When I have homework I try different  methods to fufill the assignment by making something to show.
  • designer, researcher : I majored in product design. I made furniture and products in college years. It was really fun and rewarding when I saw finished work and used them! but physically I was really worn out. Research is the integral method that help rationalize your design. I am not a good researcher but I try to be.  I’m in a moment of flow whenever I paint and draw, and make something. 
  •  What is your favorite tool and why? Pens and pencils. I love drawing with thin and thick lines becasue it gives me a sense of freedom of expression and a feeling of contentment like from the article what people feel when crafting something. I can own and reinforce the memory of the moment that I captured. That’s why I have drawn and painted over twenty years.
  • Bully+Web4Scan 14Scan 16 9.59.58 AMReflect on your experience learning a new craft (both independently and from other people in class) and teaching it to other people : I absorb a new craft well either indepentently or from other people. It is dynamic between other people and I is what shapes my disposition to learn a new craft. Interacting with others helps me learn better and faster because I use a sense of hearing and sight while looking at what other people do. Also, I can ask questions when I am stuck with some part. I can get constructive feedbacks and more information from other people who have more experience than me. I absolutly learn a new skill better when I teach it to others. As I teach people a new skill, I have to be knowledgeable with it so as to give the best instruction to them. Later, because of the effort to deliver it, the skill become a part of me.
  • What did you like about the process? I liked the moment when I started making an actual shape, for example, with just a worsted weight yarn and niddle after struggling how to croche for quite a bit of time.  “I’m getting there!!”
  • What was frustrating? When I repeat the same work that is necessary to master a new skil!!
  • What insight did you gain?  be patience and persistance then it will pay you off!

 

Reflect

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I am a designer, artist, storyteller, maker, craftsperson who is not only keen to solve problems but also create problems. I respect my occupation and the designers who care about their works and enjoy polish details.

Except for my Apple mouse and Apple keyboard, my favorite tool is the very cheap and common ball pen. When I design, draw or think, I always sketch on paper at the very beginning. Sketching on paper gives me magic and inspiration. I can’t think when facing my computer. That makes me sick and dizzy. I feel freedom when I sketch. When I feel depressed or anxious, sketching on paper also help me relax.

For learning the new crafts, I feel I like the handmade process, although they’re time consuming. The most frustrating thing is that I can’t use command + z anymore. That’s why I still love to use computer… But I like the handmade looks. They are so natural. For weaving, I may change the process a bit. Maybe combine with knitting to make some more stereo looks.

Week 5 Assignment

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Amazing job last night everyone!!

As I mentioned, this is one of the few weeks where you will not be making. One major goal in this exercise was to begin to think not only about the process and the craft, but also the communities and identities that exist around them. This week, let’s spend some time with theory, history, and anthropology to step back and reflect a bit:

  1. Bring your Arduino and supplies
  2. Watch “Arduino The Documentary”
  3. Read this article about Arduino v. Arduino (post a comment if you find another article around this that you’d like to share)
  4. Read this paper: (I will email it to you)
    • Buechley, L. and Perner-Wilson, H. 2012. Crafting technologies: Reimagining the processes, materials, and cultures of electronics. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 19, 3, Article 21 (October 2012), 21 pages. DOI = 10.1145/2362364.2362369 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2362364.2362369
  5. After doing all of the above, write a blog post that answers the questions below. It doesn’t have to be long, but I would like you to spend a good amount of time reflecting on these:
    • How do you identify / classify yourself? Choose as many as you would like from the following and feel free to add to it. Briefly explain why you chose them.
      • storyteller
      • maker
      • engineer
      • coder
      • designer
      • artist
      • learner
      • hacker
      • research
      • educator
      • gamer
      • craftsperson
      • [other?]
    •  What is your favorite tool and why? (I’m going to put one restriction on this – you’re not allowed to say computer:)
    • Reflect on your experience learning a new craft (both independently and from other people in class) and teaching it to other people. Some questions you could address: What did you like about the process? What was frustrating? What insight did you gain? What would you do differently next time?

Learning a Needle Felting (Week 5)

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For my craft, I decided to learn needle felting. There are many amazing needle felters out there like this one:

Needle Felted Shiba Inu by http://kittenblackua.deviantart.com/

Needle Felted Shiba Inu by http://kittenblackua.deviantart.com/

The supplies you will need to do felting are:

1. Felting needles:

Felting Needles

Felting Needles

2. Wool roving:

Wool Roving

Wool Roving

3. Something to shape your

Something to shape your piece, in this case, an egg cup...

Something to shape your piece, in this case, an egg cup…

For my first foray into needle felting, I created a simple mushroom:

IMG_3346

Instructions:

1. Grab your piece of wool roving.

wool roving

Wool roving

2. Find something that will shape the wool into what you want. In this case, I’m using an egg cup to give me a nice rounded mushroom top.

I'm using an egg cup to shape the wool roving

I’m using an egg cup to shape the wool roving

3. Start poking the wool with your needle.

IMG_3303

Use the needle to poke the wool

4. The wool will eventually condense and come together.

IMG_3304

Condensed wool mushroom top after about ten minutes of poking

5. Once we have the shape we want, we can add details to it. Here, I have shaped little spots for the top of the mushroom and just poked those until they become attached to the rest.

adding spots

Adding spots

Mushroom Spot

Continue creating forms and adding details with these methods!

Learn a New Craft Project! (due Sept 29)

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Key Dates
September 15 – One member of your group must have emailed me with names of group members and the craft you will be learning.
September 29 – Each group must be prepared to give their workshop in class.

Goal
Through this project you will learn the basic skills, techniques, and history of a craft practice. The goal of this is to experiment and try a new process without the use of embedded electronics. This could include any of the following:

  • sewing (by hand or on the machine)
  • embroidery
  • knitting
  • crocheting
  • draping
  • paper engineering
  • woodworking
  • silkscreening
  • surface design / fabric printing
  • etc, etc, etc

Outcomes
You will work in groups of 2-4 to design a 20-30 minute hands-on workshop or demo. Your group will give this workshop in class on September 29 to me and your peers.

Your workshop should include:

  • a brief background or history of the practice
  • the materials and tools needed
  • an overview of the process
  • a hands-on activity
  • ideas for incorporating into circuit construction

Your group is responsible for ONE post documenting the workshop with links to resources.