Author Archives: songy941

Final Project – Eye Fishing

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Link to insturctables: https://www.instructables.com/id/Eye-Fishing-Tea-Candle-Holder/

I made a tea candle holder that will reveal some messages when its top is being heated.

I used theromochromic pigment to achieve the revealing of the messages. This type of pigment will be transparent under a higher temperature and be normal again when the temperature is lower.

The concept is about memory and eyes. The cover of this candle holder is designed to be a ‘lake’ of eyes (shown by the patterns), and there is a small character fishing eyes for himself. Yet while he is fishing and when the candle is lighten up, there are things revealed on the surface of the lake suggesting he might fish something else rather than eyes which are what he wants. The things revealed has relations to eyes but are not the first things that come up to our mind when we think about eyes.

Reflections and further steps:

At first I did not use transparent acrylic for the top of the candle holder and it was proved to be dangerous, less attractive and fragile. So I replaced it with an acrylic piece and painted again. It works perfectly now.

At first I wanted to make something that is easy to use and does not have to be linked to wires and battery every time so this is the final result. I think maybe in the future I can come up with a more complex structure and make all the wires and battery being well covered and controlled with switches. Yet I am very happy with the result of this attempt. I enjoyed the whole process, from designing it, making it to actually using it as a real candle holder.

Week 10 Assignment

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For this week I did an illustration of an iceberg with a penguin. 

I used black pigment and transparent base for the penguin and sowed it so that when the circuit is connected, the penguin will be heated up and disappear. 

     

(left: after heating)

The message is to say that more animals are dying due to global warming and human activities.

Week 9 Assignment

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I decided to do speakers using Jake’s face. I put copper tape on his tongue, a piece of fabric and cut out his face. Yet I had no big magnets so I did not test it, hopefully it will work.

 

 

Since Jake always doesn’t have black eye balls, I cut out his eyes so that eyeballs can be drew on a paper underneath and being moved around.

    

Midterm Project – Rude Lamp

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For this project I made up my mind to do something meaningful. So I came up an idea to do lamp that can warn people to adjust their pose when reading because I feel like many people, including me, are reading to closely to the book.

The final result of the lamp is here:

Full details of this project is on Instructables: https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Rude-Lamp/

 

Week 5: trying a new kind of craft

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This week I wen to the metal shop and tried welding.

I identify this practice of me as being a learner, an artist and a maker because the purpose was quite simple — to weld two pieces of metal– and there was not much design in it, but I do qualify it as artist’s work. The process was quite uncomfortable because the metal shop was hot and I have to wear a protection coat and helmet. The process was also a bit scary because there were fire sparkles, horrible machine sounds and dust everywhere.

However, seeing the metal I welded was a great pleasure although it dose not look good visually.

My favorite tool at the moment is laser-cutting. It is simple, easy to do and the result can be stunning. Although there can be many frustrating moments when the power was set too high so it burns or the material is too thick so it cannot be cut through.

Week 4 Assignment

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Our video:

The circuit:

We made a circuit of a pressure sensor (from Aaron) and 5 LEDs, and the LEDs will be lighted up when the pressure increases.

It was really fun thinking about how this story can be composed. The whole process of filming was hilarious and very enjoyable.

However, our explanation is somehow vague and does not include enough of the code part. We tried to imply the explanation of the code in our lines but those are not as obvious and easy to be understood as we thought it would be. Also, our background music and story settings may scare/confuse a 5-year old ?????. But I really like our final film and we had a lot of fun doing this assignment.

Week 3 Assignment

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I was going to create a switch which you have to stab a sponge man to switch on the circuit.

But it didn’t work I guess it’s because the area of contact of the sword with copper tape and the back of the man with a piece of conductive fabric is too small.

So I changed my idea to make a sensor – a sponge man that spits a drop of blood when you press him.

Prototype: