Still Working On…Alphabet Cards

Remember the alphabet cards from this post and the inspiration for the entire project from this post? Of course you do! I just wanted to give a little status update; I’m still working, but 26 letters feels like a lot. So far I’ve completed A, D, I, O and S. Here’s A:

Beautiful, right? I even 'shaded' this bad boy! Look at those screws!

The main issue I’m running into isn’t making the ‘letters’ but deciding what size card and what orientation to choose. It seems that the alphabet will be split half horizontal and half vertical orientation, so I’ve been toying with the idea of doing squares instead of a rectangle in one obvious orientation.

A + O - are squares going to reign supreme?

I also bought a rounded corner punch from Micheal’s on sale for $7. What a steal!

new, fantastic rounded corner punch

It’s out of this world! (Get it? Yeah, you do.)

So, as my newly accomplished letter cards spell – A-D-I-O-S!
More to come, as always.

♥eth

ps. Apparently my t-shirt submission did not win fame, glory, and the opportunity to be on 150 different student bodies. Alas! I guess I’ll have to seek fame from something besides iDSA 😦

Currently Working On…Alphabet Cards + IDSA Shirts

I’m still working on IDSA shirts when I’m not President anymore?! Not exactly! The current officers are doing a ‘shirt contest’ for this years iDSA shirts and I submitted one design (so far). As I said before, I was working on creating I, D, S and A out of objects and I think the final result is pretty nice.

And some progress on the beginning of the ‘designer tools alphabet cards’. I’ve been steadily researching and writing out different things that make letters (which, to be honest, probably looks like crazy-person-talk if you don’t know what I’m doing because in no way does ‘olfa’ = ‘i’). There’s a printing place near by, Prima, that does cards that are the size I want (something in between 2″x3″ and 4″x6″) but I haven’t talked to them about doing small runs of different images yet. Yesterday I bought myself a rounded corner punch so that I can design the outlines, etc. better.

Here’s my super awesome ‘Ii’ card so far:
That snapped off blade is really clever, right? Right.
More to come! As always!

♥eth

PS. any constructive feedback on either design is very welcome!

Project: Guinea Pig Mansion

I live in a two guinea pig household. We just moved their cage from our office into our living room. The new room combined with the colder weather has cured all of their boredom woes, and it makes me very, very happy! It is so nice to have happy, active piggies again.

To make a long story shorter: pet store cages are awful for small animals. It is easier, nicer, and cheaper to make them a much larger C&C cage (out of those wire grids from Target and corrugated plastic from a craft or sign store). More information can easily be found on Cavy Cages – the website I frequent as my go-to guinea pig resource. (Yes, it DOES worry Boyfriend that I sometimes spend a few hours reading forums about guinea pigs.)

I currently have a 2×5 cage for my piggies, but I’d like to make them something that looks more ‘furniture’ and less ‘cage’. I was really inspired by this DIY IKEA-hack rabbit hutch on Design*Sponge. I’d like to create something the same size (slightly bigger or smaller, depending) as the current cage – just nicer looking. I realized this was possible – and also probably pretty easy – when I found this antique-trunk-turned cage for a different rabbit (supposedly Hilary Swank’s (celebrity bunny?)) in the comments on the same post.

Cute, right?

So, then I did a lot of research (read: internet browsing) and have found a lot of beautiful, wonderful solutions. A lot of the more intricate and interesting cage set-ups are for bunnies, but they’d be easily changed for pigs. You can look at all the different pictures I’ve collected here. This is my favorite cage by far as of right now:

(via)

I still have a lot of planning, tinkering, and researching to do. I won’t bore you with ALL of the details right now. Basic details are:

• open top-cage (tried holding some boards over the cage – just too dark!)
• making some of the walls more solid (back, maybe the shorter sides?)
• plywood! (but painted with non-toxic glossy paint, many coats – which apparently is water proof)
• most likely making one side of it really ‘decorative’ (i.e. like an adorable little cottage with windows, etc.) (this side would be taller and more protective, so we can turn the cage around if lots of guests come over – giving the pigs more security and privacy, and less strange people’s fingers)
• creating “platforms” within the cage itself (essentially, adding more interest to their cage and extra “floors”, “layers”, what have you – without actually adding extra boxy layers on top of the cage itself so we can get them out easily and maintain a streamlined profile)
• DIY-ing some adorable hidey-houses

This well definitely be an interesting project! I’ll keep you updated.

♥eth

on how it’s crunch weeeeeeek

I have been down. I have been out. But I’m back nowwwww!
Ok, in all seriousness, I’ve been lame, I’ve been tired, I’ve been sick and unmotivated and procrastinating because I’m behind – which only puts me further and further behind.
However, this week is crunch week and there’s so much to do, it makes me feel like I could pick up a mountain or something because it is business timeeeeeee. And I’ve got to get down to it.
I guess the only singular comforting thing about being slightly behind is knowing that getting the concept right, even if the deliverables aren’t all that, is the most important part of a project. Especially because there’s always opportunity to re-do projects for portfolio, but it’s worth the presentation to have your project concept well developed and concise.

I’m making progress on everything involved in this project at the moment. I’m going to lathe today after lunch to get the curves of my form figured out, because I want to transpose the same form from the pasta extruder to the peeler and the ice cream maker. I’m researching portions and serving sizes to see if those can drive my product proportions better, as well as the hand-span of children in my age range so that they can actually hold and use the products I’m making. I’m hoping to 3D print the pasta extruder because I think it’s important to see the screw-threaded interaction points, and having a solid lump of sine foam wouldn’t quite cut it (for me personally) – which means that I need to get into SolidWorks and get everything done ASAP. I’m almost done making the handle that will be used in all three products; it’s a nice blend of geometric shapes (squares, triangles, circles) that are really aesthetically interesting.

I’m currently having problems determining how much serving sizes/portions should drive my product proportions. I feel like using serving sizes literally would drive the ‘health’ point home, but I’m concerned that sticking so closely to them might cause some gross products…? Or some awkward proportions, since an average family size is 4, but I like multiples of 3 and children’s hands are so small. Hmm.
Materials are pretty much already determined, I’m just figuring out details from already-existing products [i.e. how much space allowance around a pint-sized canister of ice cream is needed for salt and coolant substances in a hand-cranked ice cream maker?]. But I’m excited, or running off of adrenaline, either/or and I’m getting on to stuff that I wouldn’t be so ashamed to claim.

moving right along

Today we presented the five concepts we created to the class, and then narrowed it down to two.
For Monday we need refined drawings in perspective, top view, side view, and section views as well as material samples and models.
I was a little disappointed in class with my drawings today when I realized that I really did not draw enough detail to explain the forms, but with practice I’m sure I’ll overcome my inability to understand the three-dimensionality of a tea cup – right?
David also mentioned that we should find other products that we feel represent the three words we’ve chosen for this project, and ask other people if they match our words. I’ve been browsing the interwebz and found a few things on Domus Int. (thanks to Kim posting a link on her blog) that I like.

fresh = new, modern, re-freshing
quirky = just a little bit different, odd – but not awkward
honest = pure form, and good materiality

\ˈkän-ˌvərs\

I love this ‘designer’s high’ I get when things get moving into motion and things start slowly piecing together. Things start running all over the place. It is a much better feeling than the one I normally get when I’m half-way done with a project and I really need a month to finish it, but it’s due in a few hours. I’m excited to work with the laser printer again; it truly made me feel like a semi-pro the last time I used it with my silverware. Ps. Did you know you can even make your own stamps on the laser cutter? Genius. Makes me want to make allll sorts of stuff (that I probably shouldn’t make on school machines/don’t have the time for, but will dream about regardless).

Converse: iconic, comfortable, customizable
sharing/club/community/gang/family/group
“make memories” “live in your shoes” “your shoes, your life” “your shoes are like a photograph/memory box/story/etc.”
converse – > \ˈkän-ˌvərs\ [like conversation]
walking/running/dancing/skipping/basketball/travel/experience-> activities to do in Converse shoes?
materials: rubber, canvas, metal, plastic, laces, rivets, soft(ness), love, etc.
[punk, rock, alternative, hxc, emo, shows, memories, nostalgia, black and white, classic, America, old, casual, colorful, unique, customizable, conversational, guitar, blue jeans, old/new, vintage, fresh, “clean canvas”, young, tweenagers, impressions]

• Is a “dirty kit” exciting enough? Sure is! It’s also gross.

• Is it just a product they should sell? No – no one will actually want to buy dirt and blood and vomit, but they’d prly think it was funny to get it.

• Do I know who the real “user” is? Oh, yes. Tweenagers to young adults – people that are more commonly found wearing Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars and sway to the whole concept of being in that ‘group’ of people [and normally deny being a part of it, while still wearing them…]

• Clever enough? I hope so.

• Connection between product/user/company? I think so.

• Does the promotional item support the product and/or company? Totally – its all about ‘living your life’ and experiencing things in your shoesies.

• Brand immediately recognizable? Working on that currently

• Is there an ‘AHA!’? Working on that, too.

IDEAS of things to include in the kit: paint, make-up [?], dirt/mud, soy sauce, sand paper [?], blood, oil, dust, tire tread, gravel [?], grass, ketchup/mustard/food, vomit, mold, saliva[?], tree sap, salt water/sand…
If anyone has any other ideas, I’m down to take them off your hands.

Now onto researching the Converse Brand standards [logos, fonts, colors, what they do with it, where they put it at on packaging, etc.], vials, details, packaging, boxes, dimensions, current packaging, etc.