The first, quick exercise was writing down the best gifts we have ever gotten to help us learn what made them the best gifts.
I listed a couple of gifts and really had to think about why they were the best
To create better ways of thinking about how to tackle the gift project, we started off with an exercise where we chose a random object and had to create a container to hold it. Another classmate and I decided to group up and create this container.
We randomly selected the screwdriver. And decided the container could be a box that holds the screwdriver and then unravels to be used as a tool belt to hold the screwdriverWe started by making it the right size and testing the dimensions and how much material we would need so that it would function as a belt.We then decided to market towards children since they would most likely to use the belt. We added a tag to the screw driver reading “my first tool”
Here is the loop that I had woven through the belt to look more clean.On the extra tabs that help hold the box together we added pictures of tools that children can us to make them feel lie they have a whole set of tools.We titled it “the Belt Box” and realized after words that we could have also made it look like a tool box when i was closed up and used the loop as the handleDescribes what is includedList of directions for how to make it a beltAge range
Getting to Know my Mentor
I started by selecting my mentor from a list of names with interests and found Jackie’s name with interests very similar to mine. I looked trough social medias to try and understand her better and maybe a certain color pallet to choose from. I began texting her and asking her questions to gain more knowledge and understand her better and dive deeper into her interests.
I had planned to ask her in person along with information I gathered through texting.Meeting in person led to many helpful insights to interests and what she is really like. Here are some topics we talked about and things I found out about her.
I wanted to create a puzzle box since she likes a challenge. The finger is an object in a show we both like that gets eaten so I though I could hide a key inside so only she would know what to do with the finger.I changed to a new idea because i was stuck on only thinking about the finger. I then wanted to create a stick shift and a mechanism so that once the shifter would reach 6th gear it would unlock the box.I then tested my shifting mechanism. I knew I needed three levels to get the movement and pushing part working correctly.Here is what they look like when they are in the right position with the shifter through them.I then learned that I would need two rings to keep the shifter steady when movingHere is how it would make it more secure.I then came up with the idea to make the shifter a sword, and model it off of her favorite character’s sword from a show. I took out the unlocking mechanism and kept the double wrings and wanted the sword to fall in to be the gift and then have the quote be wrapped around the handle of the sword like the traditional samurai sword.I then quickly realized that creating my own mechanism is not always the way to go. I learned of the automata and wanted to incorporate that into my gift while still keeping the sword stick shift. I could create the spinning parts to look like a cam shaft and disguise the quote as one and have it been pulled to spin the camshaft and have it raise and lower the sword.I knew I needed to hold up the box since you would be able to see through it and it would be flimsy so I planned to make a small deck the walls would slide into. I also knew the sword would not stay straight so it would need another support with a second slit to fit through.I realized that the box itself was going to look very plain on the sides and I thought to put the Japanese gates on the sides, since Jackie has been wanting to go to Japan, to help decorate as well as help with stability for the walls and for the top to fit snug.I experimented with different sizes for the sword.Cutting out the silhouette of the sword.After sanding it to the correct shape.I then added the paper around the handle to give the tradition samurai sword look. And added the hand stopper that is modeled after the character’s sword she liked from the show.I then measured and cut the pieces out that i needed for the small deck.I hot glued the deck together and cut out slits so that the walls of the box could slide through.I then added the wholes n the walls and slid the dowel rod through and made sure it could spin smoothly.I had to line up the holes of the sword so that it would glide straight with no resistance.I then started working on the lobes to the camshaft.I then made sure that the holes for the dowel rod would fit through smooth but tight.I created a net for the five ones I would need and had them cut out on the Cricut.I then drew a stencil of a Japanese gate to cut out and glue to the sides of the walls.I then added the the gear icon to the top of the box and had the shifter whole be located in the middle.I glued all of the pieces together so I could then glue the cam shaft cylinder (lobes) to the dowel rod and feed to through to the last wall. I made sure everything lined up and the lobes were in all different places so that it would like a real spinning cam shaft. I added the quote wrapped around the dowl rod as well.
Production
The final part to getting everything to work was making sure that the walls were glued at a perfect 90-degree angles so that the lobes could spin freely without scraping against the walls. I also had to make sure that the whole box added underneath the top of the larger box was perfectly aligned with the whole above so that the sword would both glide smoothly and the tip of the sword would touch the middle of the lobe in the middle which was harder than I thought because of the curve of the blade. I believe I did a good job at bringing multiple interests of my mentor together to come up with a gift. The fact that the sword being the gift could come out ended up working very well because when she was given the gift she could not put the sword down, she mentioned how much she loved touching and messing with things and how perfect the gift was since it needed to be activated. I also believe that I did a good job at creating my piece with the limited time I had to ideate a new gift, and that it turned out well for cutting almost all of the parts by hand. I learned that trying to create my own mechanism isn’t always the best idea and I should research to find one that already exists to learn from it. I also learned that I need to schedule far ahead of time to book time in the laser cutter because there were no spots available early on and I had to cut everything by hand except for one part. I could improve upon some craft especially with cutting and some gluing. Cutting the chipboard by hand was difficult for the number of cuts I needed, and the corners are not perfectly clean and would have been much better if they were laser cut, I also would have liked to find another way to make gluing the closing side of the lobes cleaner so that glue would not show. I also believe it would have helped to make some sort of washer in between the walls and the lobes to assure an even smoother spin, and lastly I felt I could have designed something to make the coiled up quote look more neat and not just rolled up paper.
Here is the Link to the video of her receiving the gift.
