Posts

Bathroom Renovation Process

Research


 

Starting vision after picking out all the materials.  I followed sort of the same theme I had in the Studio Space Project: both were small rooms that I filled with many objects, all proportioned and organized accordingly and in an aesthetic fashion.

 

Images of my chosen products on the website. I used these cover photos and the product description to find the hex code of each item.

I used a color comparison website to see the tile color and the vanity color side by side, so I could check the undertones. The tiles had a yellowish undertone, giving it a hint of ivory. The vanity was a neutral tone, with the RGB values being equal. Since the tiles were on the warm side, and the vanity was neutral, I needed another color with a contrasting undertone.  I made palettes for each of the product colors and blended them to make the middle color. From there, I looked up the hex code of the new color and adjusted it so the undertone was an acceptable shade of purple. Once I had the new hex code and color, I had to cross check it with the Sherwin Williams website to see if this color was in their system. Luckily, it was, its called spatial white and I found the color sample on display in a modern collection.

Here is the visual comparison of the products in real life. Once they are side by side, the ivory tone is much more apparent.

Before we placed the tile, I had to determine how high the shelf would be. We scaled it based on my height and we both agreed on a comfortable height of about 10 rows of tile under the shelf. Another reason I had to lay it out with the spacers to get the exact measurement from the bottom up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decorations

 

All of these were ideas of how to fill the extra wall space we had to spare. I liked them because they would provide another element of texture on the other side of the bathroom, creating balance. Some of them were far fetched ideas, but that’s all they are, just ideas.

The first one stood out to me because it looks like the squiggle mirrors I added in my Studio Space last minute. I also like the wood look, because there isn’t much raw wood in that room yet.

The rest of the line/block art just looks really cool to me, and I can tell they are protrusions so it would definitely match with my modern theme.

The driftwood pieces also would look really cool. Driftwood gives me a beachy vibe which is usually very nice, but I absolutely despise beach themed bathrooms. I find it tacky and too predictable.

This last piece fit just perfect.

My dad is the one who suggested it and I could tell that he understood the theme I was aiming for in décor. I told him I loved it and it was installed maybe a week later. I think it looks really special and unique. It sits above the toilet, as it should.

 


Iterations


 

The biggest setback in this entire process was the shower pan. We ordered it in October, along with everything else, but something happened and it never arrived on time. We only had winter break to spend on this project so we couldn’t wait for the pan to begin. We worked around it for every piece, because we had the dimensions but not the piece. Almost every aspect of this bathroom relied on the installation of the shower pan. The tiles had to begin at the top of the pan and the shower door had to sit on top of it, the floor had to be modeled perfectly around it, and the vanity had to go on top of the floor. We made as many sacrifices as we could before we couldn’t do any more.

 

The shower construction was another big struggle. The glass doors themselves were maybe double the weight of the vanity, and it was just me and my dad trying to carry them. There were 2 doors, one was longer than the other and we did the smaller one first. We installed all the bolts and wheels so it would slide until we realized we installed it backwards. The model was made for a right sided sliding door, but our bathroom needed a left sided sliding door. It was an easier fix than I though, we just built the whole thing flipped and backwards. Anyway, got the small door installed and up on the frame. The difference between the doors is not only the weight but the cut as well. The shorter door was the one with the handle holes, which we had flipped. The longer door had a notch on the bottom corner to connect with a piece that would be attached to the wall. We went to move the longer door over and it was very very heavy. The issue with these doors is that they are indeed glass, so they absolutely could not be dropped on the hard bathroom floor. Moments later, the glass door slipped out of our fingers and off the ledge where it was resting and I heard the corner shatter. Immediately my heart drops. My dad went off and I just sat there in shock. As he was cursing the sky, I inspected the broken bits and I realized it was still totally usable. The most expendable part of the door had broken off and it was still able to be fully attached to the wall without it. That was probably the biggest jump scare of the project and I am so glad we got lucky enough for it to be salvageable.

 

Everything else worked out just as it was supposed to in production and Im so glad there weren’t any more major catastrophes.

 


Production and Construction


 

My parents gifted this project to me. I got to pick out all the materials and colors and they left it up to me to design the whole room. Anything I wanted to make, my dad would start building it. They didn’t give their input on my design choices and I had a lot of responsibility to myself. I had a lot of fun with all this new freedom.

 

Old bathroom and “before” pictures. This room was decorated by the previous owners of the house and the had a very special sense of style. For context, the hallways used to have a yellow wallpaper with little girls in dresses on it.

 

My Dad did the demolition with my brother, because my brother is a big wreck-it kind of guy. Also, they were stronger so they could move and carry all the demo scraps out. You can see my dad wearing a mask because of the fiber glass in the walls. He had to rip open a wall to replace one of the water pipes.

Once my big strong demo men moved all the pieces out, we had a clean space to start building.

There is a lot to do in order to waterproof walls in preparation for a shower, I had no idea. First, we had our baseboards. The old shower was full size shower area, basically a big porcelain box. Since it was all one piece, and no tiles, the baseboards had no waterproof protection. We needed a plastic covering because we planned on doing individual tiles. Overtop of the plastic is a lightweight cement board. These cement boards act as a solid base for another waterproofing layer. The boards are secured with drills and the drill holes are covered in a specific kind of caulking to make sure the surface is completely flat. The next layer is a thick teal paste. This paste acts as the main waterproofing element, and we had to make sure it dried completely before continuing. It takes about 24 hours to dry completely and you’ll know its dry when the color lightens. We had two rotating fans running in the room for the rest of the day and overnight. We couldn’t work on anything else in the bathroom for that time because the teal paste released unhealthy chemical fumes when wet.

During this waiting period, I began painting other things.

This is a before and after of the hallway right outside the bathroom. We unhinged each of the closet doors, I primed and painted them, replaced the gold hinges and handles with black versions, and then put them back on the doorframe. I also painted all the trim in the hallway so they would match the doors. The shade I used is called Panda White and its used as an accent color around the whole rest of the house, inside and out.

If you’re wondering why their is a plastic walkway on the floor, it’s there to protect the carpet from our shoes and from water trails. The room to the right acted as our material room, because the bathroom was far too small to hold everything. We also had the tile saw set up in that room, and a tile saw uses water to cut through the stone and marble. Our entire top floor is carpeted so we covered everything in plastic to avoid water damage.

Once the rest of the wall was dry, we were able to start laying tile down and finally started the process. This was my favorite part because I got to learn something new and it looked amazing. The hexagon pattern was my favorite because the marble gave it a lot of diversity in the room. These tiles were sold in sheets, not individual pieces, and each sheet was really heavy which is why they needed to be supported temporarily by the wood plank.

For the white rectangle tiles, they were laid out on top of tile cement and separated with those tiny green plastic sticks. This guaranteed that each space between the tiles was equal and once the grout was laid, everything would be perfectly symmetrical.

A bit after the tiles were strong enough to hold up of their own, we added the silver tile borders I picked out to line the walls and the edges of the shelf. We worked in sections and managed our time where each of us was always working on something every minute. While my dad was laying more tile, I was grouting the tiles that were already dry towards the ceiling. When he was cutting more tile, I was poking the green tab sticks between each of the tiles he had just laid. He taught me along the way and if he showed me how to do it once, I never needed any more direction.

We multitasked between the tiles and the flooring. While we waited for the teal paste and other tiles to dry, we also laid the floor panels and they were all drying at the same time.

I was giving the most responsibility with painting, because that has been my specialty with all the past projects I’ve helped with. While I was in another room painting the doors and the dismantled laundry chute, my dad was working with the plumbing, tried to make sure there were no leaks in the new pipes. Obviously, the water had been shut off in this corner of the house while we were demolishing the old shower and sink, but with the new repairs, he was worried it wouldn’t hold once the water was turned on. His repair was also a self-weld because the length and shape of the pipe had to be very specific to fit in the space provided.

We had a plan to test for leaks. Since the water tank was all the way in the basement and the bathroom was on the top floor, it has to be a two person job. The plan was for me to be sitting next to the tank in the basement, and my dad would be upstairs watching the pipes and we were connected through a phone call. I turned the handle of the tank very slowly, enough to be able to hear the water pressure flowing. There were a couple leaks but since the water pressure was so low, it wasn’t spraying out or anything, just a trickle. My dad would tell me to turn it off, then I would have to turn on the downstairs sink to relieve the rest of the built up pressure still in the pipes. We repeated this process many many times until the pipes successfully held water, even at full pressure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the pipes were all good and solid, we moved the vanity in. Only the base though, because the marble top had to be attached separate. Also the top was much heavier.

Those pipes that were sticking out of the floor got in the way of the back of the vanity which was a problem because the vanity couldn’t go completely against the wall if the pipes were in the way. All we did to fix this was cut a bigger hole in the back so that the pipes fit inside the vanity and could connect to the sinks while still being hidden.

The counter was an easy thing to move, it wasn’t as heavy as I thought. My dad stuck down the adhesive strips and then we set it down on top, letting the weight of the marble do its thing in securing itself.

 

The shower was a difficulty and a half, as I said in the Iteration. We had to learn from our mistakes and make it work by manipulating the tools and parts it came with. We installed the top rod fairly easily, we only had to take it all off and start over 3 times. These mistakes happened because I was following an instruction pamphlet that was meant to install the door on the wrong side. The rod was up, then came the rolling mechanisms and their stoppers. Then we had to attach the other side of the rolling mechanisms onto the actual doors and mount them onto the rod. After that there were just tiny things to attach and restore. We caulked the edges and the water flaps and left them to dry overnight.

In the midst of the shower chaos and while it was drying, we began to paint the walls with “Spatial White”. When you were in the room, the color looked magnificent, it matched perfectly with the other tones in the room. Once you left, however, you could tell how different the shades really were. Walking out of a yellow toned hallway into a purple toned bathroom is a bit of a recognizable change but you get used to it.

Padre in action after the first coat of paint. The contrast between the white doors, the black accents, and the grey walls in beautiful.

After my put in a new toilet, we reinstalled the newly painted trim and laundry shoot and we were finally done.

 

All that was left was the accessories, like the mirror, the toilet paper rack, and whatever else.

  

Checkmate Process

Research


https://notability.com/n/23fgC1A3x7cPW4Q8Ivpzuv

Full Page of notes of each chess piece with sketch tests

 

Research on different leaf shapes for the pawn

 


Iterations


Did Do…

  • Gaia Queen
  • Earth King
  • Wave Knight (acrylic)
  • Tree Stump Rook
  • Vine Bishop
  • Leaf Pawn
  • Greek Goddess chess set
  • All Etched and cross hatched pieces

 

Didn’t Do…

  • Full body sized Queens
  • Rose King
  • Original Rook plan
  • Plant Leaf shape

 


Process


This process was very hectic, as the laser cutter and the innovation studio was fully booked and filled throughout the weeks we had to work on our project. We were forced to make many many sacrifices and changes to our plans. I was ambitious in the beginning, making huge plans and ideas before I found out about the heavy restrictions. Once I accepted the fact we may not be able to cut our pieces out of wood and acrylic like we had planned, we came up with backup plans.

Plan B was to try and cut thin pieces of wood on a circuit with a knife tool. Unfortunately, the scale was too small for the circuit to get all the intricate cuts. Also, I did not have direct access to this specific circuit.

Plan C was to use foam sheets and mod podge them together to make depth and color them with sharpies. This plan didn’t last long because we realized it would have looked awful and messy. It was more manageable than Plan A and B so we did consider it. Ashleigh went on a material hunt to look for better material but to stick with their plan off cutting with her circuit from home.

Plan D was to repetitively cut out our shapes and pieces in card stock and glue them on top of each other to make it thicker than connect them using split forms.

 

We began with the plans for each of the queens, because we deducted that she was the most important player. We revolved each side of the chess board around the theme of the queen.

In the end I had to change most of my original designs, including the queen. I was running out of time and had to simplify most of my designs. This still worked out in the end because of my material. The material gave it an additional vibe with the clear acrylic. Beautiful and pure, like nature.

This is the final template I chose to cut. I wanted the face to be clearly recognized, not blocked by another split form. The bottom piece also show her shoulders, which adds to depth and reality.

The first test cut I did, I realized I did the measurements too large, so the pieces slid out from the cuts. Her hair pieces were also too thin and they broke off, as well as the split form, which I measured wrong and her shoulders came up way too high.

From the beginning, I wanted her to have a flower crown but I didn’t have time to constrict one out of real materials so I used sharpies to draw out some flowers and then dropped acetone on top, making the two chemicals react to each other in a way where it looked like stained glass.

 

I had high hopes for the king, we started with the idea of a rose trapped in a clear acrylic vase, like in the Beauty and the Beast. Our idea of the King was that he was weak and useless, only there to be defeated in the end. He was as the Queens inevitable demise.  Although we had harsh feelings towards this piece, he was still important so we made both Kings as planets. The Earth is a dying planet just as the Sun is a dying star.

My first plan was to just cut out plain circles and split form them together and color them as stained glass to resemble Earth, but I didn’t want the color to be distracting so I re cut the piece with outlines of the countries. My first cut was also wrong because the middle spaces were too wide. My new piece was much better and it was easily definable as Earth.

 

The knight was my personal favorite. From the beginning, I wanted to make the wave of acrylic, while all the others in the nature pieces would be made of wood. Due to lack of material and means of cutting, I was bound to the large sheet of acrylic I bought and nothing else. My first idea was to cut out the middle supports and have those interlock with some sort of clear wrapping to form the outside wave shape. I didn’t have enough time to test and prototype this so, instead, I went with what I knew.

 

I decided to just etch the design of the wave onto one plane of material and make a slit into another plane so it would stand up. This worked perfectly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were my first tests, as you can see, I missed the measurement of how wide my split cut was and I tried to force it to fit but it broke. The one on the right has an uneven bottom which caused it to be top heavy, leaning forward inside of perfectly balanced.

 

My bishop had far less planning than the other pieces, I was running low on time. I did most of my tests in Illustrator and trusted the shape as I drew it.

 

The first picture was my original plan and shape for my vine, but I realized it copied the shape and outline of the knight so I had to make a new vine. This second design is much cleaner to me, I like it because it’s smoother, and it looks less awkward. The leaves were the same for each vine. All I had to do was make a cut about halfway deep into the leaf and 0.08in wide because that was how thick my sheet of acrylic was. This and the pawns are the two pieces that I never had time to make a test cut so I had to design it and cut at as my immediate final. This was a bit disappointing because if I didn’t like the way it looked or if I measured something wrong, I would just have to deal with it. Luckily, this didn’t happen.

 

I think the rook was one of the best represented pieces. The rook can move any number of spaces vertically or horizontally, just like how tree roots grow wherever they can. The rook is also a sturdy piece, like a stump. It is reliable and secure. This piece stumped me a bit. I didn’t know how to balance this shape on the tips of roots, and it wasn’t like the others either. The rest of the pieces have flat split form bottoms, ensuring balance.

I did many tests on this piece, trying to see how many split form roots I could fit before it failed. I tried to add more because I wasn’t sure if the four corners would be enough to keep it standing. I also changed my layout a few times, trying to add more stability in the middle.

The first one was my first plan, to only have half roots as well as the full stump. Unfortunately, these pieces were too small and delicate to stay together so I came up with a new template. The second and final attempt worked much better, with clear stability and balance.

Here is my first test cut of the newest template, but the cuts were too wide, just like the other test cuts. I redid it with the same template but a smaller slice in the middles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pawn was under-researched on my notes page. I did some background work where I just research the different leaf shapes and vectorized them. From the outline, I created designs inside the leaves as their veins. At first, I was going to make all the pawns identical but I had some extra time so I figured it would be worth it to see some diversity in the leaves.

All of these shapes and designs worked fine with the half circle bases. All except the last leaf shape. You can see that this is the only leaf shape without a somewhat flat bottom. Due to this, it was very much top heavy and it kept leaning to one side or another instead of staying upright in the middle, like all the others did.

I replaced the last leaf design with this one instead. I made sure the bottom was flat and the design was symmetrical, so the weight would be balanced. I didn’t have time to make the vein designs but the leaves are so small so its hardly noticeable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In hindsight, if I knew I would only be working with acrylic, I probably wouldn’t have chosen an acrylic board as our base. They blend into each other and practically become invisible. With a little editing, I can make them pop so no worries. This is a raw image.

 

Checkmate

 

Gifting Design Process

Research


Examination of a puzzle box Zach had previously made

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3997352

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3178365

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3018359

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4937478

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3089561

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4217748

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:595481

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2977908

Links to some 3D printed puzzle boxes

 

https://notability.com/n/23BqMT_IO3jQnQ7NPabU8s

Brainstorming ideas notes

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9099102/

The movie ‘No Escape Room’ on Netflix

 


Exercise 1

Best Gift

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17FvStx5KwXCmkFFt1UrkGmH9H0_T0_3mNhNzFdDgIg8/edit

 

Exercise 2

Container

 

We created another object revolving around the lightbulb, something that matched perfectly into the illusion. The battery stick is meant to be an assist in getting the lightbulb out of the flashlight head.

 

Exercise 3

Prototyping

I modeled my prototype off this specific puzzle box: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2977908

 


Iterations


Did Do…

  • Puzzle Box Idea
  • Butterfly puzzle box model
  • Additional gifts on the interior
  • Made by hand using wood materials
  • Hand cut and assembled each piece
  • Upscaled the original prototype
  • Made bevels for the sliding mechanisms
  • Modified original 3D print template
  • Successfully created a spring feature for key box
  • Lined interior with silk
  • Protected spring mechanism with more siding and roof
  • Overcame multiple setbacks made due to change of material
  • Painted purple

Didn’t Do…

  • Multiple Puzzles boxes inside one another
  • Additional gifts on the exterior
  • Made using a 3D printer
  • Caulking as glue
  • Added end caps for the sliding mechanisms
  • The butterfly textured design
  • Whole fake bottom removable
  • Outside Purple Flower designs

 


Process


 

I began this project with my dad because I needed him to use his tools to cut out all my pieces. I helped him understand what to cut and we figured out the dimensions together. The first part of the project was cutting the pieces together with my dad and the second part was all my responsibility. I sanded down all the pieces to make them fit then connected each piece together with nails and screws and wood glue.

We started by cutting out the floor and walls of the box with dimensions of 12in x 6in. The front face of the box had to be cut special to accommodate an opening for the rod that would hold back the spring box. The side box also was cut special to fit the key box.

I then had him divide the front face in thirds to determine the height of the sliding pieces on the bottom versus the taller columns pieces on the top.

The tall rectangle pieces are the vertical column like pieces. We had to cut out 2 of each piece, making 10 identical pieces. Without doubles, the height would be off, revealing the trick of the middle column, which holds a bevel behind it. I glued the doubles together to make the volume even between each piece.

 

These pieces with the notches in them are the bottom horizontal sliding pieces. They were designed like that on purpose, to create an illusion of separate pieces. They didn’t need doubles because their volume would match the columns because they all had bevels behind them.

 

 

 

 

 

I spaced out the front pieces along the front face to check the sizing. As you can see, the middle piece is not as thick as the others because I hadn’t assembled the bevel behind it yet.

Focusing on the four corners, we also pieced together the floor and walls of the box using a nail gun. The wood walls were too thin to stick a nail through securely so my dad thought of these rectangle supports you see in each of the four corners. Two of the corners were cut special however.

The bottom right had to have another rectangle cut out of it so that the rod would be able to slide through the corner of the box. The top left had to be shortened, and could only be attached from the top so the key box wasn’t restricted by anything.

The nails were shot through the walls so they stuck into this supports, leaving no sharp edges either. The bottom piece was also nailed into these supports.

 

I also added the hinges to my roof, which had the same dimensions of the floor. I had to use a metal saw and cut off the bottoms of the screws as they were poking through the sides and making sharp dangerous points. I also filed them down a bit and painted over them to match the surrounding scenery.

My next piece of action was to figure out my locking mechanism. I needed something that would turn from its side to straight up, because I was locking a door from opening upwards.

I settled on a common outdoor mailbox lock.

 

Next, I drilled out the circle needed for the lock. This was a challenge because of the design of this lock. It’s a mailbox lock, not made for this wooden box. This issue resulted in the lock not being secure from behind. If you pushed on it, it would fall backwards into the box and I had no solution to this at first.

My first solution was to fill the space with caulking, as you can see from the white stuff in the photos. This didn’t work because the caulking was too soft and was still soft when it was set.

My next plan was to cut a piece of wood that interlocked with the shape of the lock and then secure it to the inside of the box. Therefore, the lock would finally be secure from both sides, unable to move forward or back.

I first drew out the cutout area on paper and traced that onto a piece of thin wood to be cut. I succeeded in my cuts, they matched perfect and slid right into the bottom of the lock. The silver piece that holds it in place is an addition to the lock and its accessories. Now, all I needed to do was attach it to the inside. I first thought of wood glue, but I knew it wouldn’t be strong enough to endure the constant pushing.

I decided to attempt to screw it into the wall. This was difficult because at this point, I was away from my dads workbench and I didn’t have access to his tools or drills. I ventured to the woodshop and scavenged through all the nails and screws until I finally found two matching ones. Since I didn’t have access to power tools, I used a normal screwdriver and pushed hard enough until the screws penetrated the hard wooden walls and kept screwing until they were secure. Here is a perspective from inside the box of the screws fully attached and the lock mechanism secure.

 

 

 

 

These were my ideas on how to make a top lock, something that automatically locked when the box shut. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible due to my restraints but I did come up with another plan based off these sketches.

These are called galvanized tube straps, 1.25 inches in diameter. They are usually used to hold and secure pipes or tubes to a surface.

I used these to create the hooking part of the lock. They started as a U shape but I managed to bent it enough to be a V shape and flipped one of the nail sides inward so it would fit.

This is a video from the inside perspective of the locking mechanism in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the next phase, I glued in a block of wood that would be the back support of my spring. The spring wasn’t long enough to go from one side of the box to the other where the key box was. So, this extra backing allowed it to have more stored energy and more tension.

 

At the same time I was securing the lock, I also had to secure my springs. I used caulking as well when trying to connect the end of the spring to the end of the wood block. This obviously didn’t work, because as I learned from my past mistakes, the caulking is too soft to secure something solid in place.

My next idea was to embed it in a bath of wood glue overnight. I taped off the area surrounding the base of the spring and filled up the space with a bath of wood glue. I let it dry on its side and let it dry, removing the tape around 24 hours later. This worked better than I thought it would, as it stayed secure and I could tell it would endure over time.

 

The construction of the box was a brain teaser. I had to figure out a way for the rod to slip into a notch, located behind the main face of the door to keep it hidden, but to also connect the back of the box to the front with adequate support.

This is what I came up with, one wall of the box is fully connected to the front and the other wall still has a portion connected while each of the walls connect themselves to the bottom.

Testing Video. I had to test that the springs would work once they were dry and that the box would fit in easily and still be able to pop out. I did file the bottom of the front of the box at an angle so it would slip into the hole easier.

Next, I lined the key box with the silk. I surrounded the rod hole with stacked foam sheets so the path would be protected and uninterrupted. I secured the edges using hot glue. I styled it with extra fabric so it would look kind of like a baby manger or crib.

 

The next order of business was to attach the bevels and to glue on each of the front panels.

 

I attached the non-moving column panels with clamps and only a bit of wood glue. They had to dry for a while with the clamps on to make sure they stayed on. This was something I did mostly during the night, and it would be dry in the morning.

The rod was cut to the width of the box, minus a few centimeters. I filed a small angle on the left side because the edges kept getting caught. Now, with the slant, it would slide easier into the hole in the key box.

After all the exterior work was done, I got to test the full puzzle and make sure it all fit. I realize that the rod gets stuck and its really difficult to put out most of the time, and that’s because its holding back al the pressure and tension of those two industrial springs. To fix this, I found out that all you have to do is relieve some of that pressure by pushing in on the key box just a bit so the rod can have wiggle room to be pulled free.

Another problem I found was with the paint. The type I got was wall paint so it never fully dries. I tried to file down the top layer of paint to get rid of that sticky layer, but the key box still gets stuck, even with the rod pulled out. Because of this, I added fail safes. There are tabs on the rod and underneath the box, so if anything gets stuck, you can just tug on the tab and it should come free. The last failsafe I gave my mentor was the spare key. Even with these issues, I know the box is very strong and held together very well so no matter how much force is exerted on it, it will survive.

To protect the spring mechanism, I boxed in the bottom back corner with extra scraps of wood. Some of it was thicker than other, which caused a few problems, but overall gave more protection.

I don’t have photo evidence of the final product because I accidentally sealed it in when I added the interior fabric lining.

The main yellow piece was clamped and glued on top of the back support block for the springs. The two blocks on either side of the main block acted as shims, making sure there was no wiggle room. The shims also helped fill the gap and keep tension against each wall when my scraps weren’t long enough. I had to cover each of the sides in glue and shove it into the space to make sure they stayed. The orange side piece acted as a wall for the springs and the key box. I left room for the rod but secured the wall with wood glue on the top and bottom.

After the base layer of wood was dry and secured, I covered each piece with a few layers of styrofoam to soften the edges and make sure the fabric wouldn’t snag of any spare splinters.

 

I attached the interior silk using a staple gun because it was less messy and faster than the hot glue gun or sewing. I used excess fabric layered around the edges to achieve the same drapes and waves we see in the key box. Underneath the fabric, I stuffed quilt filler around the corners and edges to give it a soft, padded feel. I began layering fabric next to the lock, working out and around. When I finished around the rim of the box, I snipped a hole so that the lock would fit right into it. Two staples secure the silk right next to the head of the lock, making sure there’s no slack.

I did have a phase that was incredibly short lived. The base paint I chose to cover my box in was called ‘Purple Peonies’ so I thought it would be cute to paint purple flowers and peonies all over the box, giving it some character and personality.

I even practiced painting different types of flowers on a scrap of paper to see which ones I liked, but as soon as I started painted on the box, I realized I didn’t like it at all and I wasn’t painted them right.. As soon as they were put onto the box, I immediately wanted them gone. I took a Clorox wipe and wiped the flowers paint right off. The parts that were still wet came right off but the parts that had already dried needed to be painted over. I realized the flowers didn’t look as good as they did in my mind and I hated them.

I thought they ruined the mystery and illusion of the puzzle box. I wanted there to be no theme. I designed it so that the mystery was shown through the bare outside, leaving no clues. The excitement was on the inside, once the box had been successfully opened. I painted over all the flowers so the box looked the same as before.

 

If I had to redo this project, I would probably get to know my mentor a bit more because my idea to make a puzzle box was completely on a whim. I didn’t connect with her as much as I expected and that was a little disappointing just because this is my final design project. If I were to redo the puzzle box itself, I would give myself access to the 3D printer, where the process would go much smoother and easier.

 

Gifting Design

Dynamic pages Process

Research


https://notability.com/n/1OuWkYc408ut0oc6jfCrp7

(Full) Notes on the composition of the song

https://youtu.be/PkgywU3ninw

YouTube Inspiration- Bohemian Rhapsody


Exercises

Paper pulling Mechanisms

 

https://notability.com/n/2zHogl8Gx1u8FdrFBvwzvy

Test of transforming a triangle to a circle

 

https://notability.com/n/ukPTZdE0C5f7Mabq6URGx

Experimenting with transformation aesthetic

 

Testing different directions motions of transformation

 

Full Movie Length with extra practice on falling speeds and other transformation types.

 

Final Full Movie with edited background and added audio.

 


Iterations


Did Do…

  • Transformations from triangle to square
  • Used colors purple and yellow
  • Fall at the beat drop
  • Faded to black and white with pulses (black glow)
  • Used Euphoria soundtrack
  • Edited black black ground for clean finish

Didn’t Do…

  • Sparkles or lines swirling around the shapes
  • Diamond Sparkle shapes
  • Turned completely black and white at drop
  • Layering Transition of triangle to circle
  • Spiral Transition
  • Single Moving Shape

 


Process


 

We started with the pull paper exercises, I took inspiration from the sun and moon for mine. I added color to make it more appealing and eye catching. Since the project is meant to be made of fully paper, I created these exercises solely out of paper, no pencil or markers.

After the exercises, me and my partner talked about how our two pieces would contrast each other. We used the same song, different beat drops, similar colors and both black backdrops. We harmonized with our colors and aesthetics.

When I first started my exercises and practices, I began with what I needed. I couldn’t figure out how to seamlessly turn a triangle into a circle, so I practiced until I got it. I knew all the shapes I needed so I cut them out and played with them enough to where I liked the flow of it. The difference in my project was that I didn’t bother with the laser cutter or the cricket, all my shapes were cut out by my hand. That’s why some of my edges are less precise, but since we were bound to abstract shapes like circles and triangles, I didn’t think it would be too much work.

Once I got the flow down, I started on the edits. (The app I used is called ibis Paint). The way I took my frames, I used a black card stock background in my dorm. My desk has a yellowish light and it made the black background look bad and distracted from the shapes. So, to fix this, I went in and individually took out the background for each frame. This process took at least 8 hours because I had to be very precise about the outlines and I had at least 100 frames. I put in this effort because I wanted it to be perfect. I think it looks much much better with a pure black background.

After this was done, and I had all the frames perfect the way I wanted them, I started on adding the audio. This was a bit challenging, I ran into many barricades but eventually, I worked it out. The app I used to join all the frames with the audio was called Filmr. I did have to edit the gray circles at the end to line up with the subtle beats but then I was finished. I’m really proud of my piece and I’m glad I went through all that work, even though there was a much easier way of completing it, I just had technical difficulties. I really think the editing was the hardest part because that was where I got to correct the mistakes I looked over in shooting. I’m proud of this work.

Dynamic Pages