We begun by doing some creative exercises in our sketchbooks that loosened up our palettes and encouraged to think outside the box in terms of creating structures, these included drawing those opposite us without looking, drawing our house ect. which we placed hypothetical balls on. This small exercise helped so much in enabling me to consider different possibilities though out the design process. The sketches and initial ideas I developed can be seen in my sketchbook.
Eventually I took the idea from a portrait of Emily to be the basis for the design as the curves on her hair inspired me to translate that into a rigid structure and I began designing from there. My design was relatively simple in the end, but it was refined and calculated with its three tiers for holding the balls and the shape that could easily be rotated or re-positioned.
Making the idea was the trickier part of the process as the pasta was very brittle and broke under even the smallest amount of pressure. My favourite part of the project however was working with a glue gun which is something I've never done before and I soon learnt to give the thin webs of clear glue a decorative purpose. I zig-zagged the glue over the ledges to place the balls on to provide extra stability for them, whilst also looking almost magical in a sense with the delicate pattern of overlapping strings.I did get burned a few times but not too much and the outcome was worth it as I created a structure that was relatively pleasing to look at and did its job very well. A bonus of using the glue as a decorative feature was that it's hot temperature made the sticks of pasta more flexible and pliable which made it much easier to handle.
Final images
When photographed with the other structures with the coloured balls seemingly hovering in the air at different levels, the effect was interesting, as shown in the pictures below. Everyone's application of glue, even if it's sloppy looks strangely elegant and eerie reflecting the light whilst the sharp protrusions of the pasta look almost threatening.
The second part of the challenge was to try and reinforce these structures with 10 sheets of plain paper. The triangular shape of my creation meant that with the pliability of the strands of pasta after the glue application softened it, it bounced back quite nicely after pressure was applied. I simply tried to roll up the paper and place it inbetween the main shapes of the pasta in a ditch attempt to add any more rigidity to my structure but I didn't feel that it was doing much. Indeed, when Geoff went around with an heavy, wheeled contraption and dumped it down on everyone's items not a single one survived despite a few bearing resistance for a while!
Structure reinforced
Gallery of finished items
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