Making blog
Sometimes I struggle with drawing things in perspective, so what I do is make the environment roughly in a 3D software like Maya or Blender and use that as a reference. It helps me to understand the object better.
I thought it might be a good idea to make some instructions on the wheel handles to explain simply what each handle does so I made some lettering files in Adobe Illustrator and cut them out on a laser cutter. I also realised that people using the automata should see an instruction when the roll runs out so that they don't keep rolling and tear the wallpaper entirely, so added in a little instruction when you get to the end of the paper roll.
These 3 ideas for a Feel Good Friend are amazing. I hope I can do each individual idea justice when merging their intent together into a hybrid super-design!
After a lot of sketching, I think I've come up with something that captures the essence of each idea into a single machine.
From Aubery's Nature Globe, I've taken the bell jar on top to contain flowers, helping you relax by feeling closer to nature. From Lauren's Affirmation Vending Machine, I've taken the mood selectors, allowing you to reflect on how you're feeling today and input that into the machine. From Louise's Positivity Popper I've taken the moving display of flowers to lighten your mood and make you smile. And from all of the ideas, I've included a method of dispensing positive affirmations, in the form of stickers that you can wear with pride and take away with you.
The way I see this Feel Good Friend machine working is that you begin by selecting your mood on the crank wheel. Reflecting on and acknowledging your mood can help you process it better. You then turn the crank wheel, sending that emotion into the machine. As the crank wheel is turned, the flower bouquet in the bell jar turns, brightening your day. A positive affirmation sticker is then dispensed from the front of the machine, giving you an uplifting message to take away with you.
I sent my concept sketch into AI to see what it may look like when I've built it. What do you think?
After the torch 1.0, I felt like bigger is better. I created my net digitally and used a plotter to transfer the design onto the cardboard. I cut it out precisely and used a hot glue gun to construct it. I love how sturdy this version is, although I'm still unsure how its being attached to the wire frame!
At the beginning of the project I had lots of ideas of how to show a beam of darkness, but during the prototype phase it became obvious what was possible with wire and cardboard. Out of my sketches, I chose for an upright torch supported by its beam with a hole at the bottom to place some items drenched in shadow. In this stage I discovered my torch could be even bigger and cartoon-ier, and my wire frame needed some stronger bones.
It was great to have a zoom call with Amelia and have a chat about her brilliant invention! Rather than a full length sofa, it is going to be a cosy armchair so one person can really feel the lovely hug tightly. I have found an old armchair that is super comfy, I am going to upcycle it for this invention! Amelia said she would love the chair to be light blue and pink and feel like a fluffy blanket. I found the softest fluffy blue fabric that I think will be perfect for the chair!
Before I can start making the poop packer itself I need to recreate the drawing of Richard’s dog so I can make sure i make it to fit.
Making curvy animal shapes from flat cardboard can be tricky so I start with rough shapes and tend to use tape at first so I can edit and play about with them while I make decisions, then later go in with glue. I have to work looking at all the additions I make from all sides so the angles and parts look right from all directions! Lots of trial and error.
Key thoughts when starting are:
- I want to make sure it looks as much like a real dog as cardboard can and not like a robot dog.
- I also want to try and capture some of the happy and in motion wee dog energy the drawing has.
I felt fitting to base the cat on the automata on the cat that popped in to the library at the same time I met Pauline, so I started to paint its black and white splodges. To make the cat look furry I used pva glue, flocking and a static machine to apply the strands of fibre so that they stand upright on their ends.
It was great to meet Pauline and chat a bit more about the idea behind her invention, how it was based on a cat she used to have which would scratch and peel off wallpaper from particular areas of the house. It was lovely to hear how inspired she was the Joy Lab challenge, with the brief being a bit of permission to let your mind and imagination wander. I explained where I had got to with the make so far and we were even visited by local feline celebrity Boris the cat who clearly wanted to hear all about the idea too!
I attached the tissue to the wall very carefully with double sided tape and then cut out a big long strip so the tissue so that could wind around the rollers on the inside of the box. I wanted to make sure that that colour of the moving wallpaper lined up properly with the tissue applied to the wall.
Once we had got the cat working I started to build up the body shape more but needed to keep checking that I hadn't created spots that the rods for the arms would catch on the body and get stuck, so sometimes needed to sand a bit away again. The body is made of foam and milliput , a type of epoxy.
I got my dad Brian involved to make the box for the wallpaper to run through. We found the paper needed a few rollers to help guide it. We set about working out how to make the cats paws move too, the arms are attached to rods which turn using the handle on the side of the box. We tried quite a few lengths of the rod and positions of the pivot as it was quite tricky to get the cat to actually scratch the wallpaper - too close and it would tear too much way or get stuck and too far away and it wouldn't interact with the paper. The paws have nails on them so they are a little sharp to scratch the paper. I looked at wallpapers but they were very thick, so to make it easier for the cat to scratch I thought that tissue might work. I found a lovely roll of multicoloured tissue in an art shop which looked like it might work well, it needed to be on a roll so that there was enough of a strip of the paper so that more could be rolled down, and it would take a while to run out before it needed to be replenished.
I used the full size drawing to trace off the sizes of the body parts of the cat so that I could cut them out in plywood, some of the pieces like the paws were too small to cut on a bandsaw so I cut those out on a laser cutter.
Now that I had a bit of an idea of how it might work I drew out the box and cat to the full size of what it would be so that I could work from the drawing.
I thought this was such a good idea by Pauline, practical for both the home owner and the cat! An automata would be a good way of showing how this idea would work, so I created a quick cardboard version to work out how to make a crankie-style rolling paper and accompanying scratching cat. It is so roughly made, but it helped me to visualise what I was trying to make. I thought that the rolling wallpaper could be controlled by some sort of handle, and the cat could move using a similar method.
I painted the feather motif on the handle to match the colourful feathers on the inside to hint that this stick is a little bit special!
I started thinking about the decorative element Marie-Claire had mentioned perhaps a hint to the handle looking feathery. It was too tricky to carve directly into the stick so decided to play around with using resin decorative motifs to add onto it. We also attached the plumbing components to the handle and stick which screwed into one another to allow the two pieces of the stick to be rejoined.
Feather's seemed like the best material to use for the tickle element as they are soft and would also have a bit of pliability to them. I found an ethical feather seller called Clare who hand dyes naturally shedded emu feathers. Fascinating fact - emu feathers have two plumes from each quill! I attached the feathers onto a stick so they could be attached to the handle of the walking stick.
Brian got to work on hollowing out the walking stick. He needed to split it up into a few sections in order make a channel inside using a drill and chisels. Then he attached them all back together again! He made a pencil mark on each piece so he knew where each bit connected, otherwise it would have ended up a bit wobbly!
It was so lovely to meet Marie-Claire who came up with the idea of the Grandparent's Friend. I went along to see her with a walking stick and some plumbing hardware to show her what I was thinking to attach the two halves of the walking stick together. We had a great chat and Marie-Claire shared some further ideas on the stick. She described that she had also thought it might be nice if the handle of the stick had a decorative element to hint that this might not just be any ordinary walking stick. This reminded me of the parrot on Mary Poppins' umbrella - a hint of something a little bit magic!