For our box project, we were assigned to make boxes that represent two similar or opposing ideas. Out of many brainstorm ideas, I chose “natural” and “artificial.”
I wanted represent these ideas through first: the material, and second: the form. After some initial research, I decided that I wanted to express nature and city. I was inspired by the different layered cards that pop up and wanted to apply that concept to my boxes. So, I researched some more with the word “shadow boxes” and found some work that are similar to what I wanted to achieve.
With my first draft, I used black cardboard and thick weight paper for both the natural and artificial. I brought it to class and got the feedback that I should use maybe plastic for the city box and wood for the nature box.
I bought plexi glass and wood to make the second draft. One of the challenges I had with this round was that I found out it is hard to get the dimensions correct because my boxes used materials that needed precision when building the box. I also had white foggy things on my city plexi glass box, which I thought was from using the sand paper. At this stage, I also bought a light to put in the city box, but from class feedback I decided to take out the light aspect.
For my third draft, though my boxes dimensions improved with precision (nature box was 95% complete), I still had the white foggy things on my city box. I realised from class that it is the fast glue that makes the white fogs.
For my fourth draft, I had it perfect! I used a different liquid glue that I got from Canal plastics, which was hard to use because the glue was in a can and I had to use a can opener which I never used, so I broke the can opener while trying to open the can. The glue came in a can and I needed to use another container that had a needle that can spew out glue with more precision.
Overall, throughout the the entire process, I learned that with every draft and step, I learned something new and ran into challenges. It was a lot of problem solving with the production itself. At the end however, I was very pleased with my final draft. I ended up making another box with the scrap plexi glasses, which had negative spaces. (left box in the two plastic picture)
http://stellapark91.tumblr.com
please refer to the recent post I made.
Due to storage issues, I posted on my personal tumblr (which I don’t use anymore!)
Process & Skills 