Foil surfaces

Whilst looking at a book on Rachel Whiteread I saw some pieces of hers that are made from cardboard covered in silver leaf. The Silver Leaf costs too much for me to be able to experiment and use it so I decided to use silver foil with white emulsion paint. I would create 3D models like I did earlier but with this new technique.

The overall effect gives the same sort of feel a some Achitects use on their buildings for example Frank Gherys Guggenheim and the walt disney concert theatrewhich were clad in titanium and stainless steel.

I also wanted to use the foil and emulsion to see what it was like to use as a base.

I beleive that I may use this technique more often in the future.

Material experimenaion

Carrying on from my earlier experimentation with tesselation I decided to look at other materials. I started by choosing The Gherkin it has a very distinctive shape that is easily recognisable as The Gherkin. I decided to use welding wire to form a gherkin shape by bending this wire around wooden discs set at floor heights at which I new the diameters of the floor. These discs were held in place by a long thread. At the bottom the wire was glued into holes and at the top they were threaded through a washer with holes drilled in to allow the wire to be held in place.

I like the effect that this technique gave it shows the inner workings of how it was built. It also alows the light to turn something very simple with the shadows making it even more complex.

Ialso studied using wood to make a scale model of big ben. Using wood glue and board I was able to  cut and sand it to shape. the botom was made of wood that was glued into a box shape, the top was made out of a single block of wood that was cut into a spire like shape.



I am also very pleased with my Big ben clock tower as it is very simple and acurate. The plain wood surface relates to the work of other architects that have made models.

Tessellation and Geodesic Domes

Whilst looking at Post modern Architecture, I noticed that there are a lot of curves and domes in structures that were made out of many other joined up shapes. I was intrested in looking at how to replacate these in a smaller scale models. this study took me into different methods of acheiving more asthetically pleasing curved forms.

   

Many architects have used this method with glass curtain walls above are some examples.

                                                    

I started off by making curved shapes out of peices of cardboard. I took the idea from the gherkin I later used the triangle idea to create a more spherical shape.

Whilst putting the christmas decorations away I saw a decoration that my mum had made which gave me a way to create another spherical object.

After playing with this idea I decided to make a rhombicosidodecahedron a 62 sided shape to create a more circular shape.

 

Also looking at grids and tessellation I looked at weavingand how weaving materials could curve planes in multiple directions.

This has been a useful exercise, as material experimentation has shown me the abilities of the material and how I can folf and bend them into shape.

Model

My course studying art and architecture has led me to look at miniature models. Inspired primarily by Charles Matton, who created models of his own studios and friends’ studios, I decided to make a model of the college art studios.   Being influenced by previous craftsmen, the complexity and dynamics of the room, as well as being a room my peers could all relate to, made this room an obvious choice.

My original plans were to just create the model out of cardboard and paper, however experimentation and ambition led to using more complex materials like foam board and steel, and time restraints were extended from a week to a few months of obsession. I have enjoyed making this model and throughout the building process I took photos to document my building methods.

The main structure

The main structure includes the walls, floor and fixed objects.

The first thing I had to do was to measure the sizes of the room and the angle of the corners of the room . Once I collected them I had to scale the sizes down. My chosen scale was 1/12^th , traditional dolls’ house scale 1 foot equals 1 inch.

The base was made from wood which I cut with a jig saw, I sanded it and then painted the board grey to fit in with the floor of the art room.  I had to give the wooden board two or three coats of paint to make sure there was an even coat.

The next part of the structure was the walls which were made out of plastic foam board which had to be cut into nine inch strips from large sheets.

The sizes of the walls were measured and scaled down. I then had to add 6 mm on to make a butt joint with the adjoining wall. Once the final size was calculated it was cut on a circular saw and sanded down.

Walls that had doors or windows in them had to be cut out using a Stanley knife and ruler. The edges were smoothed with sand paper to leave neat, clean edges.

The walls then had to be glued down to the base. Super glue and silicone were used in some places, and screws were needed to strengthen areas further.

The alcove area was a little more complex as I needed to put a curve in the wall. I made 1 inch pieces of wall which were taped aside each other so I could manoeuvre them into a curve, as well as silicone and glue I used P38 filler to fill in the gaps between the strips. Once this was set I could sand the wall smooth.

Shelving and small wall indentations were then glued on to the wall with super glue before masking the floor off and painting the wall white again, this painting took a few attempts to get an even coat especially over areas using silicone.

The last part would be to paint the outside a woody-brown which was the same as the timber clad outside wall.

The chairs

To create the chairs I had to create the metal frame out of steel welding wire. I cut the desired sizes with wire cutters.

The first component to be made was the wire legs which were made by bending the wire in a bending fixture. I put two obtuse angles in to a piece of wire on the same plane. I made two of these for one chair.

The next component is the back bars of the chair. Using a second bending fixture, I made a wire with a u turn in it and bent the component 90 degrees.

To join the metal together I put the components in a fixture to hold the pieces together as they were silver soldered together. I then filed the burrs off and flattened them down. After all the metal was buffed up by sand paper to allow me to paint them grey.

To make the seat and back of the chair, I used foam board this was cut 1.5 inch square 2 are needed for each chair. These are sanded and edges rounded.

The back of the chair is drilled twice through the top of the square another hole is drilled in the centre of the face between the two shafts already drilled.

I sawed down the centre to take out a piece between the shafts. I then sanded the edges and the top corners of the chair are rounded.

The seat of the chair is made by the other piece of foam board a milling tool allowed me to cut a notch out the back and the opposite side is heavily chamfered.

The foam board is then sanded painted green and then super glued to metal frame.

The Stools

Like the chairs I had to make the stools out of welding wire and foam board and the method was very similar.The first step I had to take was to measure and scale down the dimensions of the chair and cut lengths of wire out.

Using the bending fixture I put to near right angles on the same plane to make a u shape. One stool would need two of these to create the legs.

The next pieces to make are the 4 bracing rods, two that go und

er the legs and two that butt up against the legs these are cut by saw to keep the ends neat

Another holding fixture was made in which I could solder and file down to size the wire frame. When taken out they could then be sanded and painted grey.

The next piece was the wooden seat. I made this out of 1 inch square foam board. It was sanded down with the edges rounded.

I cut a notch out the middle to resemble the real stools using a milling tool. The centre was also sanded. It was then painted brown and glued to the wire frame to create the stool.

The tables

For the large tables there were three different lengths of square rod needed to be cut 4 legs, 2 widths and 2 lengths. All these lengths were put into a jig that held them all together as they were soldered together.

It was then sanded and painted grey.

A top which was sanded and painted gloss white was then glued to the frame.

The smaller tables have one length that made with curved legs. This is

 made with a bending tool and 2 right angles are made on the same plane to form legs. Put back into the table fixture the other steel frame part is cut and soldered on.

Like the larger table a top which was sanded and painted gloss white, was then glued to the frame.

Miscellaneous objects

In my model there were a lot of miscellaneous objects in the art room and I tried to recreate most of them in 1/12^th scale. These objects included sofas, chairs, Macs, easels and shelves. I tried to mainly use the foam board to make them although I used wood as well, both held together with superglue. Repeat dies and fixtures couldn’t make these as most of these objects were one-offs and would gain me no time.

The pictures on the wall were recreated by photographing them head on and re sizing them on the computer to one-twelfth of the original.

The Finished product

I had great fun making this model and I have acheived all my aims in replicating artists and architects work within the world of minitures