Difference between revisions of "User:Nsilver/Statement"

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First homework statement:
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''Hi Roel,<br>
What I have been working on so far has mostly been 3d prints. In school I have mostly printed with plastic, at Unfold I have printed with clay in combination with aluminium, copper, wood dust, wood pieces and glass. We have still to learn how these materials react together in the oven. We already know that the wood will leave holes in the clay, we hope the glass will give it a glaze. The copper and aluminium might give it a green look due to their oxides. All the plastic prints are quite small, smooth and hard. The clay prints where big and fragile, but after drying and baking will also turn smaller and go hard. I have mostly been using the 3D printer because I want to be able to materialise what I model in the computer. Other things I have been working with include: tie-wraps and soldering. I enjoyed soldering very much. It is delicate and very precise but satisfying to complete.
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''here is my updated statement and homework assignments, all of it is completely rewritten.
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''My process is also rewritten but only partly up to date. I still have photos that are not on here yet and certain projects need to be finished of (e.g. baking of the pots assembling my tiewrap structure) all stuff I will do before Thursday, this is it for now. Hope it is ok. This time I actually had a process and materials to write about, which made writing a lot easier :)
  
3D printing is definitely very interesting to me the other thing that appeals to me is the tie-wraps constructions, because they look rather neat and have an interesting potential when it comes to structural building. They bend yet they are steady. I am thinking about a moving installation I can make with them. A structure that breaths if you will. The soldering and combining of old electronics is also something that interests me, I have always had an interest in disassembling old electronics, but to actually be able to construct new functioning machines out of them is going to take some practise.
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''<br>see you.
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''
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<br><br>
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'''FIRST HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT'''  <br><br>
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So far I have worked with 3D prints, printing ceramics, turning ceramics, spaghetti, electronics and tie-wraps. The mostly used material is plastic for the 3d prints, tie-wraps and the hot glue used to combine both the spaghetti and tie-wraps. Most of my plastic prints are pretty abstract. Just testing the limitations and capabilities of the machine. The ceramics printing and turning is all pots, I consciously choose this form because both were new for me and there is enough to learn from just this. There is a million different ways to shape a pot. The spaghetti is mostly interesting because it is easy to explore form. There is fast results and are nice to use as structural building blocks. The tie wrap construction is inspired by a piece made out of bamboo called [https://vimeo.com/122548022 Breathing Sphere by Maria Blaisse.] The electronics has little to do with fusing and bonding but is important for this project and interests me greatly.
  
As I said before I have mostly been busy mastering the 3D printers and seeing what I can make them do. What their limits are and how you can use them unconventionally.
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<br>
I should have explored more materials, I still want to use the turning table to make a clay pot. So I can experience the craftsmanship behind pot making. I have experienced the craftsmanship behind 3D printing to make a pot, but not the original of making a pot.
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The 3D printing is interesting for me because I can now easily materialise what I model in the computer, which is something I do a lot. However the actual process of printing is pretty boring and when it messes up sometimes quite frustrating. The same counts for printing pots. Turning pots on the other hand is in terms of materialising ideas a lot harder. It feels more like the materials shapes itself through my hands. Here the process is much more interesting and also quite meditative, because it is so repetitive. The spaghetti I like because it reminds me of kapla the wooden building blocks from kindergarten. Building in a structural way is very satisfying. The spaghetti makes it easy to materialise such structural ideas. The tie wraps are mostly interesting for me because of the ability to bend and thus move. Here it is more about the movement and less about the structure, it is the total opposite of the spaghetti. I also like the process of making it work more than building with tie wraps, I prefer building with spaghetti. It is neater and more aesthetically pleasing.
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<br><br>
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The content of my work for this quarter is mostly to explore new things. Everything I have been doing (besides modelling) was new for me. The ceramics turning was the most pleasant surprise. I was not looking forward to this but when I got down to do it it was super satisfying and really fun to do unlike what I expected. I am not that good at it yet, but I will definitely continue this. I am expanding my practise with new materials and exploring new techniques. In animation I more and more start to prefer making something physically and taking a picture of it over making it digitally, because it has a certain feel that it is actually real. That it exist outside of the pixelated world. This course helped me expand my skills to do that.
  
Second homework statement:
 
  
The 3d printing defineltey relates to DIY culture, so does the lampshade. I was amazed by how many models you can find online for free. Of course there is greater joy in printing your own models. This is something fairly new at least the open-sourceness of it and the availability of the printers. You could call the sack with which you put whip-cream on your cake an early form of 3D printing, apart from it being controlled by a human and not a machine. The concept of dropping a liquid to create a solid structure is as old as mud. Just the mechanical printing and the accessibility to these printers is new. All the techniques I have explored are fairly modern. Apart from the mold and the wax sculpture. The soldering is also much older than I thought. Soldering electronics is of course something pretty recent in history. Soldering in general goes back a long way.
 
  
All the crafts and materials I have explored can contribute to my practice. It has just opened new doorways. In animation I usually prefer making physical backgrounds to then photograph these and use them in my movies. Especially 3D printing opens a doorway to help my digital work into the analog work. So there is a back and forth between the two which I find interesting. The wax has a certain aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye, I can imagine a seen in a creepy snowed over forrest. Made out of ironwire and wax. The practise has definitely made me consider working with new materials and techniques, I only feel I havent explored enough.
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'''SECOND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT''' <br>
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<br>
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I believe most of what I have done relates to the recent DIY culture. The electronics I soldered, the 3D printing with both plastic and clay are all a definite part of this cultural movement. The spaghetti structures were inspired by my girlfriend, she and her friends joined a competition which is about making a spaghetti bridge that can hold the most weight (she studies architecture). I took this technique, but just ignored the exercise and started making to explore form. This is a pretty known thing to do among architects I guess the spaghetti pieces relate to architecture. The tie wrap structure falls under installations in fine arts, as does the piece that inspired it. The clay turning is the oldest and most traditional technique I have explored, which was also very noticeable during the process because it really involves your hands and the material. As Patricio said to me very nicely: the material is your best teacher (one of the simplest and wisest lessons I have learned during this course). I also believe the pot turning is the most personal. You literally leave you fingerprints on the work, when it comes to exploring your individuality this really shapes according to your hands and the patience you have to shape the clay. Something that if learned by doing this is to do one thing at a time. Usually I am all over the place doing multiple things at once trying to divide my attention. When I did this during turning my pots kept breaking. Having patience and really watch what you do helped me make better pots. This seems something that automatically comes with traditional ways of working, but in a digital environment it is much more tempting to multi task. Which leads to never focussing 100% on one thing and most likely not achieving the full potential.
  
I make because of the satisfaction of having something that you made which is unique to the same extent that we are unique as humans. Overcoming the struggles along the way makes the end result so much more satisfying. I make because I want to be more than a cog in the wheel. I want to show the world what I can do with these hands, and to be honest with myself I have not done enough for my practise this quarter. That is because I was struggling with my stop-motion project in animation, which I finished and gave me such satisfaction as I described above. Something I learned this quarter is that experimentation and making is not something to take lightly, this should have been started earlier in the quarter. The excitement was there, but the actual doing did not amount too much. Choices had to be made within my limited time, I made a conscious decision to focus on animation, keuzevak and theory. Which have all been rounded of successful and this was sadly all I could do for my practise.
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<br>
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All the crafts and materials I have explored can contribute to my practice. It has just opened new doorways. In animation I usually prefer making physical backgrounds to then photograph these and use them in my movies. All the things I have explored can help me create backgrounds/environments and objects for use in animations. I have always been interested in the relation between analogue and digital within animation and this interest only got fed by this course. This relation was also very present with the pots where I found the traditional way more satisfactory then the digital way. Even though the digital way also has his pros.
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<br>
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<br>
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'''WHY I MAKE'''
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<br><br>
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I choose animation because I wanted the ability to bring my images to life, animation coming from anima the latin word for soul and life. I choose digital craft because I wanted to expand my set of skills and broaden my available toolbox. Why I make is a question that I found very hard to answer last time I wrote this. Still I find it difficult but I do think I have a better understanding. There is a certain satisfaction in making and seeing something come into existence by your doing gives that fulfillment. The process of crafting is the process of shaping ideas. Seeing ideas become real and chance according to the way they are crafted is something that drives me forward. Also there is something unique to each piece. I am not a great drawer, but no one will ever draw like me and that makes every drawing special. As is described by John Ruskin and William Morris individualism is important in craftsmanship. Without this you are just a cog in the machine that has little creative input. As a craftsman I want to disassemble the machine see how it works, turn each cog on its own, see what they do, reassemble it in many different ways and find what is most suitable and satisfactory for me.
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So the three most important things for me in craft are: experimentation, the process and creating something unique.

Latest revision as of 23:48, 25 May 2015

Hi Roel,
here is my updated statement and homework assignments, all of it is completely rewritten. My process is also rewritten but only partly up to date. I still have photos that are not on here yet and certain projects need to be finished of (e.g. baking of the pots assembling my tiewrap structure) all stuff I will do before Thursday, this is it for now. Hope it is ok. This time I actually had a process and materials to write about, which made writing a lot easier :)


see you.


FIRST HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

So far I have worked with 3D prints, printing ceramics, turning ceramics, spaghetti, electronics and tie-wraps. The mostly used material is plastic for the 3d prints, tie-wraps and the hot glue used to combine both the spaghetti and tie-wraps. Most of my plastic prints are pretty abstract. Just testing the limitations and capabilities of the machine. The ceramics printing and turning is all pots, I consciously choose this form because both were new for me and there is enough to learn from just this. There is a million different ways to shape a pot. The spaghetti is mostly interesting because it is easy to explore form. There is fast results and are nice to use as structural building blocks. The tie wrap construction is inspired by a piece made out of bamboo called Breathing Sphere by Maria Blaisse. The electronics has little to do with fusing and bonding but is important for this project and interests me greatly.


The 3D printing is interesting for me because I can now easily materialise what I model in the computer, which is something I do a lot. However the actual process of printing is pretty boring and when it messes up sometimes quite frustrating. The same counts for printing pots. Turning pots on the other hand is in terms of materialising ideas a lot harder. It feels more like the materials shapes itself through my hands. Here the process is much more interesting and also quite meditative, because it is so repetitive. The spaghetti I like because it reminds me of kapla the wooden building blocks from kindergarten. Building in a structural way is very satisfying. The spaghetti makes it easy to materialise such structural ideas. The tie wraps are mostly interesting for me because of the ability to bend and thus move. Here it is more about the movement and less about the structure, it is the total opposite of the spaghetti. I also like the process of making it work more than building with tie wraps, I prefer building with spaghetti. It is neater and more aesthetically pleasing.

The content of my work for this quarter is mostly to explore new things. Everything I have been doing (besides modelling) was new for me. The ceramics turning was the most pleasant surprise. I was not looking forward to this but when I got down to do it it was super satisfying and really fun to do unlike what I expected. I am not that good at it yet, but I will definitely continue this. I am expanding my practise with new materials and exploring new techniques. In animation I more and more start to prefer making something physically and taking a picture of it over making it digitally, because it has a certain feel that it is actually real. That it exist outside of the pixelated world. This course helped me expand my skills to do that.



SECOND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

I believe most of what I have done relates to the recent DIY culture. The electronics I soldered, the 3D printing with both plastic and clay are all a definite part of this cultural movement. The spaghetti structures were inspired by my girlfriend, she and her friends joined a competition which is about making a spaghetti bridge that can hold the most weight (she studies architecture). I took this technique, but just ignored the exercise and started making to explore form. This is a pretty known thing to do among architects I guess the spaghetti pieces relate to architecture. The tie wrap structure falls under installations in fine arts, as does the piece that inspired it. The clay turning is the oldest and most traditional technique I have explored, which was also very noticeable during the process because it really involves your hands and the material. As Patricio said to me very nicely: the material is your best teacher (one of the simplest and wisest lessons I have learned during this course). I also believe the pot turning is the most personal. You literally leave you fingerprints on the work, when it comes to exploring your individuality this really shapes according to your hands and the patience you have to shape the clay. Something that if learned by doing this is to do one thing at a time. Usually I am all over the place doing multiple things at once trying to divide my attention. When I did this during turning my pots kept breaking. Having patience and really watch what you do helped me make better pots. This seems something that automatically comes with traditional ways of working, but in a digital environment it is much more tempting to multi task. Which leads to never focussing 100% on one thing and most likely not achieving the full potential.


All the crafts and materials I have explored can contribute to my practice. It has just opened new doorways. In animation I usually prefer making physical backgrounds to then photograph these and use them in my movies. All the things I have explored can help me create backgrounds/environments and objects for use in animations. I have always been interested in the relation between analogue and digital within animation and this interest only got fed by this course. This relation was also very present with the pots where I found the traditional way more satisfactory then the digital way. Even though the digital way also has his pros.

WHY I MAKE

I choose animation because I wanted the ability to bring my images to life, animation coming from anima the latin word for soul and life. I choose digital craft because I wanted to expand my set of skills and broaden my available toolbox. Why I make is a question that I found very hard to answer last time I wrote this. Still I find it difficult but I do think I have a better understanding. There is a certain satisfaction in making and seeing something come into existence by your doing gives that fulfillment. The process of crafting is the process of shaping ideas. Seeing ideas become real and chance according to the way they are crafted is something that drives me forward. Also there is something unique to each piece. I am not a great drawer, but no one will ever draw like me and that makes every drawing special. As is described by John Ruskin and William Morris individualism is important in craftsmanship. Without this you are just a cog in the machine that has little creative input. As a craftsman I want to disassemble the machine see how it works, turn each cog on its own, see what they do, reassemble it in many different ways and find what is most suitable and satisfactory for me.

So the three most important things for me in craft are: experimentation, the process and creating something unique.