Experiment reflection:
In the workshop, I choose the heat-press machine to try. The reason why I choose the heat-press machine is that I think it is easy to control and manage the time and temperature. I think it will be a great help for my midterm project. I pick a yellow plastic bag to press. I cut the bottom and the head as we were taught in class.
At first, I try to use 100-degree Celsius to press the plastic bag for ten seconds.
But the truth is that this heat and time were not enough. So I decided to turn up the temperature and lengthen the time, which is 130-degree celsius and 25 seconds.
and it worked this time. The two-layers plastic bag was pressed into one piece. But the thing is that the temperature may be too high or the heating time may be too long, causing that the texture of the plastic piece turned out to be shrink as the picture shows.
Besides the basic heat-press process, I also choose a different type of plastic to melt them together.
I took the symbol in the middle and cut them down. Then I used the same setting that I deployed just now to press the recycling symbol into the yellow piece and it worked.
Conclusion:
I will pay attention to the temperature and time next time because it may destroy my materials if I take improper heating temperature and time. What I should do is to check the proper heating setting by testing with a small change once a time.
Midterm project:
For my midterm project, I wish that I can design a formal skirt. I get inspiration from the artwork in the fabrication lab on the 8th floor and one art piece that I saw when I went for an art show.
At first, I really want to make a jacket or pants. But to be honest, I have no idea how to do a jacket or pants. It is too challenging for me to finish my project if I don’t even know where should I start. So I decided to pick an easier one–formal skirt. But it doesn’t mean that making a skirt is easy. It is still a difficult job for me because I also have no experience in it.
For the art piece I saw, it provides me the inspiration that the design of shape and wave for a skirt is beautiful and it is possible for me to accomplish this design with trash, especially plastic and paper. That will be amazing if I can make a similar one.
For the potential materials, I think the high-density black plastic bag and the transparent plastic bag which is a little bit hard are the perfect materials for my project because, with these features, I can create much design of shape and wave. Besides, it is also much more possible to maintain the whole shape of the skirt.
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