Cyber Craft Portfolio
Wendy Minyu Wen s3260213
Abstract In this Cyber craft elective, I am doing 10 sets of different coasters based on the concept of the Tangram puzzle. This design is suitable to use for all age groups. Each coaster consists of 7 pieces of Acrylics, people can use it as a coaster or it also could use as a decoration piece to put in the room.
Inspiration My inspiration comes from the concept of the Tangram puzzle. The tangram is a dissection puzzle consists of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only an outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces. It was originally invented in China at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century.
Thinking Process Sketches and thinkings
Documentation of Experiments During the experiment process, I have use the laser cutting and 3D printing technology to try out and see which would be the best way to do for my design. I have made a CAD file from solidwork first, then try to print the base of the coaster from the 3D printer, however, there are a few problems appeared, the first one was 3D printing took a long time to just print a piece of the base of the coaster and a lot of material (ABS) required; the second problem is size of the print, because the coasters are in different sizes, some of them doesn’t fit the printing bed, and the edge of the print got burned from one of my experiment piece, therefore, 3D print doesn’t seem to be an ideal method to use for my design. After that, I have tried the technology of laser cutting. At first, I only use cardboards to cut as a experimentation, it works quite well, so then I tried to use acrylics, cutting acrylic in the laser is very fast, another benefit is using acrylic, it has a better aesthetics to the design, therefore, I chose to use acrylic as the material and the technology of laser cutting for my design.
The above photos are some of the glues I tried for the acrylics. The 2 photos on the left is I tried to use silicon, then apply on the side of the acrylics to prevent the appear of the glue marks. The photos on the right is the proper acrylic glue that I tried, I applied the glue on the surface of the acrylic, then squeezed the air bubbles out from the material.
Design Rationale The concept of the design is primarily on Tangram puzzle, with a secondary emphasis on minimal and colourful. My inspiration comes from the concept of the Tangram puzzle. The tangram is a dissection puzzle consists of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape using all seven pieces. It was originally invented in China at some unknown point in history, and then carried over to Europe by trading ships in the early 19th century. Each coaster consists of 7 different colour pieces, with different shapes and the thickness of 3mm, however, each of the pieces could support up to 100 degree of heat. The users could use the coaster as a decoration piece at home or they could break it down into piece to use as coasters. Some of the smaller pieces could combine together as a bigger piece to use. The reason that I want to make the coaster have different colourful pieces is because I want people to gather together and use this set of coaster, just to get family members and friends together to create a happy and relax moment. I avoided having sharp edges for the base of the coaster for safety issue, so that this design can also be fun for children, they can sit on the table and play around the coaster pieces like a hand and eyes cooperate puzzle game, in addition, another reason behind these colours is because children always love colourful stuffs. I have made 10 set of different shape coasters, there are 5 sets with all transparent acrylics and 5 sets of white base acrylics. The reason for this is to allow more choices for the users to choose.
Equipment used in Making In this project, the main material I used in transparent acrylics, for the base and the frame of the coaster; colour transparent acrylic for the coaster pieces; some white acrylic for the base of the coasters.
Transpaent acrylics
Transparent colour acrylics
White acrylics
Acetate for the packaging
I use the small paint brush to apply the glue for the acrylic, just to get the nicer finish
Acrylic stands for the coaster
Cardboards for the packaging (Experiment)
Acetate for the packaging
Technology Used The technology I used for this project is Laser cutting. The reason I chose to use this technology is because laser cut is much faster to achieve the outcome and it doesn’t need so much material compare to 3D printing, also because the design of the coaster is only flat surface, so laser cut is the ideal technology to use at this situation. Another benefit of using laser cut is because it can have a better aesthetics of cutting acrylics; sharp, clean lines and with the thickness of 3mm.
Packaging The packaging of each coaster will be a piece of acetate on the top, then clear tape to tape around the edge of the coasters. I avoid using too much material for the packaging; this is because to dematerialize the product and also to show the whole piece, I don’t want any material to cover the beauty of the design, so the colour of itself could attract people’s attention to it.
Acetate
Acetate on the top
Images of Design Pieces
Girl
Christmas Tree
Images of Design Pieces
boomerang
Ship
Images of Design Pieces
Swan
Bird
Images of Design Pieces
Boy
House
Images of Design Pieces
Running
Dancing