My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: Reflection: Which Part Should i do??

This section of my reflection is all about my initial attempts in the workshop with my laser cut model, trying to understanding both its form and shape and how it relates to metal working.

I started by making various shapes for areas of my model and analyzing which section had the most potential in terms of being able to create an accurate skin for its surface, taking into account my lack for experience in the field i wasn't to willing to undertake a task i didn't believe i could achieve within a reasonable amount of time.

This session was primarily a practice for myself to get more familiar with the metal, the tools and my shape. i recommend that anyone doing this process for the first time do this as well.

    

 For my first attempt i wanted to try something reasonably basic. i began with the base of the object with a simple wrap around the pot section of the object. this led me to a few concerns, how would i shape the metal in three different curves and with a rib at the top? the form is widest in the middle and curves inward towards the bottom, it also cures around the object and towards the top, but not to the same extent as the bottom section. the rib edge at the top of the pot would be the hardest section to undertake as it is quite a small space to work with and involved a few varying curves.

 

My second attempt  was the most difficult section on the object, by far. the complexity of this section was far beyond my capability in metalworking. Even though i had considerably reduced the complexity of the form in Meshmixer and Make, it was still far to difficult for this process. I scrapped this idea pretty quickly.

 

By this stage i had decided that i was going to focus on the pot section of the object. This attempt was just a brief experiment as to possible techniques for doing the next stage. This attempt was a massive failure and a waste of time, however i did learn how not to do it.

The things i learnt from this session proved extremely valuable when it came to actually producing my final skin. The unique shape that i had chosen for my object made things extremely challenging. From here on in, it was about finding a surface within my object that would allow myself the opportunity to demonstrate varying styles of form, shape and angles within the metal working process, without undertaking something outside of my skill set. I believed that the base pot section would allow me to do that.
At this stage of the process, i had a pretty good understanding of how i would go about constructing my skin. i just needed to get moving with it.