Eat me Not!
This exercise was part of the Material Explorations course. The module was aimed at helping us gain knowledge about identifying and understanding various materials, their characteristics and properties; learning techniques to manipulate/modify their surfaces and create structures.
The initial week of the course was focussed on understanding the different types of materials, classifying them into various categories and learning about the various techniques used for their manipulation.
Brief
Replicate your favourite snack using only non-edible materials. The objective of this exercise was to practically apply the material understanding developed in the initial week of the course.
Process
Studying the form, size, visual and textural properties of each dryfruit. Observing and finding similarities between edible & non edible materials.
Material selection for obtaining desired properties of various dryfruits.
Molding the clay into form of dry fruits and making appropriate textures.
Understanding material behaviour and characteristics. Learning the use of alternate materials to give same effect.
Materials used Plasticine clay, white Mseal, thermocol micro balls in liquid resin, Fevicol MR, poster colours, saw dust.
Cranberries- Fevicol and poster colours.
Method- a thick layer of fevicol mixed with paint was applied on a plastic sheet; the layer was peeled off on partial drying & crinkled into small balls.
Cashews- White M-seal (epoxy resin) and poster colours
Almonds- White M-seal (epoxy resin), saw dust and poster colours
Method- the white M-seal was moulded by hand and texture was carved onto it with a blade.
On drying they were painted in relevant colours. Partially dried almonds were rolled in saw dust.
Figs- Plasticine clay,
thermocol bits in resin poster colours
Method- Plasticine clay was mixed with thermocol bits in resin and hand moulded into flat discs. A pin was then used to create texture before painting
What started out as a fun activity as a filler between the main assignments, turned out to be a great learning exercise, helping us develop a collective knowledge of the commonly available materials around our campus.
The final outcomes of this assignment were put on display for the other students and faculty to view.
