Project 1: The Laser Cutter
My name is Yang Chen. I am a student of the art BFA program, Minor in interdisciplinary design. I dabble in a wide range of art media, including photography, digital painting, traditional painting, sculpture and so on. I am also happy to understand and study the artistic concepts of different schools, learn the knowledge of different disciplines, understand the national cultures of different countries, and challenge to connect them in ingenious ways. I really want to try to do something fun that I’ve never done before in this course, so I brainstormed three completely different ideas and will pick out the one that excites me the most to practice!
Part 1: Brainstorming and Ideation
- board game
My first idea is very simple, is to make a board game that I have always wanted to do, pinball board! Although this seemingly simple board game can be bought in any mall, I still want to have one of my own. I will consider using a laser cutting machine to cut out the necessary chessboard and fence and mark out all the areas that need to be put on the obstacles by etching. Then install the springs and obstacles by hand, and if there is still time, I will use traditional carpentry techniques to carve a beautiful carving for the chessboard fence.
2. Ship model
My second idea is definitely very challenging for me! I have never come into contact with a model ship, and this time I will study a lot of data and design and make a wooden model ship by myself. I will use a laser cutter to cut out the main body kit of the ship model and assemble them, then the hull can be made of wood or cardboard, and finally use cloth to make sails. It’s going to be a lot of work, so I’m still thinking about the feasibility of completing the project in three weeks.
3. Light and shadow paper carving
I think this idea is very feasible and in line with my aesthetic. It is also challenging. I will make a light and shadow paper carving and make a beautiful box to wrap it. This art of paper carving is to show a beautiful picture by making multi-layer paper carvings and stacking them on a specific light source. As for the box carved on the packaging paper, I also want to make it as delicate as possible. I plan to etch a beautiful pattern on the box through a laser cutting machine, and consider trying to hollow out some of it and cover it with paper to show some light. but I’m not sure if this will lead to not enough light on the paper carving, I will decide whether to do so after testing. Finally, I will consider using LED string light as the light source for this device and affixing it to the cover on the back of the device.
Part 2：Initial File Work
After comparison and thinking, I chose the most feasible idea, light and shadow paper carving. Before I started the design, I did a simple test to screen the materials I was going to use. In this test, I verified some of the infeasible aspects of my original thinking, that is, the two sides of the box were hollowed out and covered with paper to make the whole box look like a light box. This will cause the paper carving to get not enough light to show a good light and shadow effect. So I chose to seal them up and design drawings of boxes and paper carvings.
In this project, I will use wood as the material of the box and 10x7in watercolor paper as the material of paper carving. if I have time, I will hand-carve the pattern on the wooden box and paint it with reddish brown. I also imagined using plaster to make relief and paste them on the box. I don’t know if it’s feasible. I’ll do some tests then.
Part 3：Demo
I’ve done most of the cutting and assembly this week, and they look very good as a demo. I’m having a little trouble installing the light source, but I think I’ll find a way to solve it. In the coming week, I will try to install the light source correctly and see if I need to add a transparent acrylic board to the device to protect the internal paper carving. Finally, if I still have time, I will try to polish and paint the box more finely.
Part 4：Final Assembly
