3D

Week One

Waffle Structure Examples

Biomimicry

‘the mimicking of life using imitation biological systems’

Biomorphic

‘having the form of a living organism’

Biomimetic

‘(of a human-made product) imitating nature or a natural process’

Sketching Ideas For Waffle Product

With this 3D project, I was tasked with creating something that was put together using the slotted technique and that was made of cardboard, a pretty sturdy material so I was glad about that element. At first, I wasn’t sure what to make but as I was thinking, someone suggested to me that I could try and create a functional chair and I really liked that idea so here’s the sketch below, with all the parts it’ll take to create it plus the sketch of the planned chair.

Building the structure

Sketch of the legs of the chair, I decided to go for a hockey stick look, other people’s words, not mine, mainly because I thought that a wider base at the bottom will help the finished chair be more stable and less likely to fall apart and be a huge disaster.

Legs all cut up and bounded together by masking tape for convenience purposes, got to make sure they’re all stay together and don’t get lost.

Seating part of the chair sketched out, just making sure that the basic shape looks good.

All cut up with straighter lines that in the original drew out version, thanks to me using the bandsaw.

Back of the chair, before I drew in all the folds. I intentionally made it too big so that I could better compare this to the other parts of the chair and I could adjust it accordingly after it’s been cut.

Slotted chair so far, with the legs and the seated area.

Back of chair cut up, with the slot of course.

Legs with support band

Finished chair

Reflection

Here is a chair that I’d created using cardboard and with me using the waffle technique, being able to slot it together so that it can stay stable and doesn’t crash down, because that would be unfortunate! The piece will help me going forward in my FMP as I want to create a scrapbook as my final outcome and, if possible, I could use the waffle technique to slot my scrapbook together or to add someone in a page on a smaller scale. I made this card using cardboard and, with a bandsaw and a craft knife to cut the pieces out along the outline made by a sharpie pen. I then created slots to, well, slot the chair together so it doesn’t fall apart. I was able to change my plans to add an extra piece to the middle of the front and back legs to give them some extra support. Overall, I am very happy with the overall chair as I was able to create the slot effectively so that the chair would remain stable even if there’s a bit of weight on where someone would be sitting on it! If I could improve the chair, I would make it so that the front two legs aren’t popping out from the top, as I doubt it would be comfortable to whoever is sitting on it. Well, I’d learnt how to build a chair but I also learnt about this discipline in product design and how it could incorporate both beautiful designs and also practicality!