Paper mock up

Now that I know roughly what I am trying to achieve I am just making a paper mock up to show roughly how it will look. 

As you can see it is a very rough sketch of how the spiral will look. 

This is the spiral cut out and pulled out. I like the aesthetics of this however it does need to have another twirl in order to look more alike to my hero model. I now plan to investigate how much 2mm acrylic can be bent which will determine whether this is an achievable model. 

Initial sketches/brainstorming

Initially when trying to work out how to replicate my hero model into a physical model I was a little lost as I was unsure of the properties of acrylic and didn't know whether I would be able to bend it to the degree that I needed. However these were the first very basic sketches of my ideas.

This was just the simple shape that I wanted to make. But in order for it to look as chaotic as possible I want to make more than one and somehow attach them to get the whirling look. 

This is a rough sketch of how I would like to make my model. Basically it is 2 tornado like figures that are twisted around each other. These are held together by 2 rods running along the length of them. 

Precedents

Retrieved from: http://www.rachelmcknight.com/product_specific.aspx?title=Bangles&id=&dataid=504993 

This is my first precedent image of a laser cutting which is just a laser cutting of a strip which has then been heated and twisted around. Due to the shape of my model this image jumped out at me because of the curves which I have had trouble with. 

Retrieved from: http://www.axon.com.au/wood/bowls/archimedes2/index.html 

This precedent of a spiral laser cutting caught my eye as it is a similar shape to my hero model and gave me the inspiration for how I was going to make my final model. Like this image I will be laser cutting spirals and then heating them so that they drop down to form tornado-'esque' shapes. 

DSDN 104-Project 2

We are now beginning project 2 for Digital Creation where we have been asked to make a model based on our hero image from project 1. 

This is my hero model which I have to make a physical model of using laser cutting processes. We were told to slice up our models in 3ds max, export them to Adobe Illustrator and make a model using the stacking method. Because of the twisting nature of my model this method was not relevant to me as it could not be down. At this stage when everyone else was creating stacked models I had trouble working out how I was going to create a model with so much twisting but after talking to tutors I realised that when heated, 2mm acrylic is malleable meaning I could make spirals and pull them out to form tornado like patterns such as this one. 

81 Iterations

These are my 81 iterations. I decided to set them out in a sort of whirlpool/tornado arrangement to represent the whirling, chaotic and violent nature of my iterations. I put them on a plain black background as it contrasts them nicely and also makes my iterations stand out with their watery texture.

'Hero' model

This is my 'hero' model out of my 81 iterations. This iteration is the clearest representation of my 3 chosen words; chaos, violent and whirling. This iteration reminds me of a tornado or whirlpool which is appropriate as this is what comes to mind when thinking of my 3 words. I chose to use spotlights on one side in order to cast shadow and make the model seem sinister due to the shadows these have created. To add to this sinister feeling I also rendered the model from a low angle shot which makes the model seem like it is towering above, almost in a threatening position.

Camera

I have put a camera at the bottom of the iteration with the lens looking at up at it. This gives a slight low angle shot making the iteration look almost threatening and intimidating. I wanted this affect because my chosen iteration looks a lot like a tornado, which is a threatening natural disaster.