For the mounting motor’s assignment, I created a simple sculpture inspired by the character I’ve been developing this semester: The Fire Bird. The initial idea was to work with handshapes that spin creating a fire illusional effect. But it turns out that the DC motor that I used stops very easily when in contact with extra weight, so I simplified the idea and used an acrylic eye that I had instead. It still creates a fire-flower effect when spins, which turned out as an interesting aesthetic experiment for me.
Initial Idea
The hardest part was positioning the hole of the enclosure in a way that it forms a perfect angle with the motor, and does not stop because of the friction and spins without shaking the box.
This week we were tasked to work with two different materials. I’ve been venturing myself in the wearable world, so I took the opportunity to learn how to use the sewing machine and understand how to connect wires with conductive thread or fabrics. The goal was to create gloves with LEDs that change their color effects depending on the gesture you make when wearing them.
Meet.me was created by me together with Wen Chen. We started imagining a future when we’ll be able to built ourselves and design body parts in the real world with advanced augmented reality technologies, before going to a casual date. We also talked about how meeting apps change our behavior in society and modify our subjectivity, especially as gay people, who are a big target audience for this industry.
This week we were tasked to create an enclosure. I made a simple experiment for a wearable using acrylic cut in the laser cutter and standoffs. The idea is to wear the Arduino Nano 33 IOT, which has a built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, to collect movement data from my hands, which are going to be used to create sound and visual effects with a computer.
This week we were tasked to work with the laser cutter. I’m always thinking about the performing arts context, so I designed a mask for the character I’ve been developing this semester: the Fire Bird.
Process of creation
I bought two pieces of acrylic at Canal Plastic orange and teal transparent. The most challenging part of this assignment for me was working with Illustrator for the first time….the laser cutter is a big discovery for myself and I’m pretty happy with the mask design – got amazing feedbacks as well. I want to improve the design – make it more reliable and comfortable for the face and maybe develop a series of masks/glasses.
This week I was tasked to make multiples of a multi-process piece. I wanted to start making puzzles, so after researching for wood puzzles models online, I found one which would be makeable in one week considering my fabrication knowledge level. Then, I found this great instructable guiding the fabrication process, so I basically followed it step-by-step and created five versions of it.
I bought everything I needed at the Home Depot hardware store in Bed-Stuy (a piece of Pinewood, a piece of dowel, and paracord). And I could experience using for the first time all of the machines of the shop introduced during the last class: the milter saw, the drill press, the sander, and the band saw.
Fabrication Process
The most challenging part was drilling 15 dowels because they are made of bad quality wood and are kind of small for the size of the hole that I needed. After some trials, I found a way of making them stable enough and learned that drilling slowly is better for delicate materials. Then I sanded them to correct some damages to the wood made during this process.
Find below the final result. To solve the puzzle you need to find a way of taking the ring out of the object.
For this assignment, I was tasked to create a flashlight defined as portable, battery-powered, and creates light. My first thought was that I wanted to work with things that I already had in hands and create something that could be used as a wearable. So, the only thing I had to buy for this assignment was a 9V battery.
first sketch
Materials
9V battery;
Arduino Nano (I had to use an Arduino because the light that I had was an addressable LED, which only works connected to a microcontroller – the good thing about it is that you can change the LED effect whenever you feel like – just need to modify the code).
Flora RGB Smart NeoPixel programmed with a rainbow effect;
3D printed box (Base model downloaded from Thingverse, designed by anewsome, and customized by myself using the Tinkercad software);
Satin keychain;
Wires;
Reflective fabric to customize the eyes;
Small breadboard;
Velcro strip.
3D model
Machines/Tools
3D printer Ultimaker 2+;
Drill (to create a tiny hole in the box to pass wires through);
Solder;
Scissor;
Wirecutter;
Hot glue gun.
Reminders
Do not try to use hot glue with wires;
It’s always better to have more work building a switch instead of dealing with wires every time you want to turn on your device;
Be delicate when working with 3d printed small objects. Always be delicate in dealing with small materials.
My final object turned out to be a potential necklace or a luminary that can be hanged anywhere.
This week I worked with Lizzy Chiappini. We were tasked to create a 30 seconds loop stop motion animation video. As a starting point for the process, we saw each other’s portfolio and tried to find out points of intersections in the subjects of our past artworks. We found out that both of us are interested in somehow deconstructing the binarism between humans and nature. We see nature as a environment where we can create dialogues, rather than explore it in a colonial way, just for our own goods, without thinking about and trying to listen to other vegetables/animal/mineral perspectives and the consequences of its exploration.
Find the result of our work here or watch it below.
Stop Motion animation by Fernando Gregorio and Lizzy Chiappini
Notes about the process of creation
After watching and talking about some references as listed below, we decided to work with silhouette paper cut animation. Our initial concept for the storytelling was an egg or a seed from where a half-human/half-vegetal would grow. This initial image made us think about other compositions and combinations of human, animal and vegetable forms.
Gone: An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred b’tween the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart, 1994, by Kara Walker
The whole process was very fluid and we could develop the concept and change the initial storyboard while we were going deeper with the practice. It was very pleasant to collaborate with Lizzy, who also has an artistic background and is opened for experimental processes.
The shooting was long and slow, but very pleasant. We had to split it in two different days, which can be noticed by the sudden light change in the animation, probably because we didn’t notice that the light table was upside down. The hardest part was fitting some big elements inside of our seed and moving them separately. Sometimes we had to cut them in the middle to be able to do it.
Materials
Canon 5D Mark III;
Lens with Zoom;
Power Supply for the camera;
Mini USB Cable;
Tripod;
Software: Dragon Frame;
Light Table;
Black Paper;
Scissors;
Pencils to move the papers slowly while animating.
Wire to articulate/create the joints of our characters;
Tape to glue the joints and our elements to the light table while they shouldn’t move.
