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Current Projects
The Completed Herman Miller Project
My project, Integrated Workstation, which resulted from the Cranbrook and Herman Miller partnership, is ready to be seen. See it in person at ICFF booth #1170.
Clip Tree Press Information
Press Information for Clip Tree's premier at ICFF 2012. Stop by booth #968 to see it in person!
Quill Light Version 2
The latest Quill Light prototype is complete. To turn the light on, simply lean the stem forward. To turn it off, lean it back, facing away from the task area.
Mirror Hooks
Mirror Hooks with chromed aluminum and White Oak or Walnut are now ready to received coats and hats.
Orbit Light
The Orbit Light features an 'orbiting' switch that turns the light on and off as it is rotated clock-wise or counter-clockwise around its glass dome.
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The rapid prototyper that uses gypsum as the main model building material worked fairly well at producing a very nice looking light. The model took up the entire bed of the machine (in fact I had to shrink the model a bit in the software program to get it to fit in the print bed.) The end result is close to what I had in mind for the porcelain piece.
Shortly after the printing was completed (6 hour print job), sifting through the powder, the light began to materialize. I needed to be very careful when removing the gypsum to not bump the light. Prior to it being dipped in wax, it is pretty fragile.
Here is another shot.
After removing it from the bed, I took this shot to show how the piece was laid out using the RP software.
Once all of the excess powder is removed from the piece, it is given a wax bath. The whole thing is submerged in wax for ten seconds and then left inside the chamber for 10 minutes to cure.
The light is very translucent. The top and bottom edges are less that a 1/16″ thick! The only issue that I had with this process is that there is some discoloration on one side due to a new RP catridge being installed prior to running the job. Don, the shop manager, who helped me with this process, felt that a new catridge had to be used for such a large piece. If I were to do this again however, I would let the print head run for a bit before actually running the finished piece, in order to prevent the discoloration.
To see the finished piece, come to MCAD!
So in the end, the porcelain lights did not work out. The pieces warped considerably in the firing. Also, they were too thick (and hence, too heavy) and would not have had the translucent quality that I wanted. Jeff and I wold have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a different process and/or different model. I’d like to explore this more…perhaps I will outside of school.
Here are some photos of the pieces that survived the firing:
I might be able to use them as individual lights…
After the commencement exhibit reception Friday night (Dec 12th), I will post images of the show. I will also post a true post mortem for this project that includes remaining bits of information, images of waste material and thoughts about the processes and what could have been done differently.
Stay tuned.
Jeff sent to me an image from his cell this morning that shows (albeit in a blurry way) the light pieces together- they are just stacked, not physically connected…
So with Plan ‘B’ in full swing (the RP model will take 8 hours to print and will start tomorrow morning), the worry is gone about the outcome of the light, which is good considering the current state of things. The digital trace in the porcelain side of the design is gone now. The plaster mold did not release well from the wood mold that I had made. All molds at this point have been damaged, modified, broken and discarded. This leaves…throwing the shapes by hand. Yes, arguably the way to go from the get go. When I stopped by Jeff’s studio yesterday, he had already thrown them, so that no time is lost. What may result might be interesting. One of the early ideas that I had had was to make the diffuser out of 2 pieces and have them held together by the lighting hardware. This looks to be what will happen here. Presumably with the aid of a caliper, the radii of the thrown pieces were measured and will line up nicely when held together.
So with that obstacle out of the way, the next thing is getting the pieces fired. The kilns that Jeff has used before are all booked. He assured me that he has some other connections for getting them fired in our tight time frame. More on that when the time comes.
Ouch!
The Horror!
4 pieces of hope
I have had a few exchanges with an artist named Jeff Haddorf about the feasibility of creating porcelain forms from early designs. In addition to the sketches that I have posted already, I sent him the following:
The light is 12” high. The radii are 4” at the the top and bottom and taper to 3” in the middle. The thickness is 1/2” in the middle and thins out to 1/8” at the top and bottom.
I know very little about the process of making porcelain forms. Jeff explained a bit more about the processes that can be used to achieve a translucent quality with the material. He stated that the desire for having an accurate change in thickness would require two molds, one exterior and one interior to be filled with porcelain akin to an injection mold process. This got me thinking more about designing molds and considering limitations in the mold-making process. Perhaps it would be easier to make the lights out of two pieces like this:
The pieces would be held together by the lighting hardware. I could also create different pieces for the lower half which would allow for some variations for the design.
I am not sure whether I can use the plastic rapid prototype machine for creating the molds. It would be really ideal as I could account for the amount the porcelain would shrink when fired by creating a mold that is slightly larger to compensate. Jeff said that porcelain can shrink as much as 15% after being fired. This amount is a known variable when you purchase the porcelain and will be factored into the design.
I look forward to learning more.
Well, unfortunately Maren will not be able to collaborate with me on the porcelain light project. She had stated when we first spoke that she was very busy but thought she might be able to squeeze in another project. But last night she sent me an email stating that she is just too busy to really be involved in a way that she would like. I completely understand. So I am now going to get in touch with a couple of other people who might be able to assist me in my light prototype.
The light itself will be a pendant light. I have included some sketches below (I am still sketching). I have been working out ways to incorporate the electrical cord into the design. Because of variable ceiling heights, you can wind up with a lot of extra cord that needs to be creatively dealt with (unless of course you are having the lights professionally installed). I’ve always thought that the cord brings a nice linear aesthetic to the overall light design. As my designs are evolving, it appears as though the pendant light could also be used as a lamp with a handle. Cord management and additional functionality will bring a nice bit of utility to the design.
My first idea was to create a light that consisted of 2 pieces that are held together with pins or something else. One could swap out the bottom pieces thereby making different lights.
This is where the design changes to focus on cord management.
I think I am pretty close to arriving at design that I will make 3D in the software program FormZ and then print a small Rapid Prototype model. I will present this model to the person who will be working in porcelain as a reference for measurents, thickness, proportion, etc. The plastic which the RP machine uses to make models is probably not environmentally friendly (I will follow up on that). I can possibly use the other RP machine which uses gypsum and sugar water instead. More on that later.
I have often dreamed of incorporating porcelain into a design for something ever since I started designing furniture. I have no experience with it however and figured that I would be dependent on someone’s expertise and skills to satisfy this dream.
I am hoping that the chief material for the light component of my ‘chair, table, light’ triumvirate can be made from it. I had spent some time on mnartists.org looking for artists who use this material. No offense to the many but the person who really stood out to me is a ceramicist named Maren Kloppmann. Her work is really amazing. I sent her an email last week asking if she might be interested in collaborating on a lamp shade/diffuser made of porcelain. We are going to meet at her studio on Wednesday to go over some sketches. I am so excited! I hope this can take off! I’ll post an update with my sketches and what I learned from our meeting. I really need to spend some time thinking about what this material means to the design aesthetically and functionally.
From what I can tell, porcelain is an environmentally friendly material because it is made mostly of clay and has very little by-product other than that which can be used again.
Her page on mnartists: http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?rid=155251
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