Assignment 3: Original tutorial and reflection

#Tutorial - How to make a bowl

#Tools and Materials required to make a bowl out of a piece of aluminium:

• Aluminium sheet (1mm thick) 
• Marker pen
• Egg shaped nylon hammer 
• Steel hammer
• Shotbag
• Wood mould
• English wheel
• Mushroom steel dome dolly
• Sandpaper (80 grid and 1200 grid)
• Hand file
• Turpentine
• Brasso
• Paper towels
• Cloths

#Let's start

1. Draw a circle on a piece of aluminium and use a snip to cut the circle out, and then use a marker to draw out the guidelines that guide me to shaping the bowl. 

2. Next, put the aluminium on the mould, start hitting around the edge of the circle with an egg-shaped nylon hammer, the edge of this piece of aluminium will get stretch and a piece of flat aluminium will starting to curve and become more like a bowl.

(Reminder: One thing has to be careful of when hitting the edge of this circle, tuck will appear during the process, to avoid the aluminium crack, you have to fix/ hit the tuck flat as soon as it appears.)

3. Once, the piece starts to form the bowl shape, you can start to hit the inner circle that being marked before. By doing this, the aluminium will start to shrink and create a greater curve/ depth that a bowl should look like.

(Reminder: Avoid hitting the same spot more than one time, you should keep hitting along the circle in order to get an even depth/ curve.)

4. Once, the bowl has shaped into the desired shape/ curve/ depth. You can put it to the English wheel and give the bowl a smoother and shiny finish.


(Reminder: Do not cross direction when using the English wheel as it can shrink the aluminium, and may result in uneven curve/ depth around the bowl.)

5. After finishing using the English wheel, inspect for any tucks/ uneven edges and put the bowl on a mushroom steel dome dolly and fix them by using the metal hammer hitting on them.

6. Inspect again by putting the bowl upside down on a table and a piece of cardboard at the back, to see where are still uneven and making the spots.

7. Repeat step 5 again.

8. Repeat step 6 again until you are satisfied with the result. After that, roll the bowl on the English wheel gently to give a finally smooth and clear finish.

9. Finally, use the turpentine to clear off the marked line and the surface as well.

10. Then, polish the surface with Brasso to give the bowl a shiny look!

 11. Done!

Reflection

I am an Interior Architecture 4th year student. In this discipline, we focus on the design of interior space, from the scale of the room to the scale of the city, from permanent to temporary spaces. In the design process, we are urged to be creative and practical at the same time, we are aiming to design a space that can create a unique experience for the end users. It is done through the manipulation of materiality, natural lighting, artificial lighting, circulation and structures. 

As a result from doing the BEIL0014 Digital Making, it helps me to understand the capabilities of the material we have been using for this course - Aluminium. I am having a better understanding of the other ways of this material can be used for now. For example, the techniques used for shaping the bowl, such as shrinking, stretching, assessing the form, repeat shrinking, repeat stretching, and eventually shaped a bowl. In this bowl shaping task, I learnt that aluminium is very shapeable. Therefore, I can now use aluminium as a form of design or materials during my studio design project. 

The images below illustrate the spectrum from a bowl shape object to a sphere shaped design elements and demonstrate how different forms can influence a person in an interior space.

Aluminium Mache Hanging Lamp

Atomlike seating pods at Atomium, Brussels

London Table Light by Original BTC

New London Edition Hotel by Ian Schrager