Janehak’s Weblog

I have decided to keep my blog up and running because I have found it a good tool in documenting what I have been doing this year and also because it gives my family and some friends the opportunity to see what I am up to.So I will fill you in on what I have been doing since my last post.

Yesterday was hand in ..yay…and so we all assembled at 9.30 in the studio minus Winnie and Summer who is in China I think.  The presentations were pretty straight forward, there was a bit of excitement in the air due to it being the last day.

I was mostly happy with my results, I did think about taking another week but I think I felt  a need for closure on the day and I have to say the idea of being able to go home at night and NOT think about school is surreal. Things I learnt from this project are:

I think I am getting better at the time management side of things.I set myself a schedule for building etc and mostly kept to it.It was a good idea factoring in ‘things going to hell time’ as of course they did.(especially when Lulu started spewing the day I had planned to go into the workshop, that was 2 days tubed) Vaccuum forming was very educational and I learnt alot about what works and what doesn’t.I still have a shitload of Vivac so I might go into school next week and make a whole lot of moulds for casting.I am sure they will come in handy at some stage

Keep practising drawing – I did not draw enough and I need to concentrate on the technical drawings as I think they were crap and need work.

I was annoyed with myself at not thinking of obvious things like the presentation board. I took photos and got them printed and then was half way through sticking them on some card when I remebered that we had done graphic displays for the handle project and surely I should be doing that.Anyway it was too late by then and I was not sure that the copy centre did A2 and I was worried about being able to get there early enough what with droppping kids at school etc etc  I was a bit pissed off with myself but. This has happened before where I hav’nt thought of the obvious so I need to come up with a system . I will work on this over the holidays.

Other than this I was mostly happy with the result

 Ta DA

 (I will put the rest of the photos on flickr soon)

After the presentation Nick shouted us a beer at Carringtons this was very generous of him and also was a great way to finish the year .We will miss you Nick you are a scholar and a gentleman and a nice guy as well.Managed to get a class photo which is always such a hassle but always a great thing to have. Got to go now but will put the group photo and what happened next in my next post.

Yesterday I started vaccuum forming my model. I was using PLA which proved interesting.It is quite brittle and is hard to get a good result, it worked to a point on the lid but would not work on the larger forms so today I am off to Mulfords to buy some Vivac. Bugger what a drama.From a positve point of view now we know what PLA will do-will vaccuum small things but tempermental won’t plastic weld cos we tried that.Otherwise I am quite happy with my progress,accidently came up with another component yesterday which is a reusable freshness seal. This adds yet another option in my family of containers and even more possibilities.

Over the weekend I made up templates for my salad containers on illustrator.This was basically because after pfaffing around with pen and paper for ages I started worrying about my measurements being a bit rough.Working in illustrator was a good excercise and I am quite excited about learning how to use CAD now.

I am at present waiting for glue to dry(just laminated wood for forms)and then I will get my shapes cut out.Tomorrow fingers crossed I will start vaccuum forming.I am going for a very basic shape under the premise that simple is good.Maybe if this is successful then maybe I can keep developing it

Ok Did lotus blossom so results are

3 containers= family based on salad shaker

1.baby-size of 2 lids joined together for sprouts

2.mum-standard salad shaker slightly different shape

3.Dad-same lid bigger squarer for family salad

All lids and containers reconfigure for variety of uses ie

screws, nails etc storage

vase-lid is inserted holes punched to poke flowers through

lids as jelly molds,dip container for party,nuts etc

jug squeeze into shape

grow water hyacinth/kumara in

paint brush holder

seed sprouter

collect the set

Been talking to Nick again(very good idea thoroughly recommend it) And am going to concentrate on the salad shaker and redesigning the lid.Focus is making it more versatile and so coming up with more uses for the shaker.maybe a range of containers of various sises that all can be used together in different configurations for different uses.I am going to do lotus blossom and see what comes up.

Gotta get busy NOW

I have been doing some experiments with sprouting just to see what works best this is the winner so will incorporate this into my idea .There seemed to be just the right combination of humidity and airflow.

I found this at the supermarket and thought it was a great idea .Its also very tasty .The idea is that there is dressing in the bottom in a special container.Croutons etc in the lid you empty the croutons into the container and then turn upside and shake when you are ready to use.The dressing filters through the salad and hey presto instant dressed salad.

Showed this to Mark and it turns out he met the guy who did this yesterday.Don’t know if he invented it our appropriated it from somewhere else but its a nice idea.

Had a brainstorm with Ollie yesterday which was very productive-I am thinking about the size of the container and lego

Size so it can maybe be storage for other things as well and lego because maybe the map of new Zealand is indented on the bottom and raised on the top so you can join/stack the containers.