Shell shapes, different techniques...

After experimenting with different directional slits and having looked at using a cut out net, I thought I would meet them both half way by creating thin slits. I found it represented almost a zebra skin pattern, but once in a 3D shape this texture was lost and a more flowing, organic shape was created. The unusual and non-identical, yet still repetitive pattern creates an unusual texture which shows a direction of flow and creates a unique texture.

Using the same net I looked at creating different shapes by attaching the 4 corners of the paper in different places. All using staples. This is not a method I intend for my final piece, I would like a more discreet way of attaching the paper, however for experimenting purposes it means I can easily remove the staples and reuse the paper.

This shape reminds me of one I created at the beginning using the simple slit shapes. This design was created only using 3 corners being attached. 

In many of the workshops Richard Sweeney mentioned pleating, however until now I have not really got around to experimenting with this technique. Similar to the technique I have been focussing on I found that it allowed the paper to be manipulated much more easily. I felt that the pleating also created an interesting texture which could represent some of the shells I have seen and photographed.

I found that the width above was difficult to manipulate as the ratio of length/width didn't leave enough room to create spirals and curves. 

I found by curling the shape around on itself it created a shell shape outline, however the shape isn't very intricate. 

The two shapes below I feel would work really well if they were continued into a larger shape, they could be tightly intertwined and wrapped to create a strong, supported structure. 

Peter Callesen

"I find this materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form almost a magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping."

- Peter Callesen

 When I first came across Peter Callesen I was mesmerised by his work, it is by far my favourite that I have come across so far, I am just in awe at the pieces he has created and the imagination he must have in order to have came up with this initial idea.

DISTANT WISH, 2006

I could have picked any of his pieces of work to show as my favourites, but I chose pieces that are relevant to the 'organic' and 'natural' theme which I have chosen. Although I failed to find any which were related to shells - maybe I could experiment with this idea/shells? In a way, his work reminds me of Jen Stark's in the sense that the object is coming OUT of the paper. Whereas Richard Sweeney's pieces ARE the paper. 

NAR ALT KOMMER TIL ALT, 2006

This piece is a close up detail of one of his much larger scaled models. Similar to Rob Ryan, the use of cut out is very prevalent throughout his work. Although technically I am cutting the paper in my work by making slits into the paper to create contours etc it may be interesting to cut a different shape into the paper and then see how it can be manipulated into a spiral/shell shape. Although I imagined the shells and sea shells they could in fact be snails shells. Either of these objects/ideas could be cut into the paper before it is manipulated into the final shape.

THE SHORT DISTANCE BETWEEN TIME AND SHADOW, 2006

Although this piece is irrelevant in subject to my project, I was fascinated by this piece. It intrigues me to know how it was made and constructed and I love the size contrast between the 3D and 2D element. 

Rob Ryan

Although Rob Ryan works on various aspects of design as well as paper manipulation/laser cutting I felt that this was the only area relevant to look at for this project. I looked at him briefly when looking at tree's and deciding whether they were the path I wanted to take. I feel that using his technique would have created a much more aesthetic and appealing piece compared to techniques similar to that of Richard Sweeney due to the ability for accuracy and detail.

As I had decided to focus on 'organic' and 'natural' shapes I felt the 2 pieces below, although quite similar are most appropriate to my research.

CAGED LOVERS, 2010

WINDY TREE, 2008

In a very different way to the work of Richard Sweeney, which I would describe as organic and flowing, this different approach also captures the same ideals. The shapes created flow very nicely and the pieces feel as though they are almost growing and expanding. The use of the colour green here is also important to the feel of 'organic' I feel. 

Jen Stark

Once I had thought about the possibility of incorporating colour into my final piece I decided to have a browse through the sculptural side of Jen Stark's work. One thing that is clear is the very strong use of repetition, usually working with concentric circles or similar shapes. 3 pieces stood out to me, and although the shapes are more relevant to that of a flower (which was one of my primary research pieces) the use of colour remains significant even though I have now chosen to look at shells.

This piece I feel is most relevant to my studies. I really like the idea of using one colour in varying shades, eventually ending in white. However I imagine I would use the colour the other way around, with the darker pieces being in the centre of the shell. I think this piece really works as a 3, and it encourages me further towards the idea of creating a set of several smaller pieces rather than one large piece. 

I really like the idea of how this piece really 'bursts' out of the wall. This could be a viable idea for the shell which would allow more scope for adding internal layers without creating a mess.

Similar to the piece above, this gives me similar ideas. The use of white is prevalent throughout Jen's work and seems to create a clean cut atmosphere which enables the audience to focus in on the object itself rather than being distracted by surroundings. My piece however, is designed to be in a busy area of the University which suggests I may need to make it more bold and eye catching - maybe white would contrast to all the other colours going on?

Different Cut Direction, Experimentation

I chose to look at different ways and directions to cut the sheets of paper in order to create new shapes and textures. Some of the outcomes were not very successful I felt.

The first 3 photographs below were created a net of half vertical strips, and half horizontal strips. Using a square piece of paper I didn't succeed in creating the full bodied shape I was aiming for. The use of 2 different directions allows you to create curves in contrasting directions. 

This piece below beings to demonstrated the idea of an internal structure which can be seen through the external wall. I would like to emphasise this idea further, and think colour would be really useful here. I intend to research some designers who work with paper AND colour, unlike Richard Sweeney, who is more focussed on the mathematical, engineering side.

This is the reverse side of the shape above. Although I think it looks quite interesting and has some skeletal qualities it looks like it hasn't been considered very much and could do with some tweaking. 

Below I used the net shown above where there are 4 separate sections, 2 with vertical strips and the alternate sections with horizontal strips. Using smaller gaps between the cuts made a more flexible and neat looking shell in my opinion.

The photograph below shows a piece which uses the undulating line shape. I have began to realise that the simple straight line idea may work best as this is manipulated to create a curved shape, whereas if the lines are already curved they create less control and more random, less repetitive shapes. 

Here I returned back the the straight lined cut. However to add texture I pleated the paper, this was unsuccessful so to create a more unique texture I crumpled the paper up and then flattened it out again. I am unsure whether this create an interesting, fun shape or one that looks like its been taken out of the bin...

Some of the shapes above reminded me of a building a walk past nearly every day, the Winter Gardens in Sheffield. The structure there seems to oddly be represented by the paper shapes I have created.

The idea of the two different spaces it what I feel makes the 2 structures similar, the idea of a thick band of subject and then empty space. Also on the Winter Gardens structure there are other smaller bands collecting the adjacent larger ones to each other - this is an idea which I could experiment with?

Further Shell Experiments

After speaking to Richard during the last workshop, I had decided that I wanted to focus mainly on shells, although it would be interesting to expand and look at coral, snail shells and maybe architecture with similar shapes. After looking at several techniques I found I was most  interested by using the simple slitting technique to create round, bold shapes. However I wanted to look at other ways/shapes of doing this. I have began to look at using different shaped slits, slits in different directions and so on. Here is the outcome of the use of diagonal cuts on an A4 sheet of paper. 

With shells, I find that the internal structure is just as inspiring and interesting as the exterior. Maybe even more so. This is where you can see how he structure is attached and held together, this is something I'd like to look further into. this cutting technique allows this successfully due to the skeletal structure. 

Using slits in another direction, I created the shapes below. What I began to find with this piece is the idea of a structure within another structure. So as you can see there is a smaller, tighter structure within the outer shell due to the direction of bending. This would be interesting to recreate using separate pieces of paper. they could perhaps vary in colour? I like the idea of them getting darker as you head further into the centre of the shape. 

Richard Sweeney Work Shop 3

In this work shop, once again we learnt a new technique. This time is was making modular shapes using a net of smaller, tabbed shapes. For my focus, which I have decided is going to be shells this technique could be successful as long as an accurate net can be created, this technique leaves a lot less room for experimentation and accidents compared to other techniques and will take more planning and maths.

Here was the modular shape I created, a simple sphere. With some experimentation hopefully there is a way to manipulate this into a shell shape, taking out some of the pieces and extended upwards and outwards. However I fear there way be loose ends and it may end up looking slightly unprofessional and unfinished.

the two shapes above were created with the off-cuttings from the sphere shape, although this piece looks slightly abstract it was created from a very strict repetition of cutting out identical shapes. I tried to shape it into a shell shape, and feel it tends to look more coral like, compared to the technique I used of slitting the paper, this creates quite a unique texture and is more visually appealing. However it is much harder to manipulate into a curvaceous, shell liek hape due to the position of the cuts, which ten to create a more angular shape when I try to fold/bend the sheet of paper.

Origami for Beginners

This afternoon as I was manipulating paper I wanted to concentrate on trying to create floral shapes. However I found that when doing so using the techniques taught to me by Richard Sweeney I wasn't using much 'repetition'. I decided to look at probably the most well recognised paper manipulation method, origami.

Looking at images of origami pieces it is obvious that these is an incredible amount of ' and accuracy to create the extremely intricate shapes. Here are some pieces which relate to my work, and which I would love to be able to create!

Although this shape looks very simple, and believe me I though it did, I found it almost impossible to create due to the twists and shapes put in, using a video website to watch how to create it I was astonished to the amount of squares used to create such a organic and curvy shape (a 8 x 8 grid is created first!)

This beautiful and very repetitive piece lets the mind wonder and leaves so much scope on the things that can be done with paper manipulation. So far I haven't included colour in my work due to the Richard Sweeney workshops but it is definitely something I would like to look into after seeing some of these origami pieces.

Although flowers such as this look quite simple to recreate when given the right instructions, after attempting them myself I now understand how complex, and for want of a better word, 'fiddly' these pieces are to create as you will see in my simple attempts below.

Using a video website I followed video instructions to create the two simple pieces below with great difficulty. Working with a media I am not used to brings new challenges but I find I learn much quicker as there is so much to take in...

Above: My attempt at a simple Lotus Flower. It used simple geometric lines and basic folds, and although it uses a very linear form it creates a simple representation of a flower.

Attempt 1, this was my first ever experience with origami where I created a simple tulip figure. I am not keen on the use of the stem as I don't feel this is a very repetitive feature, but I was exploring the principle more than anything.

Lets hope I can revisit origami and try to create something a bit more advanced!

Shell Shaped Experiments

Focussing on the word and shape 'shell' I began sketching and experimenting in my sketch book with shapes and ideas that related to this topic, through my work so far I have discovered the use of small thin slits in paper and the very curvaceous and bold shapes that this technique creates, I felt at the time that this was most appropriate to try and create quite bold and simple shapes in a way that hides/includes the more intricate detail which is much more intricate and complex. Using this idea mean that although there was an overall bold outline of a shape, there was detail within that shape. 

I began using the net I had designed and looking at where I could join the corners together to create a spherical shape - would like to look at using a circular/cone shape piece of paper next time perhaps? 

Here I joined the paper using 3 corners creating this cone/shell like shape.. The slits in the paper allow a much more free and curvaceous shape, it is also quite skeletal showing the outline of the shape rather than the colour/texture etc.. Maybe I could look at texture using pleating etc similar to the workshop previous to this entry?

By this point I had added the forth corner to the other four corners, simply using a staple which i felt would cause less tension to the shape allowing the paper to move slightly into a comfortable, natural looking position, I prefer the more rounded shape to this compared to the first piece as it looks less stretched and more relaxed.

After tweaking the shape slightly I decided to take photographs from slightly abnormal angles that usually might not be used as much, I really like the way you can see inside this piece and how the contours are represented by the way the slits have curved due to the pressure added by the attachment of the corners.

This is the same shape as above take from a different angle, they both look like completely different shapes due to the lighting/angle of the photograph I have taken.. for my final piece it could be interesting to have a series of 'shell like shapes together - lined up? Randomly set and suspended in the air?

Once again this is the same piece, photographed at yet another angle, each photograph captures different shapes and the light reflects in various different places. To me this looks slightly like a clam/oyster shell with the 2 'mouth' pieces looking as though they may open up!

this piece below uses the exact same net as the pieces above, however I took out the existing staples and joined this piece along the sides to create a taller, thinner skeletal shape, this piece to me looks much more structural.. Perhaps reminding me of a stair case rather than a shell. I would like to experiment further with this piece by adding texture/pleats/different lengths and widths of paper... 

Richard Sweeney Work Shop 2

In this workshop, we once again learnt new techniques in paper manipulation and then practiced them during the session. Below are photographs of a few pieces I experimented with...

Here is my interpretation of the basic pleat show to us by Richard, although it has a simple, geometric and repetitive shape it was difficult to create due to the direction of the folding and manipulating the paper by pulling/pushing/creasing the individual sections to create the desired textured affect. 

Once I had created the basic piece I began to manipulate it simply using my hands to create different shapes, patters and impression, this photograph below was created simply by pinching the centre of one end. This idea could be interesting when focussing on the idea of 'shells'.

this image was created by twisting the existing paper, it creates a more curvaceous shape, however due to the very linear and strong pleats it is difficult to bend and shape too much in this way, using thinner paper or a larger piece of paper may allow more lenience in this area.

In this piece I bent the paper vertically along the width which created a different shape - this could be interesting baring 'tree' in mind.

 Below, I combined two principles, i looked at cutting and pleating which created this very skeletal, hollow shape.. This may be interesting for either 'feathers', 'trees' or maybe even 'shells'.

 The image below was me experimenting with the literal idea of 'feather' i created a rough feather shape out of paper and began to look at twisting it along the spine. I feel that feathers will be hard to represent through paper as they are a very much 2D piece themselves, which leaves little room for scope and imagination.

Below I combined cutting and pleating again, here however I chose to cut along the pleats which created an unusual texture and shape, the repetition here is found in the folds although the shape itself is very organic and flowing.. This to me these three images below could represent waves or the stem of a plant.!