Digital World and Image studio blog

How I get there:

I started with a question, people use tools to shape the outside of the pottery piece. But how could the tools help people to craft the inside of clay.

Context and scenarios:

For the first scenario, maybe you are trying to hide something inside a ceramic jar. You need a tool to guide you to shape from inside. And one more use case will be that crafters need a tool to quantify the making process and the material. Under current technologies, they have to build a mould. Creating a mould is not easy or flexible at all. Thus a tool that could measure and estimate can be used to unify the shape of material even the crafters are not in the same place.

A state of smarter objects:

The state of smarter objects haven’t changed the material or the making process totally. Crafter can still use their workflow and material that they are familiar with. But at the same time, they can create a much digitalized relation with the material that they use. For example, a computational tool in ceramics might be a 3D-printer that mixed different soils. An traditional physical tool is the weight tool to measure the weights of soils used in mix a new material. A smart object will follow the mix procedure but also tell the crafter what’s the possible outcomes based on the current mix ratio.

Then the question is, how could smarter objects help the transformative process of making. I would argue that in four directions. First, the smarter objects have limited computation but still, it’s computation. Computation could help shape the material in a much more strict way than human’s hand. Second, the smarter objects help people to learn without touching the material, in this case, the tool could mark a position without touching the clay. But using traditional tool, a physical marker will be left. Third, smarter tools brings extra functionality than the traditional tools. A digitalized brush could change its shape to provide vivid writing experiences. Forth, smarter tools pass digital data. With digital data, material’s shape can be imported to computer, to mobile phones. And the once the data flows to others, the data could be used creatively in generating new material practices. For example, masters can teach their students how to shape a pot remotely with this tool.

That opens possibilities:

I can see the tool be utilized in many area, e.g. Logan’s project; Automatic drawing machine that draw a special pattern from computer; A way to teach and learn; A remoted connected handler; Transform data from the pottery maker or the WWW, the cultural side can be visualized…

From Machine to Stylus

When I brought the idea of carving tool. The first thing came to my brain was Machines that make projects from MIT. The goal of those machines is to create more machines out of that. They made lots of things look like CNC machines. Then the question became, how did I make that. While I was drawing, a new idea was generated inspired by the 53 stylus pens for iPad.

The First Design

My first thought on the curving tool is a kind of 2D-Printer on the wheel. Two motors will move the pin in Y-Axis ( from top to bottom), and X-Axis (from the left to right, but always starts from the center of the wheel. The bottom of the extension bar has two sensors to detect the distances to the bottom and to the wall. Thus the machine could the vertically placed pin to the wall and start curving.

Prove of concept for the first prototype:

This prototype hasn’t been activated since it’s over complicated. It requires both customized materials and lots of trials.

Thoughts on the first prototype:

The first prototype actually starts with a hypnosis rather than a real world solution. So there are pros and cons for the first prototype. The down side definitely is the complexity of the system, it’s basically a 3D-printer without Z-axis movements. Another problem that will be generated by this design is the space issue. A low height structure will block user’s vision to the ceramic object. In addition to that, machines can only achieve single direction pock action, which is just a little part of the creative use of the carving tools.

However, the design has lots of benefits that couldn’t be compatible. Firstly, the design could run automatically. User could just draw simple lines in the software then the machine could be able to decode the drawing and transform it on the surface of the pottery piece. Secondly, the design could tell the thickness of the pottery piece’s bottom by moving the pin left and right. Since it has a distance sensor attached, and a fixed height. The differences of values can be considered as the thickness. Thirdly, the process of designing this machine informed me a lot of design principles, such as a changeable connection.

The Second Design

My second design simplified the machine. By changing it to a handheld device. User could be able to use it in a much flexible situation.

Key Approach to the second prototype:

The second prototype uses a C-shape structure to drop the pin in the middle of the pottery. A small led matrix shows the distance got from the distance sensor. The up and down movement can be captured by the distance sensor on the bottom. Another distance sense is used to detect the distance to the wheel. In this prototype the speed control of the wheel is added. The goal is to have a way to project the pin’s positions on the all 360 degrees.

Thoughts on second prototype:

The second prototype validates the way to combine distance sensor to grab the position of the tool’s pin. With data, we can also record a piece of user’s action and then use it as an instruction to help them repeat, or practice. But the device is still large and not easy to use.

My Original idea started with a limited space when I first tried throwing on the wheel. When I reached my hand into the inside of my clay piece, I was totally fascinated by the feel of touching. In that situation, I couldn’t see what was happening inside my jar. I have to use my fingers, my fist, and the rotation of the wheel, to estimate the position, to try my next move. The interactive model can be represented like this: We start with the feelings, then we proceed the feelings using our criterias such as the thickness of the wall, the shape of the surface, and the humidity of the surface. Once we gather all the information we need to make a decision, we push our hands again to perform, to change the pottery. Then we start a new round.

Then I’m wondering, is there a way to work from the inside?

Looking at all those images that people is trying to curve the different forms for their pottery, and the ways to do that are creative and novel. And most of them are seeking for duplications and orders in pattern making. But how could people reach the narrow, dark area inside of the the pottery. Also, the design challenge here is that, if you are shaping the outside of clay, the open space is quite enough to stretch your arm, change positions of hands, twist your wrist. But everything can be changed inside, it can be hard to grab a small tool.

The absence of inner pattern

I’m also wondering when when talk about the pattern, includes the graphical painting pattern and the pattern of repeated shapes. Inter patterns are hard to be found even the in the zen culture from east Asia. As the need of ceramic crafting is shifting to a much more personal side rather than production side. I’m also interested in the idea of smashing ceramics. If we can hide information inside of the clay piece and the only way to see it is to smash it. That will be a Erwin Schrödinger’s pottery, which can be quite fun.

Digital Intervention : 

Initial concept featured a digital intervention in the process of developing a form and mold for ceramics slip casting.

Integrating an ongoing Industrial Design tessellations project, I sought out how to incorporate ceramic slip with the unconventional mylar material. The digital intervention would highlight the complexities of designing and building an unanticipated form and mold. As the tessellations are build from 2 dimensional pieces, the pattern design involves a transformation of 2 dimensional parts into a 3 dimensional form. Due to mylar’s flexible nature, the expectation was that the slip would reveal the true 3 dimensional form in the final form design.

Digital Prototype :

The development phase revealed several issues in the initial concept. Using processing to develop the pattern had its setbacks in the fact that pattern feasibility still needed to be tested by actually building the form. As well, the concept development behind the pattern influence was weak and stronger foundation was needed in the theory of what drives the pattern. The other issue was the use of mylar as a mold, weakening the casting of the slip into an artifact. The mold was too malleable, with the clay often distorting the actual form. The slip also cracked very easily in the process of casting.

The solution was to go back to slip casting in plaster, and focusing on developing a negative mold with the mylar forms.

Final Critical Design :

The final digital intervention featured using a base pattern of hexagons, arranged in 4 tiers. This produced a simple flat surface on which the tension points(pentagons) could be used to morph the flat form into a 3 dimensional surface. The inspiration for these tension points came from the chemical element makeup of Kaolin (Al₂Si₂O₅(OH)₄). Using the electron arrangements in the first 3 orbit shells, I would be able to specify where the tension points on the base pattern could be arranged.

This project development was highly inspired by Richard Sennett’s ideas on metamorphosis. This idea of seeing a design go through an “elaboration of its species” was mostly reflected working with the electron structure of Silicon. The pattern arrangement was highly modular and produced a variety of diverse forms.

The final design was realized through a process of building 4 plaster molds from 3 different pattern designs for Silicon, Beryllium, and Hydrogen. As this was my first time working with ceramics, a drop out mold was an ideal approach to test this project. My initial work with Silicon proved to be a great learning experience.

The biggest issued was the unanticipated interaction between mylar and casting plaster. While the form had no undercuts to start with, the positive mold turned out quite different. Due to the density and weight of the plaster, the mylar was deformed further than I anticipated, leaving several undercuts in the process. The final prototype was not usable for a basic drop out mold.

The next 2 sets of plaster molds we built a bit differently. I opted to drop the form into the plaster rather than pour over. But I found that this had its own issues, as plaster was still so dense that the weak mylar form buckles under the pressure. One solution was to pour plaster into the form at the same time, but this resulted in the form sinking too far to the bottom of the mold.

The final mold was submerged with layers of clay to provide structure during casting. Overall, the approach to this project required testing multiple proposals as working with such malleable and dense materials was enough of a contrast to cause several issues in the process. Additionally, the pattern design had its own limitations, as there was no way to anticipate how the from would reveal itself during the assembly process.

Concept Development:

Swift Creek Complicated Stamp pottery – Scholars believe SCCS designs may have been used to represent people. Taking a SCCS pot from one location to another may have been an offering or representation of an important person that was not able to make the journey.

Stone Mountain – Occupation of the area began before Euro-American contact. Woodland people that lived in the area created a rock wall on top of Stone Mountain. Stones were taken or even rolled down the face of Stone Mountain for fun. There are contentious feelings towards Stone Mountain due to the Confederate engraving on the front. Recently, plans have been suggested for a Martin Luther King, Jr. monument at the top. Stone Mountain Park has focused their interpretation primarily on the Confederacy slowly incorporating Civil Rights themes. American Indian occupation of the area is ignored as part of the park’s narrative.

Bringing It Together :

Culture Cache is a community experience that utilizes the ideas of representation and representational travel. Based on the idea of geocaching, Culture Cache invites users to create a piece of pottery that is imbued with their personality. Selecting an adventure in Culture Cache leads users to American Indian sites to place their representational pottery for others while picking up another user’s representation. Pottery traveling from site to site, with documentation within the app, allows users to travel through their pottery; all the while learning about American Indian history.

The home page offers the ability to search for cache adventures, as well as tracking your own caches and pottery.

Cache Adventures are based around themes supporting American Indian sites.

Adventure examples include:

Woodland Builder – These sites feature stone walls built by Woodland people.

Woodland Traveler – Sites range from Florida to Northern and Western parts of America, as a way to learn about and experience Woodland trade route.

Mound Builder – These two adventures focus on the monumental architecture of their respective periods.

Start page for an adventure. The significance of each adventure is explained.

Location page. Each location is explained within the context of the adventure.

Tracking geolocation of cache. Users can take photographs, record thoughts and share.

Taking a new picture.

Documenting through pictures.

Documenting thoughts and experiences.

The Trackables page shows pottery you have left at each site and their new locations.

Points show the details of travels, including user, site, and documentation.

Concept Development:

Based on feedback received during the design presentation, review with Michael and some independent reflection I decided to make a set of activities designed for kids to learn Physical Computing using clay as a material for story-telling.

Here are some properties of clay that render it good for use as an entry-level material:

-Malleable: can be moulded easily with hands+simple tools

-Rigid: can be transformed to rigid forms

– Insulative: can mount electronics easily on the surface

-Adhesive: can be combined with other lumps of clay + electronics can be plugged in easily

Activity 1: Decorating a clay form with Graphite and LED’s to learn about circuit loops and to provide a segue into using digital technologies for some sensing action on clay forms. Inspiration for decorating these pots with  was derived from art forms such as Warli and other African Prints(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/303500462362613005/)

Courtesy : Pandiyan V (Follow A fine folkart tradition – Warli Painting)

Activity 2: demonstrating some sensing and action and seeing how Clay forms impart playfulness

The idea here is to see how clay can transform the look of electronics which look very functional to impart a sense of play

Bell Demo Clay

Further Exploration:

To develop the learning further the idea is to explore the use of clay as an insulator in forming some basic components for a circuit. Think switches and connectors and other Input/Outputs.

To give some idea about Rachel’s work – some of it we discussed last week – here is the great nut project:

And you can find more info on her work here.