Assignment: create a place/box/house/etc. for 12 twigs using paper and a bonding agent
When I began making my parti (below), I was concerned because I had no clue where I wanted to take this project. I had to gather my ideas and on a display board I was to present my decision.
I observed my twigs, that I so carefully unwound from other branches, very thoroughly for a while. I found my twigs in my back yard where I was originally looking for bamboo pieces. The tree had great knots of branches, wrapping onto each other and other branches around. I was mesmerized by the swirls and twists. I wanted to do something that contrasted the twig spirals, so I went toward a geometric idea. I thought it would be interesting to assemble a variety of squares and rectangles and place the twigs within the structure. The squares were going to be made of white foam board and a splash of turquoise and dark gray was going to be added to some of the white sides.
Unfortunately, the foam board was a complete flop. The foam board looked okay at some angles, it was the cut edges that look horrible. I was determined to use the white board because I wanted to use something that would contrast with the brown branches, automatically ruling out cardboard and other similar materials. I need something sturdy that would be able to hold up.
Soon after I stumbled upon this think matte-like board and realized it had the perfect durability I needed. I then just needed to figure out my color issue seeing that the twigs were lost amongst the brown board.
I completely covered the twigs in a metallic, gun metal grey acrylic paint- this ended up being my favorite part, the shine and darkness of the twigs were captivating. I also randomly selected multiple squares to paint the inside of with a turquoise acrylic paint; there was so certain order to the colored insides, I wanted it to be random but still have a sense of balance.
I also evolved from the idea of building a single structure with the twigs stuck in, to building the structure to mimic or follow the shape of the twigs themselves. It was much more time consuming but completely worth it. This new idea lead many structures that I decided not to glue all together. I kept separate pieces because I believe it is easier to see the detail of all the shapes, rather than all together when it is harder to decipher where the shapes begin and end.
I can truly say that this assignment was one of the most intricate and time absorbing projects I have done in a long time, and it is by far one of my most favorite 3-d accomplishments.
Towering Twigs.
