Pictures from BP Oil Spill

(courtesy Reuters and Getty Images)

BP Oil Spill Summer Project

So, it's been about a month or so since the end of school and I think I have taken a sufficient enough break that I have decided to get back into it and start working on my summer project. It started with a brief internet searching of current events the top three being: The BP Oil Spill, Van Der Sloot's Arrest and the FIFA World Cup.

Honestly, I have been following the BP Oil Spill since the day it happened. I had always been a supporter of BP because of BP Wind and BP Solar two of the largest green energy companies in America. I did some research on the Deep Water Horizon rig and it is actually owned by Halliburton (yeah, the Pelican Brief and all), so it was no shock to me to hear that it had been poorly managed prior to BP renting the rig. As, time went on and reports went from 100,000 gallons a day to 2million gallons a day to 4 million gallons a day to 100 million gallons a day, I started to get sick. BP as poorly managed this entire situation and no matter how much we complain about it right now what is done is done.

For all of those boycotting BP, I did some more research. First, BP is a franchised owned company meaning by boycotting BP you are not really in fact hurting the company as much as all the small local owners. They did not necessarily have a part in BP's greed that lead to this disaster and it is not truly fair to them to boycott the company as a whole. One of my neighbors has a BP franchise and was already in a tough financial situation prior to this disaster. It is likely that if it continues she may face even more hardship due to something that was completely out of her control. British Petroleum is to blame for this disaster and should be dealt with at a higher level then boycotts of local stations.

I was trying to think of ways show the public that the oil spill needs positive support in order to be corrected. There is no way that the average person can step in and stop this spill and people are looking for ways to help  correct a wrong and trying to find an outlet. For those of you in Baltimore, the Aquarium will be looking for volunteers shortly to help care for oil coated birds. Throughout the southern east coast crews are needed to help clean beaches. So, if you are looking for an outlet for your frustration why not take a weekend trip to help in a beach clean up or help clean some oil-coated brown pelicans on your off time.

As for my summer project, I have been doing a lot of research on oil containment and clean-up. I have ordered some Oil Containment Boom that should arrive in a few days and been playing around with some home-recipes for oil containment devices that I have found online. I was thinking about the oil soaked beaches and how they could actually spread up to the Bay and tar balls could wash up on Ocean City rendering the beaches possibly inhabitable for the last half of the summer months. I was thinking about "oil containment clothing" and possibly protection devices. We will see where this will go.

Materials- Sustainable Project- Project Updates

The more I work with this concept the farther I move away from crochet. I mean, no matter what I do it feels crafty and I think it is going away from my concept using the crochet. I decided to really sit down and figure out -what- I wanted to do with this project. Was it about crochet and keeping a dieing tradition alive? If so, Why the fruit? Couldn't there be something -else- that would be more suited to this?

That's when I realized that really, the crochet was a means to achieve a different concept and that I was really back on the concept I was working with on my "Enjoy Your Lunch" piece of last semester. Really, I wanted to make fresh produce more readily available in the home by giving the consumer something that was a fruit container that encouraged through interaction to put and take out fruit. So, I have been deciding better ways to convey this message of healthy eating and more healthy alternatives in the home through a sustainable medium. I was looking into designs I could use.


Last week, Megan showed us how to do that technique with the cheerios, and honestly I fell in love with the design. It instantly reminded me of those African instruments and drums. I always thought they were aesthetically very pleasing to look at and they were always around vegetable gourds. I was wondering what I could do with that in more simplistic way. So, I researched some instruments. Honestly, the beads seemed like an afterthought I was thinking I could directly incorporate them into my design and depending on the materials make a comment with them.

J2- Project 2, Reflection

Reflection of "On The Hook"

I really enjoyed this project. This is really the first time I got to sit down and really design something in metal start to finish that had many surfaces and details. "On the Hook" is a 5.25" x 1.66" x 0.5" narrative pendant depicting the story of me catching my first fish when I was down in Chincoteague, VA as a small child. I got so excited that I flipped over the boat and still managed to keep hold of the fish. The front of the pendant shows the fish and the inside details the acts of catching it. The backside (flat side) of the piece shows the cleaning of the fish by the docks as is the tradition of my family ( you catch it, you clean it). The pendant is made of copper, brass and sterling silver and completely done is cold connections.  I am quite pleased with the way it turned out employing many various techniques including: rivetting, chasing and repousse, sawing and piercing, tabs, heat patinas and liver of sulfur patinas. My favorite portion of the pendant has to be the front repousse of the fish. I think it came out exactly as I wanted, I do feel that I could work more on the connections in the future and I could stand to practice more rivets. 

My peer review of the pendant was pretty positive. They found its overall looking complete and that every surface has been designed and considered. They seem to understand the narrative concept right away and understand the imagery and beach themes used throughout. They liked the materials and the patinas used but find the edges to be unfinished and that they could be sanded more (this I agree with). They did comment it was a bit large to be wearable. I think this is a valid critique. I had originally intended it to be smaller but when it came out larger I decided to work with it. It did make it a bit easier to rivet it together and easier to sand the surfaces. They did find that if it hangs lower it would be able to be worn which is why I chose to lengthen the fishing line strand to make it hang a bit lower. 

Materials- Hype Cuff In Use!

Here are some of the pics from the Media Pressure Cuff in use. 

Materials- Sustainable Project- More Material Samples

I was playing with some different materials as part of my 5 samples and here is some of the progress.

Recycled Paper Pulp-

Okay, So....I don't know why these are taking forever to dry, I did them last Sunday (its thursday) and they are still pretty wet, but here is the "paper pulp". I played with a few different consistencies and coloring techniques. The more water you put in and the less paper makes a thin film that you can use to make paper, the thicker the pulp created (meaning less water) it becomes like a clay almost.

The green colored one I infused herbs into so it has a lovely smell to it. I want to put dirt in it and some seeds and see if it works as a nice recycled seeder pot. 

(to be continued)

The World Mobility Problem

Saw this video this morning it made my day.

Materials- Sustain- Working with Wool and Project Updates

I find myself really getting into all the different things you can do with just wool. There are so many techniques and forms you can do with it to change it and alter it. I am going to have to pull myself away soon in order to work with some of the other material samples for the project.

Below is what I have done so far with wool (knit, crochet, crochet 3d forms, macrame, spun and made discs to test stiffeners) I plan to take this a little farther and try the different ways of felting it and see what I can come up with

As for the project it is coming along. I decided I wanted to work with the quote "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and I am currently working on a "7 apple containment device". I don't really know what else to call it right now. 

 Fake Fruit for Maquettes (i didn't know fake fruit was so expensive!!)

 Mini crochet prototype

Some Notes on Sustainable Design Readings

Design Activism-
- nature looked vast in the late 18th century-- ripe for exploitation
- the resources to sustain life like agriculture are decreasing
- micro-utopias and make impossible before possible now
- fill the gap between poverty around the world
- Design Prism: Design Practice, Design Studies, and Design Exploration
     - more then one facet to a design, it is about the design coming together as a whole
- "overconsumers"- the rich 20% that has so much mass and waste that it is contaminating the whole

Cradle to Cradle-
-just because something is "less bad"  for the environment doesn't make it good
- the problem is still there it just exists in a different form.
-mass customerization, making products for the masses they can create make their own
- is the industrial revolution bad?
    - hasn't changed since the beginning
         - make it as cheap and as many as possible
- how can be draw on the fundamentals of the preindustrial revolution and the good of industrial revolution
- "biomimicry"- using the designing the efficiency of nature
- the preindustrial idea of making stuff, take the ideal and bring it into the 20th century, use the digital to make the crafts of the old
- consumerism in a capitalist society
- planned obsolecence
- one- off objective vs. mass producted
- "we are a capitalist society and nothing is going to change that"
Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories
- zero waste can save money
- even a small change can make a big change