Running to Stand Still

It felt very good to spend much of the day in the shop working with my hands. Much of the week, however, was spent struggling with how to make progress on the materials/form of the rope&pulley and also struggling with what I am producing.

Earlier in the week, I was researching materials. There are two directions I am considering: natural wood (mahogany, maple, walnut, cherry, etc) or recycled parts. The natural wood direction comes from my appreciation for naturally finished wooden instruments: electric and acoustic guitars, pianos, etc. The recycled direction relates more closely with one of the themes of the project which is, in a way, the recycling of musical content and the loop-based music metaphor.

When I got stuck researching, I tried to work a bit with the form. I started with raw sketches and then tried to work material in Google Sketchup.

I spent too much time trying to manipulate the materials in Sketchup, though, and became frustrated. A breakthrough occurred when I realized that I could use foam to quickly work through ideas. My previous prototype was cardboard, which is durable, but not easy to work with quickly.

Pretty in Pink: A photo essay about my process today. Click on the individual pictures for notes.

I made three new prototype shapes today and I'm looking for feedback on them.