Michaela – Large Assignment Project 01

For this project I was inspired by a lavender bush, a thistle and a peppercorn cluster from a tree. I took many pictures, but these three were the winners for my designs.
I also made a one extra plant that I “accidentally” created when I was playing around with different classes, it is a little pink rose with green petals.
This project was very challenging for me and I spent more than 30 hours on it, not necessarily including the making of the physical item. By the end I was very frustrated, so I am happy to be done with it. I am not too artsy, so I found it really hard to think outside of my box. But I guess it is good to get challenged 🙂

Lavender

This was the first plant I created and I struggled with adding leaves and the tops. Eventually, I figured it out.
My inspiration was this bush, which was not necessarily a lavender bush, but I wanted to make a lavender, because I drink a lot of loose-leaf tea and I wanted to make a mug for my tea using design of a lavender.

The Bush

I was able to create this image, which I was very happy about because it looks like it’s also forming a partial hearts on the bottom and I added a couple of hearts to my final design on the mug.

The LSystems Design – Lavender Bush

Thistle

My second inspiration was a plant that I have at home in a little vase. It is a thistle. In my country, thistle is symbolic for “witch medicine” and I like to keep it around. Another plant I like to make a tea out of.

The Thistle

The final outcome of my design is not quite the same, but I tried to get as close as possible. I struggled with getting the thistles “just right”. I am not mad at it, but I wish I was able to recreate it a bit more closely to the original image.

The LSystems Design – Thistle

Peppercorn Cluster

Another inspiration was this peppercorn cluster on a tree that I pass on my way to the classes. I thought it would be great way to incorporate multiple colors in one image. It was a bit hard to take a good color of the clusters as it was sunny outside, so it has a bit of a shine. But I think it makes it look a bit magical.

The Peppercorn Tree

The LSystems Design – Peppercorn Cluster

I changed the background to enhance to individual colors and to see the “branches/twigs” better. I really like the various colors and I was debating about making this into a fun printed fabric. I like the swirls and loops and the different placement of the individual colors. I think this image makes me happy because it looks quite cheery.

Extra – Rose

I don’t necessarily have an inspiration for this LSystems design, but I created it by a happy accident. I was playing around, or more likely, was trying to get a grasp on the Processing Application and the Turtle Geometry and was creating various classes and putting them together. I created this rose, and I wanted to include it in my homework.

The LSystems Design – Rose

I was not able to make it bigger without losing the shape, so that’s why it looks much smaller compared to the canvas. I made it by layering the ovals on top of each other in various off-center layers and then added the leaves.

Speaking of leaves, I was so upset with myself, that I was not able to create a realistic leaves. I spent hours upon hours reading of the materials, scouting publications and playing around with the Processing Application just to figure it out. Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to the point I kind of envisioned. At the end it made me super upset, I cried a bunch, then I felt slightly better. Also, I think the lack of sleep and countless hours (30+) on this project made me determined to figure it out! I am super open to any suggestions and comments.

Final Product

I really wanted to make a mug using the Waterslide Decal Paper professor Leah brought to class last week. I created a little strip of my lavender shape to adhere it to the mug.
I did not realize it was going to be challenging to work with the decal paper and had to redo it a couple of times. The paper kept folding on itself and I could not unstick it, making the design unusable. It was also quite time consuming because at the end, the design had to be sprayed with acrylic spray 3 time and wait 10 minutes between each spray.
Then it had to wait for 3 hours and then I had to bake it for 15 minutes. It was quite the process, but I think I like it. I am planning on using it with the hundreds of other mugs that I collect.

I was able to do the last one by rolling the decal directly from the paper backing onto the mug, but at the end there was a little tears due to the straightening of it. I don’t think it’s very noticeable, but I know it’s there. I followed the directions, but once again, my lack of eye for art has prevailed.

The Design

The mug itself is quite cute, although, now that I am looking at my design, I could have rotated the smaller bunches to the other side to make it a bit less symmetrical. It looks a bit stale just leaning it to one side, I think it could look a bit better by leaning it to both the left and the right. My overall feel on this project is much better now that it’s over as I am content with my results. I don’t think I’ll go into arts anytime soon, but it’s good to get the creativity flowing and learn new skills.

The Left Side of the final Product

The Right Side of the final Product

The Center of the final Product

I hope you enjoyed this reading and I am looking forward to see what you have created!

Michaela

NOTE:
Answers to worded questions are in my Answers file, as a part of my LSystems (they are commented out).
My zipFile can be found HERE
(https://handandmachine.org/classes/computational_fabrication/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/MichaelaUrichLA1.zip)