Tension sculpture is both fun and frustrating. It can be done with simple inexpensive materials with no formal training. Truly amazing tension sculpture is using a combination of maths and engineering. I sadly lack in those departments and therefore stumble about and hope my creation won't resent me for making it a horrible monster. Luckily, unlike the good Dr. Frankenstein, I was dealing with red straws and bits of string (fire bad in either case). I digress. Follow along on this guided tour.
Not much in the way of process. Fool around with slotted straws (approx. finger nail's length in the ends or a smidge if you want to be technical) and string (approx. white) until something happens. It helps to start with three straws and let anger and frustration guide your hands. Above is my finished piece and I liked how it turned out.
In a shocking twist we were then told to vote for four that we liked. My sculpture got 3rd. We were then divided into four groups and told to replicate one that was not our own. Above is the one my group was assigned. I got separation anxiety. I felt like Otis watching Milo float downstream. Interesting possible fact: they may have gone through as many as twenty kittens during the filming of that Dudley Moore narrated masterpiece. Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. I wanted to replicate mine.
It's a good design.
I can see why it got first place.
We labeled everything in preparation for replication. It went smoothly once we all worked together cohesively.
We later had to skin our group's assigned sculpture. The skin had to highlight different planes present in the sculpture. This is the skin I proposed. Nice easy and monochromatic. This is not the one we chose.
I don't have picture of that model though.
This is the end product: A full-scale replica of the assigned sculpture complete with skin. Time, as is often the case, was not our ally. If the fabric looks poorly fitted; that's because it is. If the color scheme looks like we are UW students that happen to be fervent supporters of U of O; that's because the scheme was basically their colors. Oh well, I would've said something nut it seemed of little consequence until the public arrived. Then color was all they could see.Why is everything wrong? The answer is: time.Scheduling and supplies were a major issue for my group and they didn't seem worried about doing this the day we were supposed to setup. Ultimately, this disaster is my fault. I have time, resources, and space to do all of this properly. I should have taken it all home and done it myself in plenty of time. It didn't seem in the spirit of group work, though. I shouldn't be saying any of this. Maybe it's ego, but the blame rests largely on my shoulders because despite the scheduling issues I could've done more; I just didn't want to be the only one working. Shit.
Final thoughts: My group was made of really great people that happened to not be prepared for the amount of time necessary to make a polished end product. When we were all together we worked hard and well.
This is how my original design worked out. That group got away with nice and simple due to instability(just like its designer). All joking aside, I was very impressed with how well this was recreated and how this particular group persevered.
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