Task 6 - 3D material samples - including mod rock, papier mache and wire

Cardboard/Newspaper/Paper Mache

For the first 3d piece of my mini-beast, I used a combination of cardboard, newspaper and with tape and wire to keep the pieces together. After constructing the mini-beast, I put paper mache over it.

First I created the main structure of the body and the head, using a thick piece of cardboard. I then created the body pattern and the eyes using thinner pieces of cardboard, and attached them with masking tape. I did this because I felt like it made it look and feel more 3d, as when you touched it you could feel the bumps and ridges.

The head was created as a separate piece and was created by inserting a long piece of wire through the back, out of the front and then back through the head. The ends of the wire were then inserted into the body, and some tape was placed to keep the wire in place.

Next, I created the limbs. The side limbs were made using thin pieces of cardboard with layers of newspaper wrapped around them. At first I didn't have cardboard in them, but the legs were too flimsy and wouldn't be able to support the weight. Even with the cardboard in the legs, they didn't keep their shape properly due to the weight of the rest of the 3d piece, so I inserted a piece of wire into the legs and used that and some tape to keep the limbs attached.

The back legs were made from cardboard, and had tape wrapped around them. These legs helped to keep the mini-beast stand up, as the back legs could support more weight due to their sturdiness.

After constructing the 3d piece, I had to cover it in a single layer of paper mache. As I added paper mache, the limbs started to struggle slightly to hold the weight, and as a result the limbs would twist to the side. 

Wire

After completing the paper mache piece, I started creating a second piece that was completely made up of wire. This piece was much lighter and easier to shape, although the wire wasn't very tough so it was also easier to be put out of shape by careless handling.
To start off the wire piece I created the main body section, as it was the biggest and most central part of the mini-beast. I got 2 pieces of wire and twisted the ends together to make the initial base of the body, and use two pieces of wire across the base to create a more stable structure. Then I created another base of the same size and shape and then connected the pieces together with short lengths of wire. 

The next stage was the create the head of my mini-beast. Using a similar method to the body, I created 2 flat head-shaped wire frames, and connected them together using short wire. I did not create a supporting structure for the head, as I felt that the connecting pieces of wire kept the shape of the head well enough. After that I had to connect the head and body together. I did that by having a length of wire, wrapped one end around the top wire, and then looped around the body and head and then wrapped the other end around the bottom.

The limbs were the simplest part of the wire piece, as each limb only used a single piece of wire that was bent into shape. Although the entire piece was light overall, it was rather flimsy which meant that the legs struggled slightly to stay in shape under the weight. To fix this I made the back legs using a thicker and sturdier piece of wire.

Once my wire piece was completed, I decided to add more details and make the legs thicker and stronger. The majority of the details were done to the main body of the piece, where I used bent pieces of wire on the top of the body to look like the pattern from the 2D piece. The legs had copper wires coiled around them, mostly to strengthen them, but also to make them stand out.

Clay

The final 3d piece I did was made using clay, and a small amount of wire. This piece was much smaller and thinner than the previous pieces, as the clay was much heavier than the cardboard and wire. I molded the shape of the body and the head separately, but managed to connect the pieces using a small piece of wire and wetting the clay to merge the sides. To make my mini-beast more detailed I carved the patterns into the clay using a toothpick, and made the dotted pattern by pressing the end of a pen into it.

The limbs were difficult to make and put into shape, as the clay was soft enough for the wire inside to cut or pierce through and bend out of shape. The legs were connected to the body the same way as the head, by inserting the end of the wire and wetting the clay to be able to merge it together.

Because of how flimsy and weak the clay was when I was creating the mini-beast, I had to use some folded newspaper to support the body, so that the legs would be in shape when it all dried and became more solid. Even though the the clay was stronger and able to support its weight after drying, it still felt rather brittle.