One of the books I read this week was David Neat's, Model-Making, Materials and Methods. This book is an extremely useful source of information for general model-making processes, methods, practices, and materials. This is particularly helpful for students or professionals starting out in any discipline involving accurate scale models. For instance, industries such as theatre or film design, special effects, animation, architecture or interior design. However, more simply it's about the challenge of making small-scale forms, regardless of their purpose. Therefore, it appeal to anyone interested in the process of making 3D forms.
The book has seven chapters, the first one being the introduction, then the rest of them covering the topics of constructing, methods of casting, working with metals, modelling, creating surfaces, and painting. One of the extracts from the methods of casting chapter I found especially intriguing. The text gave a detailed explanation of how to cast a chair using silicone rubber and resin. “Because the components of the chair are very small, slender and with fine surface detail, only a good quality silicone rubber will serve for the mould and only a resin will have the necessary strength when cast.” The outlined process went further in depth about the construction of the base and walls made of PVC for the chair prototype to sit in, the correct ratio of silicone and catalyst to mix together to make the mould, and the mixing of the two-part polyurethane resin to be used as the cast. It also gave another example of this moulding and casting process but for panelled doors this time.
It then went on to talk about casting rocks using Geflex and plaster, the reason for using these materials was due to the fact that they are cheaper than silicone rubber and polyurethane resin. “The rock formation shown here is a more solid, robust form. Although silicone rubber and polyurethane resin is would still be good choices for reproducing it, there are cheaper and quicker alternatives.” The rock prototype was also modelled using Super Sculpey as it is more of a rounded natural form which is easier to sculpt then construct, and as it is meant for oven baking at 130 degrees it will also withstand the Geflex, hardening in the process. It then explained how to build Lego pieces up to create a wall around the prototype, tapping them to the base the piece is sitting on, to then pour the melted Geflex into, forming the mould. It also mentioned how the correct ratio of plaster to water is important for a strong cast.
I also found the creating surfaces chapter very knowledgeable. It gave lots of examples of the different kinds of surfaces you can create for a range of models, from structured industrial surfaces to organic environments. Some of these were made using not only artificial but natural substances. For instance, how a 1:100 scale model of a shipwreck was created using a combination of subtraction and addition. “The styrene build was broken down in places using a Dremel tool and fine sand was added to paint for further texturing.” It also gave several examples of the different surfacing effects using Kapa-line foam, filler impressed with a textured sponge finished with a thin wash of paint, foam surfaces partially painted with tools used to texture them, defined areas of foam pushed down to create a layered effect, scoring brick patterns, using decorative papers including ‘marbled’ paper and embossed patterns, using vinyl wallpaper to suggest stonework and textured acrylic glass giving the impression of glazing, stained wooden surfaces using obeche wood, creating the effect of wood using coarsely sanded PVC, creating earth effects using coloured Polyfilla, how foam can be treated differently for different effects, and surfaces made by scattering materials into glue.
Another book I looked into was The Language of Things, by Deyan Sudjic. This book focuses on design, luxury, fashion, and art, how we are seduced by the objects around us, and how every object tells a story. It presents the idea that every object has a hidden meaning, it decodes our relationship with them, and explains how they shape our lives and why we desire them. “Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases, and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. And understanding it offers us a whole new way of seeing the world.” “An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft – every object tells a story.”
I found the luxury chapter fascinating. “’Luxury’, the architect Rem Koolhaas once claimed, ‘is stability’. Picking up speed in his usual declamatory way he went on to deliver himself of a manifesto: ‘Luxury is “waste”. Luxury is generous. Luxury is intelligent. Luxury is rough. Luxury is attention’.” A good example of luxury used in the book was Bentley. “Bentley is a brand owned by Germans, with a design team led by a Brazilian, but both its Continental and Armage models attempt to project a certain kind of Englishness. The difference is that one costs rather more than the other.” It brings up the argument of what creates the sense of luxury, complexity or simplicity? “Amid all the work that has gone on in wind tunnels testing aerodynamic forms, on the fuel efficiency of the engine, and on the lightening of the structure while retaining the car’s road-holding and crash survival characteristics, the music system may seem less than trivial. But it is the details that create the sense of luxury.”
“The counter-intuitive truth is that simplicity is expensive. It is almost always more costly or more damaging than elaboration, and superfluous complexity.”
This could inform my essay in the IM unit as we I might talk about the meanings, ideas and theories behind certain objects, such as luxury items. I might also talk about how luxury is defined, what makes an object a luxury, and what do we as consumers associate as a luxury.
Lastly, I read up on the book Scar Tissue, which is a biography on Anthony Kiedis written by himself and Larry Sloman. I read up on this book as it relates to the theme of my current project which is how musicians might rely on the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, and whether they enhance creativity and musical performance, or diminish it. Anthony Kiedis is the lead singer of the rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of the most beloved bands in the world. Anthony lives in Los Angeles, Ca. Area. “Wild spirited women, regular near-death and demeaning drug decadence are all recalled with a refreshing lack of regret or romanticising...in this riveting, exemplary rock read.” Here are a couple of quotes from the book, introducing his lifestyle, his drug addiction and rehabilitation story, and his love and passion for music and his brotherhood. “Three years ago, there might have been China White heroin in that syringe. For years and years, I filled syringes and injected myself with cocaine, speed, Black Tar heroin, Persian heroin, and once even LSD. But today I get my injections from my beautiful nurse, whose name is Sat Hari. And the substance that she injects into my bloodstream is ozone, a wonderful-smelling gas that has been used legally in Europe for years to treat everything from strokes to cancer.” “For twenty years now, I've been able to channel my love for music writing, and tap into the universal slipstream of creativity and spirituality, while writing and performing our own unique sonic stew with my brothers, both present and departed, in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is my account of those times, as well as the story of how a kid who was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, migrated to Hollywood and found more than he could handle at the end of the rainbow. This is my story, scar tissue and all.”
Reference list - Bibliography
1) Neat, D., n.d. Model-making.
2) Sudjic, D., 2009. The language of things. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
3) Kiedis, A., Sloman, L. and Pournin, C., 2007. Scar tissue. [Paris]: Flammarion.
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