Week 4 - Cutting supersurfaces
Zine design
Exploring material properties
As I stated in the previous week, I wanted to work with origami patterns. I already made an inspiration board with different patterns I could use. Because my contrast was flexible-rigid, I wanted to show the difference between these properties in a gradual manner. What I mean with that is that paper can be rigid and flexible at the same time.
To begin, I wanted to experiment with paper and look how it behaves when folded.
I quickly noticed that the thickness of the paper is a big factor for the behaviour when folding. When paper is thinner, like 30 gram standard A4, it can be folder more times. The downside is that the paper is more flimsy, and will not retain it's shape. In addition to that, wrinkles and unwanted folds can occur quickly.
When I started to fold thicker paper that was 80 gram, I could make slicker and nicer folds. The downside of the thicker paper is that the fold lines can get wrinkly. So you have to be careful when making these folds, because it can look ugly when you over do it.
The decision of material was made, so now I was looking for patterns to fold. In the previous week I looked up an academic paper of three Japanese students, Kazuya Saito, Akira Tsukahara and Yoji Okabe. Their research was all about folding lines in a herring-grate folding design.
Their aim was to make supporting structures in this classic folding design. They did so by creating holes in the corners of the fold.
Before looking into these advanced structures, I wanted to experiment with different paper thicknesses. My goal was to determine if the thickness of paper does attribute in the rigidity of my designs.
To make these designs, I created folding patterns in adobe illustrator. When I load these patterns into a laser cutter, I can make precise cuts in different kinds of paper. This will make the folding process much easier than when I would print the designs on the paper. Because I make the paper weaker on the cutted lines, the paper will retain it's rigidity and foldd more easily.
With my folding patterns and paper ready, I walked up to a laser printer and uploaded my files. To do so, you have to save your illustrator files in illustrator 8 first. Then you can open the RDCAM program on the computer attached to the laser cutter. When you import your file, there are different settings for each line in your design.
DOT - cut dots / lines in a perpetual fashion SCAN - kissing line that will not go entirely through your material CUT - cut through your material
For my first designs, I experimented with these functions. I used 30, 50 and 80 gram paper for these experiments.
In the image above are my first four experiments.
Top left : 80 gram paper, 15% laser power with cutting line Top right: 50 gram paper, dotted line, 10% laser power, 3 mm interval Bottom left; 30 gram paper, dotted line, 10% laser power, 1 mm interval Bottom right: 50 gram paper, dotted line, 15% laser power, 2 mm interval
When I started to fold these designs, I noticed that the thickness of the paper was very important for the rigidity of the design. I liked the 80 gram paper the best, because in a unfolded state my designs were flexible, but when folded they were solid and rigid.
The dotted lines were in my opinion the best way to cut the lines, because the lines wouldn't tear apart.
The next iteration I made was a dotted lined design on a 80 gram paper. From my previous experiments, these properties were the most rigid. I made 2mm dots with 2mm intervals, at 15% power.
This design is perfect, it is rigid but also foldable. It is flexible when unfolded. The next step is to add holes on the corners of the folds.
Unfortunatly, I didn't make pictures of the newest design I've made. I made holes on every corner with the cut function. This resulted in a more rigid and flexible design at the same time! It was easier to fold the design, because the holes made up more free space to make a fold. Because I could pinch the corners more tightly now, it could become more rigid as well.
For my sample book, I wanted to show a gradient of flexible folds to more rigid folds. I discovered that the more folds are made, the more rigid the herringgrate design would become. The most rigid design would become the cover of my book. With the cut function I wanted to write the title. The designs I wanted to print are as follows:
Reflection
During this week I was zine editor, and it took more time than I expected. Because of this, I couldn't commit my full time to the assignment of this week. The fact that Daniël got sick didn't help me in that perspective. Because making a zine was still a novel thing for me, my process could be smoother.
The cutting supersurfaces assignment opened my eyes concerning material properties. I liked how my designs turned out and how I manipulated the properties of paper. The other students delivered very cool work as well, and I learned a lot from them.
The laser cutter is a simple machine, once you know how to operate it. When I can use it again, I have some ideas I like to work out, like a keytag for my keychain.
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