#cloud cascade

Summary: For the final project of Design: Thinking Through Making, we had to make an "aerial" installation. My group decided to make a rippling cloud canopy based on the mechanism from a Jacob's Ladder. Instead of flat rectangles, we used triangular prisms for each link of this play on a Jacob’s Ladder so that modules could catch the wind and rotate. Also, instead of just one “ladder”, we had 3 next to each other to form the canopy. The “ladders” were strung up overhead with lines going through the ends of the ladders and anchored to the walls of the courtyard. The modules were made from fiberglass kite rods and ripstop Nylon in order to make them as light as possible. It was conceptually very cool and looked very pretty, but it’s still hard to get strong enough winds for these ladders that we made as light as possible. Still, by gently tapping the modules of the “ladder” into the air, one could trigger the ripple effect. What I Learned: machine sewing ripstop nylon, how Jacob’s ladders work, and an understanding of the need for even lighter ultra-light materials to cooperate with reasonable wind speeds.