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Contextual Statement

‘Bloom’ is a project about telling time using a three-dimensional (3D) form, the concept of telling time has been around since 1500 BC (Foer, 2008) and finding different ways to tell the time has always been an interesting idea to me. This project is about the idea of nature and how it exists everywhere and combining it with a man-made concept about telling time. Using a 3D flower to observe the change over a certain period of time could be an interesting way of observing the subtle passing of time around you. The flower is supposed to represent a rather vague sense of passing time because the audience will view this exhibition differently than how they track time use clocks and other devices.

People use clocks and other devices to tell time everyday and it has become a major need for humanity in general, but in certain situations observing time can get stressful (Belsky, 2016). This project is designed to help observe time in a different way so people aren’t counting each second the hand moves on a clock, but rather waiting for a flower to fully bloom and show it’s beauty.

There are many projects similar to this one in the way that people observe time without using clocks. The first example is the ‘Aluna Project’, “...an illuminated forty-meter-wide glass-and-steel lunar clock powered by the tides of the Thames.” (Foer, 2008) which was built in London before the summer Olympics. Another example is the seasonal clock called ‘The Present’, which is an annual clock based on the seasons (Campbell-Dollaghan, 2017). One more example is a giant hourglass called the ‘Time Wheel’ which was built in Budapest, and is also an annual clock which is reset every year (News, Fegyó, Kovács, Lajtai-Szabó & Béni, 2014). The ‘Time Wheel’ is a great example similar to my project where the artefact is observed over time, which provides a different perspective when observed.

This exhibition is not designed to be viewed once or twice, it’s designed for it to be present in everyone’s day to day life to be observed and acknowledged by the audience. The reason I chose a flower to represent time is because flowers always had the natural sense of time ever since they existed (Godley, 1979). This flower is based off the Lotus flower because of multiple reasons, the main one being that it’s considered one of the most beautiful, and not just because it’s a flower but since it grows in shallow ponds (Ravenscroft, 2011). According to Ravenscroft “...has special significance in Hinduism, where its meaning is strongly associated with Laxmi and Brahma.” (2011).

This project is considered a Creative Technologies project because of it’s association with technology and using it to create a physical form from digital form for a significant purpose, which is to be in the real world and observed as part of our reality. As far as space is concerned it currently doesn’t take up much space but certainly creates an atmosphere in the space, due to it’s slow movements it creates a calming experience for the viewers.

The methodology for this project involved a quantitative approach in the second half of the semester once there were some physical parts to work with. Simulations and research was conducted over the first half of the semester to ensure it would be able to work with Arduino once it was 3D printed. After the mid-semester break an experimental approach was taken which is not ordinary with 3D printing because you would have to reprint it if anything was wrong. Having something 3D printed early on in the year helped with making the second print.

In the future, this project can be used in many different possible ways to fit particular users, or it can be a large exhibition somewhere where people can observe it throughout the day, like in Aotea Square for example. Either way this project has potential to become something more than just a 3D printed moving object, whether it be a new type of alarm clock or a sculpture somewhere. An example of another use could be to set reminders for when the flower fully bloomed, according to Tresca (2013) stress can be related to poor time management.

The base of this project could be used in other Creative Technologies projects by making an interactive part to the flower, like using sound to open it or light. Having sensors and other activators could provide some interesting ideas for this project using a quantitative methodology.

Conceptual Statement

What really strived me to create this exhibition was that everyone is so concerned with the current time it can actually cause stress (Lang, 1992). There is always a need to just relax and forget about time specifically, like when you have the day off and stay at home to relax or when you’re ill and need to rest. With this flower people can set reminders for when the flower fully bloomed, according to Tresca (2013) stress can be related to poor time management. I believe that the telling of time shouldn’t be feared or stressful and the aim for this project wasn’t to change that but give the option to rely on something beautiful to observe and forget about the minutes and seconds that tick away.

In terms of a learning experience I had to take the experimental approach because I didn’t really know how the flower would be able to move in terms of weight, friction and space. After I made the prototype it was quite difficult to assemble all the parts because there were so many things I didn’t think about when working on it digitally, like how the connectors needed to be in a fixed position and not actually be able to move at all while the petals actually needed more space to fit once I found out that I needed some plastic to reduce the friction because the material is quite rough.

After doing some research I decided to try and re-model everything on Fusion 360, which was quite risky because of time constraints but after learning I can 3D print everything together I thought that was the best course of action. There were plenty of risks involved with doing it this way, such as the tolerance between the joints being quite small causing it to not move. However, the risk to benefit ratio made me realise that doing it this way could mean I’d have a working flower and focus more on the overall aesthetic.

The most challenging part of this project was putting everything together physically because once it was printed it was basically glued stuck and wouldn’t move at all. After actually getting it free which was much more difficult than I thought and did involve actually breaking off some bits of the object to free it up. Heaps of constraints and roadblocks popped up as time passed and it only got more challenging but using the quantitative methodology I was able to finally find a way to get the flower to actually open and close by itself. Getting the servo motor to work wasn’t very hard because i had some help and there were heaps of examples on the internet that helped as well.

What went well was the time it took to actually model and print the parts, as well as that I’m more experiences working on the computer to make the parts. The parts developed very nicely and I’m glad I was able to learn the basics of Fusion 360 in time to print the final prototype.

Next time I want to make sure I have explored every possibility when it comes to printing parts because I didn’t actually know that I could print everything at once until around week 11. I also would model the flower to look like and actual flower rather than just basing the petal design only on a flower, because I needed to make the base of the petals around a ring rather that connected from a stem. This project currently has quite a few design flaws such as the lever extending past the base so I had to glue some blocks underneath to give the lever some room to move. Another flaw is the print itself, all the joints were glued and there was no way to remove them other than cutting the limbs themselves. Next time I would make these improvements so it can just be printed and require much little clean-up by making the joints be clipped on and off.

One major problem I haven’t really been able to fix is the starting position of the lever seems to change which causes the lever to either not lift high enough or lift the flower too high and get stuck, the only work around I can think of is to update the code and then once it’s on it must stay on, which could be a problem after a long period of time.

Overall I really enjoyed making this flower and I believe pretty much everyone can get some use out of it and even learn something. Personally I have learned heaps, I have never 3D printed something that I had personally made and then actually got it to move mechanically. I would definitely do this project again.

References:

Scott, D. 1960: Seasonal behaviour in some montane plant species. N.Z. Journal of Science 3: 694-9.

E. J. Godley (1979) Flower biology in New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 17:4, 441-466, DOI: 10.1080/0028825X.1979.10432564

Foer, J. (2008). A Minor History Of / Time without Clocks. Retrieved October 2, 2017, from http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/29/foer.php

Tresca, A. (2013). Understanding Stress Related to Time Management. Retrieved October 3, 2017, from http://stress.lovetoknow.com/Stress_Related_to_Time_Management

Ravenscroft, D. (2011). Lotus Flower Meaning and Symbolisms. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://www.lotusflowermeaning.net/

Belsky, G. (2016, February 29). Staying Calm and Getting Back to Sleep. Retrieved October 5, 2017, from http://www.health.com/health/condition-article/0,,20188536,00.html

Campbell-Dollaghan, K. (2017, May 02). The Present, A Clock That Tells Time By Season, Is Finally For Sale. Retrieved August 03, 2017, from https://www.fastcodesign.com/1671516/the-present-a-clock-that-tells-time-by-season-is-finally-for-sale

News, D., Fegyó, K., Kovács, Z., Lajtai-Szabó, G., & Béni, A. (2014, March 31). The Biggest Hourglass Of The World in Budapest. Retrieved August 02, 2017, from https://dailynewshungary.com/the-biggest-hourglass-of-the-world-in-budapest/