Using the plans and models that I made, I did a little research into how expensive it would be to purchase all of the necessary materials to make a chair or two (not counting more pond liner or more non-newtonian fluid). As per usual, it was a lot. As the bards of yore once sang, "Money money money/ must be funny/ in a rich man's world." I ain't laughin'.
I did this research on McMaster-Carr, a website that sells "over 555,000 products". The cool thing about McMaster-Carr is that one can download a 3D file of any one of their machine parts to determine if it's the right size/shape. The codes in the chart are the product codes for the parts. In total, excluding some trivial parts that I would likely buy elsewhere, one chair would cost $343.10 to build, and two chairs would cost $677.80. Jan teaches that price is no measure of product and that people don't buy things according to price (instead, people buy well-designed things, he leads us to believe). I adamantly disagree. Most of my purchasing is completely determined by price. I buy my clothes secondhand, I get the cheapest soaps, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, etc. As such, I do not have the money to make such purchases, especially after spending so much money on this project already. Therefore, a new design problem for this project (one that would normally go without saying) is staying within the confines of my budget. This gets into what I hope to do after graduating. I applied to the Wallenberg Fellowship in an effort to research resourcefulness in Russia. In |
my opinion, the creativity that presents itself when resources are low is the most amazing and valuable kind. Knowing how to make and fix things on a very low budget is an art form. In my own artwork separate from schooling, I build sculptures out of found E-waste. I want to design and build things that recycle old materials. To stay on budget for this project, therefore, I am likely going to build the finished product out of more found objects than previously thought. I was already doing experiments with used chairs, now perhaps the frame of the finished chair(s) will be made of dismantled chairs.
Speaking of which, I spent all of yesterday shopping:
Speaking of which, I spent all of yesterday shopping:
Metal chair of approximately the proportions I am working with. I intend to remove everything from the metal frame, flip it upside down, attach where the armrests were to a board, and use the bottom as the armrests and back shown in my design. This chair is specifically for draping and experimenting with the pond liner, but only spending $15 on a frame instead of $300 is much more appealing. The agenda for today and tomorrow (MLK day) is to construct some testing apparatuses. i need to figure out how to seal the pond liner to itself without it leaking, ripping, or looking hideous. I also need to move the massive couch mock-up that's taking up half of my second studio (which will require emptying out the bladder of goop). | 3 sheets of the cheapest 2' x 4' x 7/16" plywood: $15 2 used 5-gallon buckets: $2 32' of used copper piping: $48 ($1.50 for every foot) |