If you really want to witness all the crazy over-thinking that went on in my head during the challenge, there are more complete notes over at Flickr. Click on thumbnails below, or if you just want the overview check out the slideshow.
In summation:
Materials purchased:
- fruit leather, apple and apricot flavors (bought for it’s visual appeal, flexibility, and pierce-ability)
- toothpicks, both plain round and fancy cinnamon breath-freshening type (bought thinking they would be used as rivets)
- cooking twine (bought thinking that if all else fails, it’s good to have some string)
- bulk whole cloves (bought thinking they would be used as fancy rivets)
- bulk raw sugar (purchased for Plan B)
- bulk cream of tartar (purchased for Plan B)
Total spent: $18
Materials actually used in final product: apricot fruit leather, fancy toothpicks
Tools used: exact-o knife, large yarn needle
What is this Plan B?: An idea which came from some earlier work I’ve done. I’ll post more about it if I do, but here’s a clue. In retrospect I think I would’ve had to start working on it earlier in the week. So it’s good the fruit leather worked out.
Things I did poorly:
- unreasonable expectations of how much I could get done
- would’ve liked to get the piercing of the fruit leather to be more complex, and visually cleaner
- no clue as to how much time posting and documenting would take
- ended up with only one hour to produce final product
- frustrated that I couldn’t take better photos which depicted the visual appeal of the material
Things I think I did well:
- used time earlier in the week when I wasn’t able to work directly to brainstorm and sort through idea
- used another material to make experimental prototypes
- predicted well how material could be manipulated
- embraced simplicity
- realized, just in time that I needed to revise my ambitions
- didn’t have to resort to using the cooking twine or any non-grocery store items
- got inspired about a lot of other possibilities
- realized that I am so cheap that it was hard for me to buy food that wouldn’t be eaten
Evaluation of final piece:
- wearable?: yes, at least for a moderate amount of time, might be heavy for some folks, a little sticky
- durable?: well…I’m pretty sure that the fruit leather will dry over time. Less sticky would be good, but if it gets too brittle, they will break. Also, the toothpick earposts will clearly not take too much wear and tear, since I already broke one.
- visual appeal?: I like them, though I wish I’d had time to tweak size and proportion, and to work on a more complex piercing design.
If anybody has felt drawn in to the fun, Annie has posted next weeks challenge here. I’m in!
