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Special Carriers

9/24

On Thursday we discussed special carriers for objects. Certain carriers we immediatly associate with the objects they hold. Other (poorly designed) carries might not have any relation to what’s inside. In addition to the physical structure of a carrier, our interaction with that carrier is also important. Many carries have a ritual associated with opening them, like cigarettes.

I thought about soda (or sparkling water). Specifically ones that come in cans. The sound that they make when you crack the tab is unique to carbonated drinks.

Our assignment is to make a special carrier for an dinner party housewarming gift. The carrier must be made entirely out of cardboard, with no tape or glue or any other kind of fastener. Additionally, we were told to consider how the form of the carrier aligns with the object it carries. And there should be some form of interaction with the carrier in the process of opening it. We are also how useful, usable, and desirable our carrier is.

The object I was assigned was flavored vinegar. Over the weekend I made a cardboard model of the vinegar bottle and filled it with rocks to mimic the weight of the bottle.

In addition to making a dummy of our object we were also assigned to make two, six inch, three sided corners. One of these corners could be attatched with glue, tape, or another fastener while the other corner had to be made entirely from cardboard.

I sketched out a few different concepts for how to attatch my cardboard only corner.

Because I was very excited about working with cardboard I decided to try the most difficult method first. I attempted to weave the cardboard together. I had two iterations of the woven corner; in the first iteration I wove only one side and in the second iteration I wove two sides.

Because the cardboard was so stiff it did not lend well to being bent and woven. The cardboard would not stay in place and the sides became very bent.

But, I was still interested in trying unconventional ways of attatching my cardboard and I enjoyed using a method that is typically used with textiles for cardboard. So I came up with the idea to sew my corner together. I’ve done a lot of work with embroidery and have a lot of experience sewing both cloth and paper. For my sewn corner I cut out a single L shaped sheet so that I would only need to sew a single corner. I created string out of cardboard by cutting an extremely thin strip and peeling apart a single layer of the cardboard. Then I measered holes along the sides which needed to be sewn and threaded the cardboard string through a giant needle. I wasn’t sure if my corner would hold once I finished but it did!

I’m not sure if I will incorporate this method into my final carrier because it was quite time consuming to sew and I am not certain how sturdy it is. However, I definitly want to experiment with using the sewing and the weaving because they are both unique and interesting to look at.

For my corner which was supposed to be aesthetically please and could be attatched with a fastener I decided to continue with the sewing theme. Instead of cardboard thread, I used brown embroidery floss.

8/27

For class we were told to create three carriers and we could do the most basic or obvious ideas.

I sketched out three ideas that were each made from a single sheet of cardboard.

Probably my most basic idea was a kind of box with handles for the bottle. This required the most complicated assembly of all my ideas because it had a lot of different tabs. I realized I definitly need to work on the best shape and method for cutting out the tabs as this attempt ended up looking very messy.

Another idea I had was to zig zag the cardboard around the bottle and then have a straight back to support it. When I was cutting out the shapes though, I made a mistake in where I was making the cut outs. However, this worked out for the best as I ended up being able to support the bottle without the cardboard back. I like the simplicity of this design but I don’t think much is interesting about the opening of the carrier. Additionally, it reminds be of carrying a 6-pack of beer in a cardboard box which I think is too casual for a fancy flavored vinegar gift.

Another idea I had was to hold the bottle sideways as apposed to vertically. Basically, I made a folder with cut outs to fit the vinegar bottle. I also like how simple this design is but it needs a bit more stability. Also, I think it looks like a purse or briefcase and im not sure if that’s ok or is distracting.

Finally, I decided to stack cardboard to create a compartment which you can set the vinegar bottle into. For today I cut out separate sheets and glued them together but if I were to continue with this idea I could cut out the outline multiple times from one long sheet of cardboard and fold it over itself. This idea I thought was sort of boring although it did present the vinegar in a way that looked very valuable.

10/3

On Tuesday I saw everyone’s prototypes all together for the first time. We also listed all the different criteria we had considered when making our carriers. I had considered many of the criteria listed when making my designs but I had focused on some more than others. One of my main conscerns was the safety of my object. The vinegar bottle is heavy and made of glass so it needs to be well protected. In addition to how safe my carrier actually was I had to take into consideration how safe it looked. Many of my carriers exposed much of the vinegar bottle which made people worried even though the carrier was still safe.

After class I was still unsure of which carrier to focus on and I still had more ideas. So, instead of focusing in on one carrier I had already made I tried a new idea. I made two identical rectangles with cutouts of the vinegar bottle inside them. Then I cut opposite slits in each of the pieces of cardboard so the would fit together.

I liked how this idea was going although I hadn’t quite figured out how to put handles on it. However, when I was putting the vinegar bottle into the carrier it fell out and shattered. This made me realize that the carrier was not very safe and the process of taking the bottle in and out was dangerous.

10/6

In class on Thursday we did a “speed dating” exercise with our carriers. I recieved a lot of feedback about one of my carriers which looked sort of like a purse. From both the people I talked to it was very obvious how the carrier worked. The cutouts made it obvious where the object went and the handles clearly showed how it should be held. Both people thought the woven straps were interesting and aesthetically pleasing. However, they also thought the straps looked weak and were concerned if they could really hold the bottle. Additionally, they were concerned that the bottle would slip out the front or back as you were carrying it. If I had brought the actual bottle to demonstrate with it would’ve been more obvious how the cutouts actually work to support the bottle from falling out that way. Also, I agreed with both people that there was a lot of extra unnecessary space in my carrier and that it could be made smaller. Jenny commented that my carrier was very simple and served a single purpose of transportation. She said there was barely any interaction with the carrier and it didnt feel “special”.

I agreed with most of the feedback about my carrier. Some things had easier solutions than others. But the fact that my carrier looks unsafe is difficult to fix as concealing the carrier might look safer but it would be less interesting. The issue of making my carrier feel more special is I think my biggest problem.

This weekend I made a new version of my carrier which is smaller. I also tried out different methods of keeping the straps in place because previously I had been using tape. I am slightly worried about the time that it will take the weave the straps during the demonstration but I think if I cut clean slits in the cardboard and practice I can do it in a reasonable amount of time.

In addition to editing the one carrier I tried making a vertical version of the same carrier. However, the base was very unstable and I was concerned the bottle would fall out especially after I had already experienced that once.

10/10

Class on Tuesday was extremely helpful. It was very informative to hear all of Steve and Stacie’s comments on not just my vinegar carrier but also on other people’s. I heard that the orientation of my vinegar bottle in the carrier was uncomfortable because it is full of liquid. Also, Steve commented on the handles and how they were both too small and the raw edge of the cardboard was uncomfortable. And I realized I needed to edit the clasp which I added to close the bottle.

I sketched out a few different ideas and decided to refine my vertical version of the horizontal vinegar purse. In order to make the base more stable I lengthened it to the entire width of the base of the bottle. But I still allowed the bottle to pop out slightly of the cutouts buy only increasing the width of the base under the bottle but keeping the narrower width through the rest of the bottom of the carrier. To fix the issues of the handles and of keeping the carrier closed I only cut out one of the handles on 3 of its sides so that I could push it through the other handle. However, this isn’t a very stable solution and I am still working through how to refine it.

In order to minimize the number of pieces in my model I changed the straps which held the bottle. Instead of separate pieces, I cut out the outside layers of the carboard so that only the corregation was left. Then the corregation stretched out over the bottle to hold it in.

10/12

In class on Thursday we critiqued our carriers one final time before they are due. People said that my straps did not look very secure and to find a way to make them sturdier. Additionally, I knew going into the crit that I had to refine my handle slightly but I was glad to hear that Steve thought it was much better than before.

For my handle I wanted to try doing an oval shape as opposed to a rectangle. The oval would be more comfortable to hold than the rectangle. Additionally, the oval shape would keep the tab from coming out while the rectangular shape needed indentations in the cutout to keep the tab in place. To figure out the proper sizing for the new handle I did multiple sketch models.

Finally, I found the correct size for the oval and realized that both the cutout and the tab could be exactly the same size and the tab would still stay in place.

For the straps I tried to find ways to keep the stronger outer layer of the cardboard on the straps while still making them long enough. In earlier models I had used separate pieces of cardboard for the straps but these were to intricate and time consuming to use for the final. I tried cutting the outer layer of cardboard along the corregation to allow the corregation to stretch out while maintaining all three layers. I also decided to make my straps 2 centimeters instead of 1 to make them even more supportive.

The final carrier:

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