a designer in progress

end of semester breakdown

cabrita — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:13:18 +0000

Professional Practice portfolio: turned in…after a lot of Clint-hunting.

Studio: done. Everything else got pushed out of the way so I could finish this stuff.

Alias & WireFusion class: failed…with small chance of getting an incomplete. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

Circadian Rhythms: WTF, I don’t have them anymore.

All of my possessions except my camera: in my parents’ garage.

My camera: in David’s shop

State of mind: weak.

I made it all the way to the end! Only one more year to go… o.O

redesign

cabrita — Sun, 03 May 2009 13:02:48 +0000

I redesigned my cup/plate/saucer project to make the cup more compact, and the design overall more interesting and innovative.

I think this is also a testament to how much better I’ve gotten at SolidWorks throughout this semester. That handle is ridiculous magic.

come to the party!

cabrita — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:56:05 +0000

So, we finished the bar. It’s quite amazing…

Now, we’re moving on to 3D CAD and renderings.

And the party. It’s going to be an epic celebration! You should definitely come out. You’ll catch our 24-foot bar, a full-size barista station, a bankteller space, and a barbershop! It’s kind of a big deal…

!

cabrita — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:41:38 +0000

Yeah, I think that laminate should probably not be cut on the tablesaw. At least not while I’m in the building. It’s a real shame that I’m allergic to everything. If we still lived by survival of the fittest, I would have been gone a LOOOOOONG time ago.

Also, it’s kinda cute that we thought we might go home early tonight. We ended up staying even later than yesterday. Yeehaw.

We still need to finish the top surface. Then we can work on the cart and the well.

Slow and steady wins the race!

sixteen hours…

cabrita — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:21:32 +0000

So, I’m guessing the post-by-midnight rule doesn’t apply when you’re still in the shop working at midnight…with your professor… Yep, today’s been a long day. I’m super-impressed that David stayed with us all day long…letting us use HIS tools in HIS shop. Cool!

A quick recap:
-We got kerf board from the AWPL. Twice. Yay!
-Table saws are a little less intimidating to me now.
-Why am I afraid of a table saw if I’m not afraid of a 22-caliber nail gun?!
-We got our foundation down. In the concrete. Maybe permanently.

So, it’s been a good day all-in-all. Time to rest up!

well, we would’ve gotten work done…

cabrita — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:04:23 +0000

if it weren’t for that disgusting cockroach! I feel better knowing that I’m not alone in my crippling fear of icky bugs.

Seriously, though, we got some good work done today. A lot of it was on the mental front, but knowing is half the battle, right? We’re going to finish dimensioned drawings and a scaled model this weekend, so we’ll be ready to roll with our full-scale models on Monday. Yeehaw!

bar inspiration

cabrita — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:59:56 +0000

I spent a little time at Barnes & Noble last night browsing through a few books about bar design.

Some key points:

glowing is always good. the more glow, the better. especially under-the-bar glowing. it looks great!

high contrast is really important, since you’re virtually in the dark while you’re bartending.

you don’t really need lots of color. simple, honest colors that highlight different materials look really nice.

I’m including some relevant photos…

on how i’m pretty nerdy…

cabrita — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:58:47 +0000

So, I’m sure we all have our reasons why we’re ready for school to be out for the summer. Traveling, limitless sleep, seeing family and friends…I’m looking forward to all of these things. However, throughout this school year, I’ve amassed a small collection of design books.

Most of them are about sketching, but I’ve also got a couple on type and layout. I just really feel like those are some of my biggest (and most evident) weaknesses, and I’d like to improve on them before I graduate. Mainly, I want to find my own style in sketching. I was talking to Cristina about a fellow student I thought had gotten really good at sketching, and Cristina said something interesting: the other student hasn’t really gotten any better, she’s just found her style and discovered how to make it work for her. That sounds like a good idea…sign me up.

Also, I visited some friends last night, and they got a bunny!

Here’s Keebler loungin’ out in a way I’ve never seen a rabbit lounge before.

And a sepia shot to tone down the creepy, evil red-eye.

And, to continue with more animal pictures, I saw a donkey when I was visiting my grandparents the other day…crazy! From the looks of things, he saw me too… o.O

shaping up

cabrita — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:23:08 +0000

Things in studio seem to be coming together nicely. I really like the direction our concept is taking, and I’m really excited about making a full-scale model! …mainly the welding part. I want to weld.

The seating project is starting to be a bit disappointing to me. Nothing’s really happening; the design decisions just feel arbitrary, and we’re starting to be controlled by software and time constraints. So… I feel like it’s just going to end up being a let-down. Maybe I should keep that to myself, but I just wish it could have been better. C’est la vie.

That’s all I got for right now. I’m going to sleep long and hard tonight!

baby steps…

cabrita — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:39:15 +0000

So, my to-do list from now until the end of the semester is quite long. I decided today to cross off a few stragglers that had just been hanging around for a month or so, while the pace is somewhat slow…I believe this is typically known as the calm before the storm.

I also decided to post some pictures I took in New Orleans for your viewing pleasure…

Enjoy!