Final Project: Alicia Brechin

 Process:

     So this project was a rollercoaster and an experiment. I originally started thinking about this project over spring break because I was creating a homebrew dnd group that I would be running for the first time. How I came up with this idea and that whole process was in my Final Proposal blog, so I am just going to focus on the process that happened after that blog. I initially started by asking Ryan what  I could use as a prototype of sorts. We found a big piece of cardboard I could use and this was really helpful in figuring out the size and how big was too big. After making some base measurements I sketched out the design I wanted and took it to my DnD group and we created a map of the continents.

     Once I had a prototype down I worked on prototype number two. This would be a proof of concept prototype where I put the design in Adobe Illustrator and tried laser cutting it out on a smaller board. I learned two things from this process. One was that I needed to have all of my edges in the file marked and that I needed to make sure the edges lined up.

     However now that I had a proof of concept I needed to look at the materials available to me. After coming in after Ryan left on several occasions, I realized I didn't have access to the material storage room. So I emailed Ryan and asked if he had 1 in material and if the laser cutter could cut that thick of a material. After hearing his reply of "No it can only cut 1/4 in material or less" I needed to do some re-designing. I had originally planned that the board would consist of 8 pieces with the 4 sections being two pieces high reaching a height of 2 in and a dice box dept of 1 and a half inches. After realizing this couldn't be the case I re-designed it so that instead it would reach a total of 1 in tall and have a 3/4 in deep dice box. However, doing this meant that I would need to have a total of 16 layers with each section being 4 layers tall. Once I decided this would be alright I asked Ryan for the materials. I marked out the pieces originally thinking that I would use the chop saw to cut the section pieces and then laser cut the details. Dr. T suggested that it might be smarter for me to laser-cut the pieces as a whole instead of using the chop saw and then the laser cutter. I agreed, however, I quickly learned that with the level of detail, it delayed me by 3 hrs and killed the time I was going to use to put the other pieces of the project together. 

 

     Once those layers were down I started working on the continent pieces. These went significantly faster since they didn't have engravings and were just cuts. To my surprise, I ran into a lot of minor problems at this stage of my project. The first problem was that the islands, being so small meant I lost a lot to the holes in the laser cutter. This made me change my mind so that the island would only be on the top layer of the resin ocean instead of all the way down. The second problem I ran into was that at certain points the laser cutter didn't cut all the way through which meant some of my more fragile pieces ended up breaking when I was removing them from the board they were cut from. The third problem surprised me the most, and that was that despite using the same file the size of the continent pieces changed with each layer. However, since this change was really small and I was able to warp it into place with glue I was able to remedy this problem.

     At this point, I was really happy with my design despite being behind on my timeline. However, given the roughness of the centerpieces I decided to add a final top layer with the gloss side up so that the whole piece was consistent. I designed a map of sorts because I realized I didn't have time to create actual terrain for each of the areas. I also added rivers to be filled with resin water with I thought was a really cool touch. I got Ryan's help with the laser cutting of this piece because I didn't want it to take another 3 hours or more. After getting help it went a lot faster and I was really proud of how my design came out. An accidental mishap that ended up being perfect was that there was a warp in the board meaning that the top right side of the board was really close to the head of the laser. However, this worked out perfectly since that area was the dark forest it actually ended up darker than the other forest which was perfect for the design since the words didn't cut.

     At this point, I also decided to do the lid and the insides of the Dicebox. After some size mishaps, I was able to get it to be perfect and I was really happy with how it turned out.

    Now at this point, I was very behind on my timeline but was really happy with how everything was turning out. I thought I could still get this done by May 1st however this was not the case as mental health issues occurred causing me to be unable to work on my project. So pushing the date back to May 3rd I worked on putting down sand and gluing the final layers to prep for the resin pour. I was only able to get the island designed, the tower designed, the layers glued and the sand down.

     At this point, I had to look seriously at my design and my timeline. By this time it was already May 4th and I was leaving Trinity on the 6th. Seeing that I wouldn't be able to work on making the island or the tower until possibly Friday after my two finals and that the resin would take at least 24 hours to dry I decided to let go of the resin ocean. I will complete this piece at a later date on my own time, however, given the time frame I had to work with I realized I would be unable to complete this part of the project to turn it in. However, I was able to add the connector magnets and create the tower and Isl and pieces and add some finishing touches to the piece.

Result

     Below are the pictures I took of the final piece. While it didn't meet my initial expectations I am very happy with this design and this project overall.

     Sorry, I couldn't rotate the image. A note for my readers is that I am purposely leaving a space between my reflection and the results so that once I have completed this project to my desired level I will post an update with those images below. 

Reflection

     This project was a joy to create and it really pushed me to think critically about my design. I learned about issues with the design of the resin pouring given I wanted the two pieces to be separate. I also learned about how to problem-solve when pieces don't exactly line up in the way they are supposed to. My mental health toward the end of this semester deteriorated at a rate I wasn't expecting, and that severally impacted my ability to turn in a product that met every expectation I had. However, I am not finished with my design and I will definitely work on it over the summer to make sure it reaches my full design goals. I was really glad to be a part of this class and I am very happy with everything I learned and was able to create.