Write about the big ideas behind your project? What are the goals? Why did you make it? What are your motivations?
My goal for this project was to create a ring holder that matched my already existing bracelet holder that looked like an elephant. I wanted the holder to be small and not take up much space and be able to hold 2-3 rings.
[How does your outcome relate to other work in the field? What makes it similar or different to other objects of the same genre? How have other objects failed to solve the problem you have identified?]
Other ring holders tend to be simple round spokes or dishes that people can place their rings in. This ring holder was designed to be more decorative and still be able to serve the purpose of holding rings. Since other ring holders tend to be more simple, they sometimes fail to seem intriguing on their own when they are not serving their function.
[What influenced your design? Is there a specific style, art movement, or natural phenomena? Include at least one example. Can be a still image, video, or music.]
My design was influenced originally by a bracelet holder I have that is shaped like an elephant. I then thought back to a ring holder I had gotten a friend once that was in the shape of a whale where the water being sprayed out the blow hole was what held the rings and thought I could integrate these two ideas and create a ring holder with the influence of the elephant design.
[Outline your approach to the project. What steps did you take to design, model, sketch, and prototype this projects? What ideas did you generate and how did you refine or reject them? How did you use cutting, etching, scoring? What challenges were encountered and how did you resolve them? Include photos of prototypes, redesigned sketches, design worksheets, and failed trails.]
After deciding I wanted my design to be an elephant ring holder, I began to model in Fusion 360. I tried a few different methods in Fusion. My first strategy was to create half of the elephant and then mirror it to create the other half. However, this plan was more complicated than expected because of the difficulty to accurately model half an elephant. My second plan was to fully model the elephant by using a reference picture in Fusion. While this method worked better, it still proved challenging with issues such as the trunk and legs.
[Reflect on the process of making this project. What did you learn? What would you do differently?]
In this project I learned that 3D modelling for something to be printed is more difficult than 3D modelling for something to be laser cutted. Modelling the volumes and sizes is more difficult when its more of a mass and also trying to keep in mind if the pieces would be supported was something to consider when modelling. If I were to redo this project I would try to make sure the trunk was more supported so it would not have failed to print. Also giving the elephant 4 legs would be a more stable design element for the elephant.
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