In my usual way of starting projects I have finished up
changing my idea that many times that I have come out with very little that I am
happy with. Lately I have had an unhealthy obsession with robots /cyborgs and
other things made from oversized pieces of metal. This has lead me to come up
with various ways to produce something that looks mechanical and impressive. My
very first thought was to construct a costume, because building a costume that
looks like a giant robot is achievable with the commitments I have in my life
at the moment. Yeah sure. So I wasted some time on that thought and looked into
how this could be done. After looking into how stilts are made and used, mechanical
puppetry, looking at similar things made by world class special effects
companies and wasting a few weeks dreaming about achieving all that in such a
short time I eventually realised that it wasn’t going to be possible and I would
like to have something to show at the end of all this.
Next came the animation,
because that doesn’t take long to do at all. I looked into Terry Gilliam
animation using cut-outs and how he uses animation to tell a joke and my head
flooded with little ideas of how I could link something like that into the AMW.
It seemed appropriate for the project and if I had had the idea from the start
then I may have been able to do something with it. So out the window that went.
My next idea was to just build the costume as a sculpture instead. I could
still build it, it just wouldn’t be wearable. So I looked into sculptures similar
to what I wanted to make. I recalled seeing scale models of characters made
entirely from nuts and bolts, cogs and chains and odd bits of scrap metal and I
thought that would be a good look to go with, but finding that much metal can’t
be easy and not only that, I can’t weld anyway.
To make up for that I decided
that I would build it out of rubbish. It’s a readily available and never ending
source of building materials and if done properly it has the possibility of
being painted to look like metal. Winner.
Well it would have been if we weren’t
already at the end of the project. So what I have finished up with is a handful designs for a robot.
I thought adding the girl alongside the robot was a
nice contrast. The idea was that the robot was supposed to come across as being
dangerous. I would still like to build it. I think it would be a cool piece of furniture
to have in my hallway.