My most recent project for my A&D 106 class required that we create something out of Red Bull/Pop cans. Those who decided to do their entire project out of Red Bull cans had the option of entering their work into a contest. If selected, their work would be shown in an exhibition for the company. I believe last year this was in Texas. [However, if entered, they would not get their artwork back.]
Personally I don’t drink a lot of Red Bull, nor do I know many that do, so I went the pop can route. I asked around and ended up with 2 garbage bags full of pop cans. Little did I know that I would need all of them.
I decided to make a dress out of the cans. At first I wanted it to look extremely futuristic but then a huge factor came into play: time. I had a week to make it. So I set off, making a strapless black dress [including a lining and invisible zipper] and punching out rounded rectangles with a tool I purchased at Hobby Lobby. In order to punch these shapes out, the can itself must first be deconstructed. Hence, I had to cut the top and bottom off every can in order to have a cylinder, that once slit, became a rectangle fit for puncturing.
I’m not sure how many shapes I punched, but it was about 90 cans with 4-5 punches per can. So a lot haha. And I used every single one. I was going to try and make a graphic motif but time deemed that impossible so I tried to incorporate more design into the dress by making the upper bodice all silver [the backside of the aluminum] and from the waist down a rainbow gradient, with the amount of shapes diminishing and fading as they reached the hem. At the hem I put a row of the rounded domes at the end of the cans, which contrasted nicely against the black fabric. The picture shown is the dress without anything glued on yet.
Attaching these proved interesting. Primarily I didn’t know what type of glue to use, so I asked a salesperson at home depot and they gave me caulking glue. Due to my lack of construction knowledge, I didn’t purchase a caulking gun, and when I tried to open the glue, I couldn’t squeeze it, ended up getting on Facebook chat around 1 AM, and my guy friend at IU told me what the problem was. The next day I bought 3 tubes of super glue and prayed it would work. It did! I got it all over my hands but it turned out swell.
For extra credit we could make a video of our creation in action so I decided to do a music video. The only video I could think of with the word “pop” in it was “Pop, Lock & Drop It” by Huey. This was also quite interesting, for I decided to go around campus in my get-up asking random people to do “pop, lock & drop it” or sing lyrics for me. Needless to say, I only got one random person to assist; the rest were my friends. And luckily I got a few pointers about editing videos from a future ambassador and fellow Apparel Tech major, Alysha Kupferer. Here is the youtube link if you would like to check it out:
After the video concluded I decided to add pop tab straps to it and a big red pop tab on the surface of the zipper on the back for an extra touch. Overall I loved this project! This class mainly focuses on expanding your design into construction and planning processes, for it is all 3-D art. Challenging, but interesting.
I hope everyone’s getting a chance to enjoy this wonderful weather! I’ll blog some more after dead week! :)
Personally I don’t drink a lot of Red Bull, nor do I know many that do, so I went the pop can route. I asked around and ended up with 2 garbage bags full of pop cans. Little did I know that I would need all of them.
I decided to make a dress out of the cans. At first I wanted it to look extremely futuristic but then a huge factor came into play: time. I had a week to make it. So I set off, making a strapless black dress [including a lining and invisible zipper] and punching out rounded rectangles with a tool I purchased at Hobby Lobby. In order to punch these shapes out, the can itself must first be deconstructed. Hence, I had to cut the top and bottom off every can in order to have a cylinder, that once slit, became a rectangle fit for puncturing.
I’m not sure how many shapes I punched, but it was about 90 cans with 4-5 punches per can. So a lot haha. And I used every single one. I was going to try and make a graphic motif but time deemed that impossible so I tried to incorporate more design into the dress by making the upper bodice all silver [the backside of the aluminum] and from the waist down a rainbow gradient, with the amount of shapes diminishing and fading as they reached the hem. At the hem I put a row of the rounded domes at the end of the cans, which contrasted nicely against the black fabric. The picture shown is the dress without anything glued on yet.
Attaching these proved interesting. Primarily I didn’t know what type of glue to use, so I asked a salesperson at home depot and they gave me caulking glue. Due to my lack of construction knowledge, I didn’t purchase a caulking gun, and when I tried to open the glue, I couldn’t squeeze it, ended up getting on Facebook chat around 1 AM, and my guy friend at IU told me what the problem was. The next day I bought 3 tubes of super glue and prayed it would work. It did! I got it all over my hands but it turned out swell.
For extra credit we could make a video of our creation in action so I decided to do a music video. The only video I could think of with the word “pop” in it was “Pop, Lock & Drop It” by Huey. This was also quite interesting, for I decided to go around campus in my get-up asking random people to do “pop, lock & drop it” or sing lyrics for me. Needless to say, I only got one random person to assist; the rest were my friends. And luckily I got a few pointers about editing videos from a future ambassador and fellow Apparel Tech major, Alysha Kupferer. Here is the youtube link if you would like to check it out:
After the video concluded I decided to add pop tab straps to it and a big red pop tab on the surface of the zipper on the back for an extra touch. Overall I loved this project! This class mainly focuses on expanding your design into construction and planning processes, for it is all 3-D art. Challenging, but interesting.
I hope everyone’s getting a chance to enjoy this wonderful weather! I’ll blog some more after dead week! :)
Ashley
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