Final thoughts and Hero's Gala

This has been a very extensive project that has taken a lot of time, effort, planning and resources. Starting out I did not think we would get as far as being actual finalists in the Red Cross Hero's Gala Wearable Art Fashion Show. This project was quite an experience from beginning to end. The brainstorming, preparation and execution of the plan we came up with for the backpack was constantly being adjusted as we built the it. It seemed every time we came up with something we were tweaking it as the next part was being put into place.

Finalized...

It has been quite a road to get to the finish and I have to say that the backpack looks pretty good for what we had to go through to get it all together and working. Ali did great work getting the guts of the radio Rickey donated into the backpack and Ankhoa did some soldering to make sure the wires all stayed together. Jon, Jen and myself did the final bracing and drilling this past week to make sure the backpack won't wobble when worn and to get the LED panel attached to the backpack. The following are some pics of the various stages. We also applied another coat of paint to the panels to give a smoother finish. The speakers were also attached and everything was tested to make sure it works.

On the final steps...

This past week our mini group has met with the model that is going to be wearing our cross, Filip is about my height so the cross fit him just fine and he was comfortable moving around in it. There are some adjustments to one of the straps we have to make and finish the bracing that will hold on the LED board along with brackets to hold the panels in place. Ali and co. have figured out the power situation so everything should go together and we should a fully operational Deathstar backpack capable of conveying information visually and aurally. I snapped some pics of the progress we have made and here we go!

On Painting...

Last Thursday I picked up some primer and red paint (in spray can form). The team then dragged the cross backpack down to the Art college spray booth (a spray booth is extremely nice to have access to, I'll miss it for sure) and proceeded to give the whole thing a primer coat. The front panels were also given a decent coat of red, I think I did an ok job. I would have liked more time to lay down a better base coat of primer I just didn't know that access to the spray booth room pretty much stops at 5 pm.

The next day (Friday) I wrangled it back up to the room the whole group meets in and put some more adhesive on the inside corners due to the fact that they look like they are falling apart. They are going to need something stronger (epoxy or metal bracing) or just some reinforcement through the use of scrap mdf board, which I am having second thoughts about since I think we should use something sturdier. Hopefully someone has thrown out some thin scraps of plywood in the wood shop; going to have to send someone to check on that tomorrow.

As always sometime in the future pictures will be available, probably something I'll get to this Friday since I wasn't taking pictures, I was painting.

Success!

Jon and I did some work last Friday to attach the backpack frame to the cross and I feel we were quite successful. All the measuring and drilling went well and there was very little second guessing. There were problems with the front when we attached the individual panels though I think these are pretty cosmetic and can be fixed with manipulation of the overall design of the project. There is still painting to be done and I guess we'll find out then what can be fixed through decoration. If anything really needs to be adjusted I hope we will have the time to do so though if something is that serious then I believe doing something cosmetic is our best option. Enough with the talk, here are the pics!

The thing is finally nearing completion

The backpack group has gotten a lot done over the past few days. I've got some more shots from Spring Break and hope to be able to post more from this week at some point in the future. This week has seen the final attachment of the front cover sections and today should be the day we attach the frame, Jon and I plan on getting that done with a vengeance. Mainly because we don't want to worry about it any more. Without further bluster here are the other pics:

Some minor notes

Just a small sketch I found that had some of the notes I made on how to brace the cross. Some of which we were able to follow and some that were just not feasible due to the thickness of the material we used.

The ideas for the internal bracing for connecting each arms is shown as well as initial ideas for the corners. What we finally went with more closely resembles the lower left hand sketch of the outside corner. Depending how much give there is when it is finally attached to the frame more internal bracing may be needed though I doubt that given the structural integrity of the backpack frame.

Gettin things together...

Busy past few days, gluing, bracing, excitement, frame arrived, more bracing, more excitement...whew!

The arms of the cross glued together nicely and once braced proved to be quite sturdy. Jon, Jen, Ricky and myself had quite a time getting everything ready for assembly. I marked off sides and number pieces with Jon's help so we wouldn't have to remember how we fitted pieces together later and it worked pretty well. There was a snag here and there but we managed to to ge the majority of construction done this week. I need to remember to bring bolt cutters next week so we can trim the bolts we used to attach the bracing. Jen snapped some pics and I managed to get a few of the frame and the cross before we installed all the metal braces. Here, check'em out!

Minor update!

Due to time constraints and budgeting the method for attaching the front of the cross has changed back to using magnetic fasteners. On Monday we all went to Home Depot and grabbed the brackets and fasteners so today we will be drilling and assembling. The frame came in as well so I hope we can get that attached too somehow. Guess someone can make a quick trip to grab some attachment type hardware later if necessary. I'll post some pics of the some of the work we did later. Jen took a lot of pictures so go check her blog for more stuff, she should have it up by the end of the week.

A video

Here is a video of the some of the stuff we've been working on and intros of the group members, I didn't watch it all and there is a version with more stuff out there somewhere.

Link to video.

Onwards!

Productive day, in my mind at least. The advanced group as a whole had to present our progress to the class. Ali led off with a general synopsis of what we have all been working on followed by individual input on the areas we've all worked on and ideas we have discussed.

Afterward the backpack group huddled together and discussed the next phase: construction. We've decided to meet next Monday and Wednesday to assemble, map out fastener/bracket placement and decide on how best to paint the beast of a backpack we are working on. I made some basic sketches of how the doors will go on with the new idea out forth today. There will be hinges on the ends and a short wooden piece in the center to hold magnetic fasteners so the doors will be able to swing open in an outward direction.

Adhesiveness

Stopped by Home Depot today with John and Jen. We picked up some mdf board, enough for one complete prototype (hopefully), and I bought some glue to assist in the construction. We should be able to start construction next week, cutting, measuring, gluing and once we get that done we will figure out what kind of brackets/bracing we need to make sure this thing doesn't fall apart.

Another idea

I've also been toying around with the idea of using magnetic fasteners for cupboards to hold the lid of the cross in place. I went to Home Depot and took some pics of the fasteners they have for purchase. Once we get the a prototype of the backpack put together then we can see how well some of these fasteners might work. I'm not sure about the strength of any of them, I didn't see that kind of information anywhere.

So without further blabbing here are the fasteners and prices (I hope this is ok...)

Some sketches...

...that I had in my bag concerning the overall designs that the group came up with, I'll add some description to explain what I remember. I'm also including some of the stores I contacted concerning the ALICE pack frame (aka the rucksack frame). I used the tried and true method of calling to see if any of these stores had what we needed, no use wasting gas only for disappointment right? It is a good thing I called too since the stores either did not have the frame or they had it at a higher cost than I was willing to pay. So on to the pics!
I'll start with the sketches of various designs.

Advanced group project

In my Art 106 class I am in the advanced group and we managed to cobble together some designs and got accepted into this competition, check it out, its pretty cool sounding. So now the group has split into different smaller groups in order to gather the materials we need in order ot construct the outfits we came up with and so far I think the backpack group (which I am a part of) has a plan A and B and C! The first involves using a large amount of acrylic, the second is primarily masonite and the third plan combines the two. What are we making you ask? Well let me give you a brief description: it is large backpack that is pretty much the Red Cross symbol approximately 5' by 5' without the white areas, just the red cross.

My group is primarily composed of Ricky, Jon, Jen and me. We've drawn up plans for how much material we need and this next week we plan on making a prototype (which may turn into our final product...). I will be acquiring a backpack frame, specifically this one. I think it will serve our purposes perfectly. It is light weight and I believe our cross design will attach to it nicely and will make it easier for our model to wear it. I'll post up some pics of the stuff I've sketched out and what others have done as well over the weekend. I think our design will come together well as long we stay focused.

The group in its entirety is composed of Ali, Shilpi, Rickey, Ismael, Anhkhoa, Jen, Jon, David and myself.