This week I experimented with a few different patterns with the mylar to create inflatables. It was tricky to design and I was successful with a few patterns and very unsuccessful with one that I realized was not designed with real physics in mind.. more on that later. For the successful ones, I explored a few different shapes and connections that were difficult in the end to work with.
I started with a few sketches of ideas that I tried to transfer onto the mylar. The first was a rectangular shape with solid lines and boxes in a pattern down the tube-shaped mylar. Using the provided tools proved to be a bit difficult but I think I was able to push through and make something to express my understanding and make it shape out.
The next attempt was a circular shape with boxes — the problem here is that the boxes don’t have any pathways for air to travel through, so I ended up with a pretty weird donut-shaped thing. The last attempt was to create an inflatable ‘M’ but I mis-calculated the distance on the supports so I ended up getting a bit of a zig-zag shape. Problems here were that the entry point of air tended to blow through the support seams.
All and all, it was a fun exercise and may try a few more if time allows in the future.
x.
