Author Archives: Melis Balcı

Final Changes

This is how my mechanical part looks like:


I did the coding part with JMyron Library in Processing. My code contrasts the previous and current image to find blops and puts points on that blops’ x and y’s. After that it gets the average points to create an iris. For creating boundaries for the eyeball, I compare the distance between the iris’s x and y’s and the big white eyeball’s.

double dis(float x1, float x2, float y1 , float y2)
{
return Math.sqrt((x2-x1)*(x2-x1) + (y2-y1)*(y2-y1));
}

I got Sina’s help to smooth the movement.

if( dis(objx,320,objy,240) > 140 )

{
xPos = xPos*0.9 + 320*0.1;
yPos = yPos*0.9 + 240*0.1;
}

I will map this 2D movement to 3D environment. After that, the code is done.

Then, I will put the gel coat on the mechanical part.
But first I have to shorten it, so I did. Now it is much lighter.
Since we had some troubles about the hand made motor drivers, we ordered them they will arrive tomorrow.
This is one funny photograph while we were measuring the part which will be cut:

Gel Coat Eye

I started my last trial with gel coat. As always Kemal Abi didn’t do what I wanted. He suggested to wrap a ball with tape and cover it with gel coat. I begged him not to waste time with it, he didn’t listen and of course it failed.

Then I got minimum help from Kemal Abi, learnt how to use plaster and gel coat did it own my own.

After the gel coat dried I had to be quick to empty the plaster inside it.

This is what it looked like after 1 hour.

And after 2 hours I managed to cave this path.

After 5 hours it was done.

 

Back to the start

I cannot work with Kemal Abi anymore. I went to the studio on Thursday he said he was too busy and he told me to come on Friday. I went there on Friday, and he said they were going to go to a factory with M. Bishop’s class. So I had to wait whole weekend because he had to lock the doors. I went there Monday morning. But I couldn’t guess that the plaster would become so hard during those days. And when Kemal Abi started to put out the plaster, the eyeball broke into the pieces.

And I told him to do it all over again. But he didn’t accept he believed that we could repair it.

Then I spend my hours cleaning it. But the result was a disaster. It looked so bad. So from now on I quit trusting Kemal Abi, and I won’t work with him.

My father’s friend said he can help me. I went there to talk him. I can work with his workers and machines at the weekend.

Eyeball

Since polyester makes the object greenish or reddish, I have bought the “jelkot” which makes the eyeball transparent.

Firstly, I tried to make the eyeball out of plates ball. This try was a fail. Because the ball exploded since jelkot made it too hot.

So we decided to use a new ball and cover it with clay and then use the jelkot.

This failed again.

The ball couldn’t stand stable and while the jelkot was not dry, it fell over. Then I panicked. Then Kemal abi put some polyester while I was panicking. I couldn’t use it because it was green. And the reason I bought jelkot was not to use polyester. And since the clay was not something rigid, the polyester did not take the shape of the ball. So we decided to make the mold out of plaster. And then we covered it with jelkot.

And finally, after one night it was done. I’ll clean it up, insert the mechanism and unite the two parts with jelkot again.

And these are my charts. First one is my original one:

This one is the modified one since the year does not end at the 4th week of June. I shortened sone process.

Shopping

Bugün mafsal almam gerekiyordu ve aldım. İçiçe geçmiş iki daireden oluşan ve her yöne dönebilen bir sistem.

Mafsalın içine çelik bir mil çaktırmam gerektiği için sanayiye gitmem gerekti. Mil mafsalın içine girdiğinde doğal olarak dışarıdaki daire çelik boruya çarptığından, dönüş kapasitesini kaybediyordu. Bu yüzden çelik mili tornacıda inceltmem gerekti. Bana çok yardımcı oldular. Mil incelince ağırlığı taşıyamaz diye korktum ama babama göre bu 100 kiloyu bile taşırmış. Katılıyorum.
Şu an içine mil yerleştirilmiş mafsal böyle gözüküyor. Gerekli kadar dönüyor her yöne. Haftaya, bunu bir mekanizmanın içine gömüp, göz topunun merkezine monte edeceğim. Bir sorun yaşarsam akli dengemi kaybedebilirim. Gözün top kısmı için polyester düşündük ama polyesterin rengi kırmızıya çalıyor. Ben bunu istemedim. Başka bir çözüm bulmak istedim. Jelkot diye bir madde bulduk. Ben kalıp almak için pilates topu aldım çünkü strafor gerçekten çok zaman alıyor ve çamurdan kalıp yapmak gerekiyor. Kemal Abi Karaköy’e jelkot bakmaya gitti ve 145 TL olduğunu öğrendi. Bunu okul karşılarsa alırım. Gittiğim tornacıdaki tatlı amca Perşembe Pazarı’na bakmamı önerdi. Oraya Pazartesi bakacağım. Belki de dünya haritası şeklinde olan kürelerden bulup, sorunu halledebilirim.
Son olarak aklıma gelen bir çözüm ise, kırmızıya çalan polyesterden rengi için vazgeçmeyip içine beyaz küçük bir ışık kaynağı yerleştirmek. Böylece daha parlayan kutsal bir şeymiş gibi de gözükebilir ve beyaz renkli olur.

P.s: Post’u İnzgilice yazıyordum, fakat “tornacı” “sanayi” “döktürmek” gibi kelimelerde takılınca Türkçe anlatmam daha mantıklı olur diye düşündüm.

Eyeball

I did my first attempt to make the eyeball part of the sculpture. After some discussions and brain-storming, best solution for the mechanism was to use an universal joint and make the sculpture turn around on its center by the use of step motor and sticks.

Then I had to decide the lightest material for the eyeball’s appearance. First, the best solution we could find was to make it out of thin metal strips and cover it with fabric. But after I talked with Kemal Abi, we decided on styrofoam instead of metal sticks.

Thursday I cut, arranged and pasted the blocks. It takes 12 hours the glue to set up so I had to wait.

On Friday, we started to shape it. It took the whole day. Then I had to make a hole behind the eyeball because that way it would be lighter and there would be a place to set up the mechanism.
In this photo I’m just posing because somebody has to hold the ball, so that the other one can cut with the machine.

On Monday Kemal Abi started doing something similar to universal joint. Because he said we did not need to buy an universal joint. Because he said, he had done that before and he could do it again. We did the mold with clay then we did the polyester. I was still shaping the styrofoam on Monday. And since there were lots of people in the studio- who are making themselves a coach- we slowed down. Also, we had to help Beren, too.

Polyester was not the best solution because of the friction, it is not something smooth. We placed it in the center of the eyeball on Tuesday, but the metal stick inside the polyester which connects the eyeball to the wall got out of the polyester joint that Kemal Abi did.

Besides, it could not even turn 30 degrees. So we had to find a new solution.

P.s: Scent of the polyester makes you vomit.

Statement

Authority is some kind of power, which sets some rules, watches and follows the members of certain group to keep that group working without any problem. That is why I am going to visualize authority and society members’ being kept under control, with a huge robot-like eye-shaped sculpture. This sculpture’s first aim is to make people uncomfortable.

This sculpture is eye of the power, authority. It watches us and it follows us everywhere we walk. All the people who are part of a society have to obey the rules that they cannot judge, or directly set/change. Because they make contract with the state. The state promise its members safe and stable life, so the members have to do something in return, they have to obey the rules, go to work and make some contribution to the society. So they give the state some power which makes the state watch the society to work. So the sculpture is the state and we are the society members. We are being watched and that has to make us uncomfortable, which is not really happening in real life. This sculpture has to irritate people, it cannot be seen like a funny game. It is there to judge us, watch us and make sure that we obey its rules. That is why I had to think and decide very carefully about the looks of it. It has to give the feeling of power. And since it symbolizes the authority, it  has to be something like a machine. It works like a machine and make people work like a machine, too. Because if it does not happen the system will collapse. That is why I wanted it to be look like a machine. After I decided my main concept, I had to think about the looks, the materials that I should use, color, shape, interactive behavior, size, etc.

The sculpture has to look like a machine. So its materials are important. It will look like it is made out of metal and it will look rusty and old. The sculpture will look like a robot It will be some kind of machine, which looks like it has been working a very long time but still has some organic features. It will just look like a working watch, with all the chains, machines, motor and gears in it. For achieving these effects, I want to use metal or metal-like materials, some parts will be rusty or over used.  I researched for the materials that I could use. Firstly my idea was to use iron sticks, but they were too heavy to make a moving sculpture. Then I looked for some props (http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/2011/02/daft-punk-helmet-thomas-part-1.html) but finally I had to pick the lightest material to use. That is why I decided on plastic tube, which is called “pimaş”. We did some burning and coloring this plastic tubes and it gave a rusty metal affects which I liked. After that I scrubbed that tube with a weird comb which has little metal sticks on it, then the plastic tube was not plastic at all. That is why my final choice for the material is that.

Also, I want to make the mechanical parts be seen, so that the sculpture will be like a machine. The sculpture is composed of two main parts, eyeball and eyelids. Eyeball will be one huge ball. And the eyelids construction will be like a skeleton. So that it will be a combination of organic and mechanic. Skeleton like sticks covering the eyeball will let the viewers see the inside of the machine but it will also look like a hand covering the eye. Eyelids of the sculpture will be able to move. They will do blinking motion. For this behavior, we decided to move connect the upper eyelid to the lower eyelid and create a system, which works like piston. But it will do this motion very slowly. I want this because this way it will look scarier and it will give the machine feeling more properly. This system will not be inside the wall so that it can be seen and its sound can be heard. That is the affect that I would like to achieve. Also, my sculpture’s design makes the inside part be able to seen from the outside. With this people will be able to see all the parts and mechanical thing going on in the sculpture. I want to do this because it will look scarier and powerful. Maybe it will look like a monster machine. Also, I want to add some gears and chains, which are working but are not necessary for the movement of the sculpture, since it will be more affective.

I have not decided about the size of the sculpture. But one thing I am sure is its being huge. I want to see some things developing while I am working on it. But approximately it will be 1 meter. I want it to be huge. All the parts will be huge and it will make a louder sound, it will be more irritating when it is huge. Huge will be more affective and it will give the feeling of power more.

I have some basic features for the sculpture in my mind, like its construction, its materials and behavior. I cannot say its final looks but I have decided some properties. I am sure of this sculpture being combination of mechanic and organic and it’s being look like an old but still working machine. As soon as I order the plastic tubes, and get the final feedback about the material and the machine system I will start constructing the machine.