Metal I: Material Exploration
Part 1: Tin
Inspired by the form of a rolling armadillo and seashells, I constructed a revolving mechanism consisting of identical slip-rolled tin sheets in successive sizes, connected at the ends with rivets and a brass tube to create a pivot point. The pieces are also connected with brass jump-rings and clear rubber bands to restrict their movement and prevent the piece from rotating backwards.
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Part 2: Aluminum
From my tin exploration, I enjoyed using the slip roller as a tool to manipulate the sheet metal's form and add structure and movement to the material. Since aluminum is thicker and more brittle, the slip-rolling process was significantly less flexible and forgiving, which benefitted the mechanism that I wanted to create. The challenge was to construct a modular structure which involves identical primary forms which are connected together to create static secondary forms. The secondary forms then must be connected to create a final moving tertiary form. I decided to build a hinge-like mechanism by connecting the secondary slipped-rolled forms with copper tubes, in which the tubes are hammered at the ends to secure the pieces together.
Process photos:
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