MATERIALS
Every object in this world is made up OF
something. This curiosity of
understanding the material of an object and how they are joint naturally or man
made led me to take up this course “Materials”.
This course helped me to understand how anything and
everything in this world has certain joinery. The concept of learning joineries
in nature through photography, sketches and live measurement gave me a clear
understanding of the angles of every joinery possible in nature and what
effects does it have on that object.
It was interesting to know how certain objects cannot
have a different material than what is required. This helped me understand the constraint of
every material in terms of its stretching limit, color, moisture content,
quality, availability, cost effectiveness, and its life. This also gave a clear
understanding of different types of joineries such as – detachable,
oscillating, movable, vertically moving, steady or in the form of a pulley.
In the beginning of the course I was puzzled up as to
how matter, mass, weight, volume differentiated from one another but later through
self-experimentation, trials and errors I got a better understanding of the
concepts.
The first assignment of using the weakest material (straws
and pins) to build a bridge that could take the weight of a 5kg object scared
me a bit but later after trials and errors and understanding how a straw could
be joint in several ways and which part of the straw would take more weight and
how different structures could be made using straws just kept on giving me more
confidence to keep trying. I started with the straw mat (the base) and during
the course of it we had to re-do it more than 5 times because every time we
tried to attach the straws it would come out. Even the pins could not hold it
for long. This hands on exercise with several trials and errors finally led to
a perfect mat and we learnt different techniques to weave it. It wasn’t just
about learning the weaving but also about saving time.
We also learnt about how every design should be:
· Least stressful
· Functional
· Comfortable
· Convenient
· Balanced
· Economically sustaining and supportive
This led to knowing different characteristics of
materials like cloth, wood, clay and glass and the primary motive of joineries,
which is connecting strength and stability.
The most important part of joinery is how it is going
to be joint. This led to knowing different adhesives used. For e.g.:
· Fevi bond
· Flex bond
· Resin (chemical based)
· UV rays glue used in furniture
· Welding (arc, fuse, gases like helium and argon,
laser, spark) etc.
To conclude,
I learnt how function is important in every form, the positives and negatives
of every material and how constraints are built in different joinery and the
ways to join.
Urvika Chhabra
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