For my 1st and 2nd Apollo project, I wanted to create something to leave behind that people could interact with and something that created a lot of curiosity. One ordinary day, I suddenly got an idea to create a fountain but not like any normal fountain that spits water out of a mouth or the conventional design that's placed in your garden. I imagined a design that would be contemporary and interesting while still attracting the eyes of the surrounding classes. From the start, I knew this idea was extraordinary yet completely ambitious. While the thought of it being too big to finish haunted me, I stuck with it and dedicated each and every day I could to make it possible.
WoodworkingI first began by figuring out the size of the model pyramid and of each face. That led to figuring out the angles at which I needed to cut the sides and the mitre so that the sides would coincide. The math and the angles were the biggest struggle only because I didn't want to mess up and if I was off by a singe degree, the sides would not match up and I would have to start all over again. Due to that, I wanted everything figured out and ready before I began cutting. "Measure twice, cut once" was my motto as I was figuring out each angle and the face dimensions. After the math process was complete, I began to cut rough dimensions on the wood. Cutting the pyramid faces to finished dimensions, I soon realized I needed a jig to uniformly and safely cut the side angles. That led to my own creation of a jig and allowed me to finish the wooden pyramid.
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Casting and MoldingMy next step was to create a mold of one side of the pyramid that way I could make several exact copies. Once I molded the side, I created a casting liquid and poured it into the mold, hardening into a plastic side of the pyramid. I completed that process 3 other times to complete an entire pyramid which I then glued up using gorilla epoxy glue.
Imagining what the final product would look like, I wanted the upside pyramid to stand on a hemisphere that slightly represented a globe. With that inspiration hovering aboard, I grabbed a softball and poured molding liquid over half of it to create the mold of a hemisphere. After that was set, I created the same kind of casting liquid and poured it over the mold and allowed it to harden. Once both components were complete, I drilled a hole in the hemisphere and placed the pyramid in the drilled hole. My final step was to create more casting liquid and pour in the hole and in the open pyramid to close in any gaps and hold the pyramid upright in the hole. |
The Speech Never Forgotten
I decided to annotate the Gettysburg Address, an infamous and historic speech spoken by the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Throughout my process, I discovered his 5 drafts of the speech from where he began to his final draft which he spoke in Gettysburg. I focused on the changes he made from the first draft to his final draft and wrote why he would have made those changes to improve the speech. I picked out a quote from the Address and placed that on the sides of the pyramid to allow interpretation from the viewers.