Yeah, love seeing new posts from you in my inbox. I was impressed with the final result - do you think you'd be able to provide video of manipulation of the trunk (or any other sample, really)? I think the stiffness would be more intuitively shown in a video as opposed to the photo.
For your list of learnings at the end:
Do you think one could use a papier-maché/egg-carton material mono-piece for the stiffener(s)? It could be pressed in one go from recycled paper pulp, a similar price to egg cartons (which I have to assume are cheap).
For the shrinkage, do you think a filler such as calc-carb or lime would help? I guess the alternative would be to look into a non-drying glue.
Another great post, thanks for sharing. It's sad that the outcome disappointed you, but I look forward to whatever is next, and it's really cool that you've got to the point of making a boot lid out of natural composite that is both stiffer & lighter than the original. That's a good achievement!
> The only thing I learned in the second half was how much worse the real trunk was compared to the trunk in my head.
You might enjoy Ira Glass's "Advice to Beginners":
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Yeah, love seeing new posts from you in my inbox. I was impressed with the final result - do you think you'd be able to provide video of manipulation of the trunk (or any other sample, really)? I think the stiffness would be more intuitively shown in a video as opposed to the photo.
For your list of learnings at the end:
Do you think one could use a papier-maché/egg-carton material mono-piece for the stiffener(s)? It could be pressed in one go from recycled paper pulp, a similar price to egg cartons (which I have to assume are cheap).
For the shrinkage, do you think a filler such as calc-carb or lime would help? I guess the alternative would be to look into a non-drying glue.
Thanks for the article!
Another great post, thanks for sharing. It's sad that the outcome disappointed you, but I look forward to whatever is next, and it's really cool that you've got to the point of making a boot lid out of natural composite that is both stiffer & lighter than the original. That's a good achievement!
> The only thing I learned in the second half was how much worse the real trunk was compared to the trunk in my head.
You might enjoy Ira Glass's "Advice to Beginners":
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”