Wednesday 27 September 2017

Caddisfly: Thinking it through

Ok, if I am going to pull it trough making an underwater corset, I need to divide the project up into its key problems:

1: What material should I use?
Cotton and other natural fibers are out of the question as they will rot and disintegrate in the water. An alternative could be poluester or other synthetic fibers, but I am uncertain how they will react to prolonged exposure to the UV light necessary for plants to thrive.
So after thinking a lot about it, my best guess for a material for the corset is worbla fine arts.

It is a well known thermoplastic, that is moldable when heated and solid/stiff at cold and normal living room temperature.

PRO:
  • it can be cut on a lasercutter
  • it is available in black so a discrete color
  • it becomes sticky when heated so I can 'glue' stuff onto it this way, easily decorating the main surface
  • It shouldn't be compromised by UV light 
CON:
  • I have never worked with it before
  • it is stiff, so the corset cannot wrap itself around the body as usual
  • I do not know how strong it is, and if it can stand up to the tension of a corset 
 I need to make a lot of sketches to determine how I deal with the stiff material, but otherwise it shouldn't be so bad.

2: How do I decorate it with living underwater plants, so they will thrive and inhabit the corset surface?
In my original throught, I kept thinking of the corset as part of the natural biotope for a caddisfly larvae, and thus the carr near my parents house kept popping up. I had this idea that I might be able to grow it out in the wild, or harvest some plants from there, but as we are entering fall now, the wild danish plants are not going to grow at all. Also, the wild plants would probably also contain more than a few wild bugs, and I kinda have a phobia for touching those. Exposing the model (still not sure if that will be me or another person) to a bug infested corset is not really my idea of nice.

So what is possible then?
I can go to a pet shop and buy some plants meant for indoor aquariums. They will be bug-free and probably more suitable for the aquarium life the corset will live. It will be very different from the wild type plants of my local area, but the closest I can get during this season and with my need for some form of hygiene.

3: Where should the corset grow?
As the corset should be grown under water, I need access to an aquarium of some kind, with a lighting system to keep the plants healthy.
Height it the main issue when it comes to aquariums, as they tend to be wider than tall. I originally envisioned an overbust corset, but that would require at least 60 cm water height, if the water surface should be higher than the top of the corset. With 40 cm water height it should be possible to grow an underbust with the low hips that I prefer.

The FABLAB that I learned to program and lasercut in have just expanded with a greenhouse for a BIO-FABLAB extension. They are just starting up, but maybe they have an extra aquarium I can grow my corset in? I know they will be working with aquaponics, so it should be too far fetched.
 I'll have to talk to them at find out. 

I have found a used 69x42x42cm aquarium with lights for 150 dkk (around 15£ or 22$) but I really have to think about it if I want to invest in that. Having it at home is not an option, so I would at least need to have it at FABLAB.

This is really the make or break point of the project. If I do not have a place for it to grow, then everything else is in vain. Making any actual design plans or enlisting a model makes no sense, unless I have an aquarium.

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