Gateway [3 cont.]: Semi-circles & Sphere

Semicircle/Bubble Group
Danielle
Kristin
Hailey
Hope
Alli

In order to make these molds, the group had to figure out how they could make or get a mold to make a perfectly rounded semicircle. From research throughout stores like CVS and Walmart most bowls that could be bought had a flat bottom to them, which was a competing problem for the overall design. Knowing this the group searched more and came up with the idea of cutting a basketball in half (which could make two molds in one) for the bigger 'bubbles' that would edge the pathway and cheap lighting shades in the shape of a semicircle to make the smaller 'bubbles'. The aggregate used for this group was perlite because it provided just enough strength to hold the forms together and not crumble. They did not need to use pea pebbles because the semicircles were not for walking on.

The design on the inside of the basketball proved to be rather interesting and was incorporated into our design to go with the stepping stones shaped as squares and yet had circle designs with semicircle forms with square designs in them. The holes seen in the photo above were a problem with air bubbles which we addressed by tapping the air our of the concrete and adding wood glue.

Sphere Group

Phillip
Alli

Originally we had another sub-group called the sphere group that was responsible for coming up with a plan to create a concrete sphere that would be placed on the outer side of the ginko tree on our island. This sphere would go along with our concept of circles and would mirror a similar sphere from the Living on the Edge group. Many problems arose such as how would something that big dry fast enough and most importantly what could be used to make such a form? Would an exercise ball work or would the form need to be something else?

Phillip thought that he could maybe make a sphere in two halfs rather then one, so he purchased two red collinders and duck-taped the outside holes so he could pour the concrete into the new mold. He was successful in creating a sphere with two forms but the proportions of the sphere to the island and the rest of the artifacts proved to be way to small to be used in the overall composition.

Another attempt at making a larger, more proportioned sphere out of concrete was attempted by Alli. Using a large exercise ball she tested out the theory we had come up with as a group to see if filling the ball as a mold would suffice to create the sphere. The problem with this idea was that the elasticity of the exercise ball expanded as concrete was added and did not hold its form very well at all.
Sphere creation is still in the process, but in discussions between Gateway and Living on the Edge it seems likely we will have to drop this idea because of the complexity and replace it with something else.