Pepakura Sculpture

   For my final installment of the dragon head sculpture, I wanted to break away from the concept of
trauma. For this sculpture I put a great emphasis in taking ownership of the sculpting process through not only developing the files and piecing together, but also using tools outside of laser cutting to develop the individual pieces of my sculpture. 

    After preparing my files by using Rhino and Pepakura Designer 3, I then exported each individual piece as a SVG file so that it could be used on my Cricut Maker, a craft cutting machine using x and y axis. Initially, I had anticipated my Cricut to be able to cut 12" by 24" sheets of single-ply cardboard. While the Cricut was able to cut my small test size (roughly 4" by 4") it was unable to process cardboard sheets that were more than four inch in width. I quickly adjusted my strategy and used my Cricut to cut out pattern pieces on cardstock. Each piece included only straight edges and using a pen and several highlighters I was able to keep track of the
mountain vs valley folds and number each piece. The cutting process from start to finish took approximately 15 hours. 

    When all the individual pieces were cut, scored, and labeled I began assembly. I started at the tip of the dragon's snout and worked my way towards the base of the neck. Before assembly I had already pre-folded each piece of the dragon. Using a combination of Loctite glue and 2 inch white masking tape, I was able to construct the shape of the dragon. The dragon consists of 150 faces and took approximately six hours to construct. After the dragon was constructed I wasn't pleased with how the sculpture looked with the 2 inch white masking tape sealing each edge. I wanted to spray paint the entire sculpture black to give it a consistent look and to provide a blank canvas for any additional design elements. To seal my dragon for painting I added another layer of white masking tape. Looking back, I had limited access and understanding on how to properly seal cardboard, and if I where to redo the sculpture, I would look into various alternatives that would have provided extra structure to the dragon. I then used two coats of matte black spray paint to give the dragon a uniform color. I did end up adding a wooden block in the inside of the structure to help counter balance the weight of the head. While it stood up without assistance prior to the addition of the wooden block, I wanted to ensure that the sculpture was more stable. 

    I considered the possibility of yarn bombing this sculpture or adding some type of textile to it to represent the asexual community. Within the community, ace individuals often use dragons to symbolize their asexuality. However I ultimately vetoed this idea. Partially, I would like to bring this sculpture to my high school classroom since I don't have a space large enough to store it long term. Unfortunately, my district has a lot of stigma against the LGBT+ community and I am not in the position where I feel safe bringing a sculpture associated with the LGBT+ community to my school. Instead I have decided to use the sculpture as a canvas for my graphic design students to make their own artistic mark on. I will be inviting my graduating students to tape off a single face of the dragon and paint their own design in any manner they see fit. Art is a collaborative process and I would like to reuse my dragon sculpture in a way that furthers creativity rather than a landfill. I named the sculpture "Slate" because it resembles a blank slate for creativity. It is possible that this name may change over time as the sculpture transforms with each new artist that adds to it. 

"Slate"