Overview from class today

Today we each showed our mock up designs for each of our chosen materials. After doing the mock ups we encountered a few problems with each material.

Michelle using clay found it was too expensive (at roughly $5) per holder, so she may need to look into changing her material.

Maddie found that the concrete was difficult to get the consistency right and that it took a long time to dry, this problem isn't major and can just be solved with more forethought and practise.

Matthew made some really nice paper and material mock ups of his designs that will be done in metal or tin for the first week back, he used interesting architecture to have the holders curving up at the back and became lower in the front.

Shems concern with her material is that paper may potentially be too flammable, to help this she could make holders that have a lot of room around the flame and are stiffened with wire so they don't collapse.

I (Natalie) found that glass jars are a little tall to light candles safely in and curve up at the bottom so they don't sit flat, I can resolve this by finding smaller jars and putting sand in the bottom to rest the candle in.

We hope to have 5 resolved ideas for each material by the presentation at the Paramount.

We would like to have a relatively small stall, set up much the same as a traditional lemonade stand but more rustic, it needs to be in a dark portion of the hall so that the flames are seen by customers and look more effective. There was suggestion that we advertise our models on social media to ask students what kind of holder they would prefer to use, we can't really do this until we have some nicely made models to take photos of.

Our main concern is still how to make the product more interactive and we aren't sure whether anyone will actually purchase the holders, we are hoping to sell them at a very low price since they have not cost us much to construct and that people will choose them for their visual and practical quality.

Using fire, safety is also a main concern for us. We will need to thoroughly test each of our products at home first for an extended period of time and do everything we can to keep our stall a safe place for our customers.

NATALIE CRAWFORD