Mundane To Magnificent: Learners Journey Log

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction, i feel that this quote fits perfectly with our first project. Mundane To Magnificent project was one joyful ride and a flawless way to step into design learning. The project commenced on 12th August 2020 and came to an end on 24th August 2020, but it left a mark in our perception of paper as a mundane, day to day object. We explored paper of diverse kinds and ways and gained an incredibly new portrayal of Paper. We carried out various observations related to paper and its form as well as its properties. By the end of the project our perception of paper was reconstructed.

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DAY 1:

We started the voyage with running around our respective houses and finding objects made of paper. Soon everybody showed their findings which got us thinking how we are surrounded by paper but we aren't even consciously aware about it. Soon after the little expedition we had to jot down everything that we had hunted as well as other. Before we knew the list was as big as a restaurant men

We proceeded with a paper structure assignment wherein we had to build the tallest possible self standing structure using only newspaper and liquid adhesives. The first idea that came to me was to make a rocket so i started making paper rolls and attached them to form a structure.

Due to time constraints it ended up being a kind-of pet house.

Because we were not allowed to use tapes i tried to make my own by cutting strips of newspaper and putting fevicol on them and sticking them. I used them to give extra support to the structure as it kept falling.

We ended the day by clicking pictures of our creations and uploading them on canvas.

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DAY 2:

To dare is to do. To fear is to fail.

As we moved forward to a new day we had a paper properties assignment. In this assignment we had to use the 3 kinds of blades available to us. We began by cutting straight lines on different paper; I chose bond paper and cartridge paper. Furthermore, we had to continue by cutting wavy lines and then half cuts and ending with full cuts; surprisingly i didn't cut my finger.

By the end of this assignment we had to cut a composition, forming a jaali pattern which gives a mesmerizing shadow effect. Then we had to click a picture and upload on canvas.

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DAY 3:

By the 3rd day we were exhausted yet excited and had massive cramps on our hands because of all the cutting we did. Some people literally put their blood and sweat into their work ( because they cut their fingers xD). We had an awaiting paper technique assignment where we had to explore various techniques which can be done to paper and create a texture using paper.

We started with a practice task where we had to make hollow tubes, squares, triangles, etc. Later we had to assemble one of the hollow shape to form a texture. I chose hollow squares to make a weird structure.

After the practice task was over the real task hit us like a tsunami. We had to make 30 samples of 5*5 dimensions each depicting various kinds of paper techniques like; cutting, rolling, burning, twisting, braiding, weaving, and so on. I called it a tsunami because we had 1 and a half day to do it and most of Friday was already over because of classes and the rest was utilized for sleeping.

I was particularly fascinated by the outcome of burning OHP sheet and Gateway Paper. Gateway paper, when burned, form a very attractive texture wherein it forms bubbles like those in Roti or Papad. It also emits a very wild unpleasant smell but it was worth the visual. Burning OHP Sheet is like burning plastic, it has to be handled very carefully. It melts very quick but if done right can form various domes and captivating shaped.Patience is the key here because if you speed the process it might end up into something which isn't visually alluring.But when burnt right OHP can definitely pass for a glass structure when viewed from afar.

I did manage to complete the task and make 30 samples. It was a lot of hard work and experimenting but definitely fun. Like usual we had to click pictures and upload on canvas.

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DAY 4:

Day 4 was all about mixing and matching to form innovative textures. We had to make 5 samples 5*5 in dimension each by mixing 2 or more paper techniques. We also had to make at least one sample out of paper mache.

For me personally, working with paper mache was the hardest task out of all the assignments of M2M project. I struggled the most with it and was not satisfied with my first attempt of making it. I started off with tearing pieces and soaking 3 kinds of paper in water; newspaper, cartridge paper and kite paper.

After keeping it soaked in water for almost 24 hours i didn't notice any change or pulp being separated so i asked for some guidance from my faculty; and became acquainted with the fact that i had to tear the paper in smaller bits than i already had. The next day i didn't see much of pulp disintegration either but it was much more than before.

I couldn't help but notice how much color kite paper releases which led to my hands being tinted blue.

This was my first attempt at paper mache and i wasn't satisfied with it, but i surely understood how to work with it later on.

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Day 5:

As we neared the end of the project we took a long trip back in time when paper was invented and its journey till today.

Papyrus, from which we get the modern word paper, is a writing material made from the papyrus plant, a reed which grows in the marshy areas around the Nile river. Papyrus was used as a writing material as early as 3,000 BC in ancient Egypt, and continued to be used to some extent until around 1100 AD.Although it was produced exclusively in Egypt, where the papyrus plant grew, papyrus (the writing material) was exported throughout the classical world, and it was the most popular writing material for the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Papyrus sheets are made by arranging two layers of papyrus, one atop the other, at right angles. The layers are then pressed together, and the gum released by the breakdown of the plant's cellular structure acts as a glue which bonds the sheet together.In ancient times, several sheets of papyrus were joined end to end to form a roll. These rolls could be 100 feet or more in length, and were the common form of papyrus in the ancient world. The ancient library of Alexandria was home to thousands of papyrus rolls containing the literary works of ancient authors.Papyrus was also the medium of the New Testament in the early centuries after the death of Jesus. Christian texts were often in the form of a codex, rather than a roll. A codex contains several leaves bound together much like a modern book. Papyrus eventually gave way to parchment, and later, paper. The large plantations in Egypt which used to cultivate high-grade papyrus for manufacture disappeared, and wild papyrus also began to disappear as the climate of Egypt slowly changed.

The history of paper dates back almost 2,000 years to when inventors in China first crafted cloth sheets to record their drawings and writings. Before then, people communicated through pictures and symbols etched on stone, bones, cave walls, or clay tablets.Paper as we know it today was first made in Lei-Yang, China by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official. In all likelihood, Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp and rags with water, mashed it into pulp,

pressed out the liquid, and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun. During the 8th century, Muslims (from the region that is now Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq) learned the Chinese secret of papermaking when they captured a Chinese paper mill. Later, when the Muslims invaded Europe, they brought this secret with them. The first paper mill was built in Spain, and soon, paper was being made at mills all across Europe. Over the next 800 years, paper was used for printing important books, bibles, and legal documents. England began making large supplies of paper in the late 15th century and supplied the colonies with paper for many years. Finally, in 1690, the first U.S. paper mill was built in Pennsylvania.At first, American paper mills used the Chinese method of shredding old rags and clothes into individual fibers to make paper. As the demand for paper

grew, the mills changed used fiber from trees because wood was less expensive and more abundant than cloth.Today, paper is made from trees mostly grown on working forests and from recovered paper. Recycling has always been a part of papermaking. When you recycle your used paper, paper mills will use it to make new newspapers, notebook paper, paper grocery bags, corrugated boxes, envelopes, magazines, cartons, and other paper products.

Besides using recovered paper and trees to make paper, paper mills may also use wood chips and sawdust left over from lumber operations (whose products are used to make houses, furniture, and other things). Today, more than 36 percent of the fiber used to make new paper products in the

United States comes from recycled sources.

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Day 6:

As we neared towards the end of the project we were given our final assignment; Cube project. Our last brief for M2M Project was to make a cube with four final textures on the sides, a paper pulp texture on top, and a jaali pattern at the bottom. We used sunboard to cut six 20*20 windows with 15*15 frame on the inside. After we fill all 6 frames with our textures we had to put it all together to form a cube.

On the top part of the cube, i put a paper mache pulp texture which depicted waves. I used the leftover cartridge and kite paper pulp. I mixed the kite paper water color to the cartridge paper pulp to give variations of color in the wave.I used gateway paper as the base for this texture where i put the pulp and lift it a little bit to make it look like waves.

For the bottom part of the cube i used ivory sheet to make a jaali pattern. I used the cut and lift techniques to form straight and wavy lines with an x-acto knife. This was the most time consuming part of the cube.

For the first side of the cube i used OHP sheet and Tracing paper. I burnt squares of OHP sheet to for interesting shapes and domes and poked holes in them with the help of a compass. Then i cut strips of tracing paper and rolled them to make them look like thread. Then i sewed the rolled tracing paper through the OHP sheet domes to form a texture.

For the second side of the cube i used handmade paper and gateway paper. I cut a rectangle piece of handmade paper and did some half cuts to it making strips of it leaving the edges. Then i glued the entire piece onto the sunboard/ paper itself and rolled the strips to form a tunnel. I cut many strips of gateway paper and weaved them into these tunnels to form this texture.

For the third side of the cube i used OHP sheet. I cut out many square pieces of OHP sheet and cut spirals using the x-acto knife. Once i had a bunch of spirals i intertwined them with each other. I went ahead and cut slits on the Sunboard where i fixed the edges of the spiral OHP.

For the fourth and last side of the cube i used handmade paper and pastel sheets. I cut small rectangles from both the papers and made half cuts to them using a cutter. Then i connected them with each other to form a structure. I used OHP sheet as a base where i made half cuts as well and passed one small rectangle piece through it which resulted in the structure continuing on both the sides.

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In our beginnings lies our journeys end. As we concluded our journeys we had a closing assignment which was the process poster, wherein we had to make a poster digitally or physically which shows the learning from all 6 weeks.

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious- the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art. Our learning starts at the end of one long journey, which is always, of course, the beginning of another.

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