Here's a new piece that I owe to Gwen Fisher, although indirectly. On her blog there's a link to lots of mathematical art from the Bridges exhibits. I was amazed by the spherical pieces by George Hart. At the very bottom of the page on http://www.georgehart.com/sculpture/sculpture.html there's a piece that's alot simpler than all the rest, and it was the basis for this piece. It's based on the icosahedron, but instead of each set of 5 triangles meeting at a point, they're offset so they meet at a pentagon. Only problem is that it's a bit too soft, but I've already figured out how to make the next one firmer. In the pentagonal areas, each side shares only 1 edge (2 beads) with the adjoining side. In the next one they'll share an edge (8 beads) and that will firm it up. Also when I made the first section, and made it 6 squares long, I had no idea what the size of the sphere it would generate would be. I think I'd like it to be a bit bigger. This one is around the size of a tennis ball. Of course, in beading, the bigger it is the more it tends toward squishiness, so I hope the added size doesn't undo the gains I get from changing the structure.
Ooo I love this one! I've never made anything this big so I don't have much helpful advice about how to firm it up, other than to use Fireline thread if you aren't using it already. What size beads did you use for this structure?
ReplyDeleteIt's very pretty, and the symmetry is awesome, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking at. So I checked out the link of George's and now I get it. Nicely done! Do you mean that in the next one they'll share a whole face? If you do that, you're little segments of 6 cubes will have to bend a bit to fit together, but beads don't seem to mind that kind of thing, so it will probably work just fine. The other thing you can do to stiffen it up is add a smaller (size 15/0) seed bead on the corners of each of the little 2 by 2 by 2 cubes. Thanks so much for showing this piece, and I'm thrilled to have helped inspired it. Excellent.
ReplyDeleteMan, I am in awe at all of you! I wish I had paid more attention in math class!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great beaded bead!
ReplyDeleteFabulous shape, and generous description!
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