Painting my teddy bear clock

This weekend I painted my teddy clock. It was quite messy and hard but enjoyable. This was because some of the hairs from the paintbrush I was using came out and stuck to the paint and it was hard to paint smoothly without having brush marks which you could see through. I first painted the nose of my teddy black as that was my highest layer and it was the easiest to do. I then painted the ears pink and mouth red. When I was painting the ears pink it was quite hard as when I tried to mix the red with white it wouldn't mix properly so there were little chunks of white in the paint. I then made a small black dot in the eyes and once that had dried I painted the eyes brown. I painted the feet brown as well. I left that to dry overnight. The next day I painted the rest of my teddy a honey-gold making the paint thin. I then painted it again so it had more than 1 layer of paint. I think my clock looks really good and I can't wait to put in the clock mechanism and the ticking hands.


          teddy while painting                              teddy with first parts painted                   Painting teddy

My clock while being vacuum formed and once finished

Wooden clock in vacuum former

 Thermoplastic going over clock

             

                                           Thermoplastic taking shape of mould in vacuum former 

 Clock in vacuum former

 Clock in vacuum former

 Mould in thermoplastic

   Teddy Clock on table

 Mr Andrews cutting out clock

7/6/12
In our last design futures lesson I  vacuum formed my clock which I was very happy with. There was only me, Liv and Ellie who still had to finish our clocks. I would have vacuum formed mine the day before but I was in the choir and we had to go to the Marriot to perform during our DF lesson. When we got into the workkshop we straight away got out the vacuum former and turned it on. I saw that my mouth of my teddy had come off but it didn't matter. I just placed it on where it had to go and put it into the vacuum former. Once the thermoplastic was heated Mr Andrews put it on top of the wood. As it was pulled all of the air got sucked out to make the shape. I was very happy with the result of my clock when Mr Andrews got it out from the wood. We then had to wash the inside of the plastic using water and a special soap so that the paint can stick to the plastic. Unfortunatly we couldn't put in the clock mechanism but we will be able to do that in the next week or so. I can't wait to paint my teddy clock. I will post some pictures of the finished product soon.

Sustainability

The materials that are used to make my clock are wood (MDF), paper, cardboard, glue and plastic.

Issues associated with plastics on the environment:

1. If animals swallow plastic they can get harmed and die
2. Plastic is not biodegradable which means the environment can become polluted from too much waste plastic.

Steps me and my family can take to reduce plastic consumption and protect the environment:

1. Recycling, reducing and reusing plastic.
2. We can reuse plastic bags by using them as bin liners or to carry things in.
3. Making sure you don't leave rubbish on the floor but put it in the bin.
4. Not having too much plastic glad wrap or sandwhich bags in my lunchbox by using containers.
5. Using hessian bags when going shopping instead of plastic.

 31/5/12

In yesterday's lesson I got a lot of work done which I was very happy with. The first thing I did was take the paper off all of my layers and use sandpaper to make the wood smooth and get off any bits of paper. I was very excited then because I was able to use the hot glue gun which meant I was one step closer to vacuum forming. I had to be very careful with the glue and make sure I didn't put too much on or else when I vacuum formed, it wouldn't turn out well and the glue would melt and stick to the plastic. I managed to glue down all of my layers. Next week I am going to vacuum form my clock and paint it at home. I can't wait to see what it looks like.                         






Teddy clock layers

My clock after it's layers were glued on




Teddy clock before the layers were glued

Clock after it had been cut on the band saw
without any layers







Vacuum Forming

Vacuum forming is a technique that is used to shape a variety of different plastics. You need to have a mould for the first stage of vacuum forming. In my instance I have a teddy bear. The mould then needs to be placed into the vacuum former. A piece of plastic (we are using thermosetting plastic) is then heated so it can become soft, flexible and formed properly. Once the plastic is warm enough it is put on top of the mould and  the air underneath the mould is pumped out (like a vacuum) using a pump so that the plastic can take shape of the mould. The plastic and mould is then taken out of the vacuum form and separated. Battery, toothbrush and razor packaging are all products made by vacuum forming.

'Vacuum' process

Finished product after being vacuum formed

Vacuum forming process

Vacuum former



29/5/12
This lesson was only my second lesson in the workshop working on my clock so I tried to work very hard so I could get a lot of work done and catch up to the other girls. Everybody was at different stages so we put on our aprons and goggles and then began to work. Once I got out my clock's first wooden layer I made the edges smooth by using sandpaper and a file. The first wooden layer is called MDF (medium density fireboard). After I had done this I glued my other paper layers onto cardboard using normal glue and cut them out using scissors. It is pretty hard to cut out layers because the cardboard is thick. I took my clock home today because I had a couple of other small layers that needed to be cut out that I would do for homework. Some people, including Amy and Hope, have got up to vacuum forming today and their clocks look very good. Mr Andrews showed us the process of vacuum forming so we would know how to do it as a few people might be ready to vacuum form next lesson. Next lesson I will hopefully have all of my layers cut out and so I may be able to use the hot glue gun to glue my layers together. I am enjoying design futures a lot and cannot wait to see what my clock will look like after I have vacuum formed it and finished.

Sandpaper

17/5/12
Today I was very excited as it was the first day I could go into the workshop. Last lesson I wasn't there because I was sick and the lesson before that I didn't have my layers so I was a bit behind everybody else. As we went into the workshop we put on aprons and safety goggles for safety. Today I got my first layer of my teddy bear clock done. I first had to find a piece of wood that fit my first layer. Once I did that, I stuck the first paper layer onto the piece of wood with some of glue. I couldn't use too much glue otherwise I wouldn't be able to take the paper off later on. Mr Andrews then cut out my first layer of wood using a band saw. Everyone also learnt how to use a hot glue gun because some people were up to using it. You should never put it down on it's side because otherwise glue can get stuck and the glue won't come out. I didn't have enough time to smoothen the edges of my wood but that is what I will do next week.                                                                                

Band saw

Polymers

Polymers are plastics and they fall into two main groups. These groups are thermo and thermosetting plastics.

Thermo plastics can be made malleable (bendy) at high temperatures of between 65 degrees C and 200 degrees C. In this state they can be moulded in different ways for various uses. For example, toys, car dash boards, plastic water bottles and packaging can be made. These thermo plastics can be re-heated and re-moulded.

Thermoset plastics are not re-mouldable if reheated like thermo plastics are. This is because the molecules of thermoset plastics are cross linked in three dimensions. Thermoset plastic is not recyclable either. There is a strong bond between the molecules.They have a stable structure, are more brittle and are used for stronger things such as electrical fittings, handles and knobs. An example of a thermoset plastic is an electrical plug or socket.

Final clock decision

Today we finalised our design and printed it off. I found this clock on the internet and I have decided that it is what I am going to make except I will make the mouth happy and separated from the nose. I will also add a piece of wood to the middle of the ears to get some more level. Where there are holes in the eyes, nose, mouth and foot paws, I will make higher levels not have holes. The clock and numbers will go on his tummy. There is a good amount of area to fit the clock mechanism in the back.

Last week I finished all of the on guard tests so next week I am able to go into the workshop and start working on my clock.

Clock ideas

I have been thinking about what design I should use for my clock and these are some of the ideas I came up with.