100 Days of Engineering Interactive Elements: Goals and Set Up

Leading up to this year's 100 Day Project launched, I experienced a range of emotions:

• Excited anticipation over what each project will inspire me to create and/or learn
• Creative curiousity as to how the project and my skills will evolve with these daily play sessions
• Panic as the kick off is rapidly approaching and I am still trying to decide on a game plan that will stretch my creative horizons yet be practical enough to complete, especially when I have two international trips that will overlap with the 100 days. Note to self: take a breath &  you've got this!
• And yes, plenty of self-doubt as there are always lots of unknowns ahead...

I considered a few different ideas for this year's project, but most of them felt like they were a repeat of past projects and as such, they did not get my heart racing in excitement. Thankfully, inspiration struck exactly one week before the official February 23rd kick off: 100 Days of Engineering Interactive Elements into my Fiber Art. As soon as the idea popped into my head, my heart beat a bit faster and my head was racing with ideas for daily experimentation! 

My game plans begin by defining 1-3 goals as they drive all other decisions. For this project, I chose 3 overarching goals:

1. Experiment with engineering a variety of interactive elements within my fiber art
2. Incorporate interactive elements into finished ATCs, cards, collage, and other fiber art creations
3. Document materials, process, and finishes via photos and video

From there, it was a matter of defining my daily dice rolls which I focused on different motions for the interactive elements:

1. Balance & Dangle
2. Flip & Fold
3. Pop Up
4. Rotate & Spin
5. Repeat with a Twist
6. Artist Choice which is my catch all for anything else that might pique my interest

As there will be lots of experimentation, I anticipate that some days may simply be working on prototypes that are focused on the mechanics vs. design aesthetic. Having dice roll #5: Repeat with a Twist provides me with opportunities to revisit some of these prototypes with enhancements both mechanical as well as design wise.  

Here is my game plan...

With a draft plan in mind, I started to gather resources including:

• Books from both my personal library, as well as reserving several books from my local libraries to provide additional ideas on interactive elements: origami/paper folding, pop up, mobiles, card making, and more!

• Pinning ideas to my 100 Day Project Pinterest Board for inspiration including YouTube tutorials
• Gathering the various tools/hardware into a caddy: paper punches, wire, various adhesives, envelopes, bone folder, etc. I suspect this caddy will expand as new supplies are added to my repertoire.

Day 1/100:

When Day 1 arrived, I confess that I was hesitant to dive in and get started. Finally in the evening, I went into my studio determined to at least make a prototype. Well, I was pretty excited by the mock up so I made two more and even used them to narrate my intro video!

You can follow my daily progress on Instagram and Facebook.