Scale Project

     The first small object that caught my attention for using with this project was a little electric tea light that is for Halloween jack 'o lanterns.  It was somewhat simple in shape, and I thought that it would make it so it wasn't so complex that it would take me 40 hours or more to create it, as did my previous wire sculpture.  I needed to focus more on simplicity because of my tendency to focus so much on making things more difficult and challenging for myself.  Even so, I ended up acting completely OCD while working on this cardboard and tape sculpture of an enlarged electric tea light.
     The main thing that I got so OCD about was the placement of the tape, as well as my need to try to remove every little dark, dirty, or debris item that would stick all over the edges of the tape.  The tape's tendency to collect dirt and debris, especially while sitting in my backpack, was the thing that almost put me over the edge.  To me, it made my piece look dirty and unprofessional, and yet, it was really difficult to deal with.  If I had not controlled myself, I would have spent all of my time just messing around with that, and not finishing my project on time.  Thankfully, I realized that it was important to stay focused, and not let the little things get to me.
     I decided to make little "flames" out of the cardboard to try to emulate the one flame coming out... and I had to carve intricate little designed holes in the flame, so that a light I was planning on trying to use could shine through, and make it seem like it was a lit up candle.  This concept worked well, however, I played around with the idea of using both sides of the cardboard- the plain side, and the colored sides.  I thought this would help to illustrate the flame colors a little more, but they just ended up distracting.  Thankfully, this part is easily replaceable.  Also, I struggled with the thought of making the flame it's actual shape on the original object, which I could only see being possible by doing paper mache, which wouldn't allow any light through.  Whether there really needs to be a light, making it very literal, is still a hard question I can't answer.  Would this object be as affective without a light? Perhaps adding the light is taking it too far, or it's like "adding extra frosting".  It's a super fancy detail that may not be necessary.