The project “foody” is an interactive toy experience using the idea of slingshot shooting food. This project is specifically designed for my dad, replicating his nolstagic childhood play experience of making his own slingshot with scrap wood. This toy can be played by placing any objects on the elastic to be shot away with a sling shot handle. The player can also hang the slingshot as body massage tool, as it contains wood frame inside.
In my previous blog post, play for me is an experience that brings positive nolstagic satisfaction through a certain action performed with the toy. The reading “How to Make Everything” by Neil Gershenfeld mentioned how technology allows us to have access to digital fabrication more easier than ever: "How will we live, learn, work, and play when anyone can make anything, anywhere?” This stood out to me because when digital fabrication is no longer a result, but a tool to achieve our result, we have more freedom to learn more about our design intention and explore our design to fit our intended user’s needs. For my design in this project, I took inspiration from my user(my dad)’s hidden wishes—which is reclaiming what makes him happy. By combining two things—nature and food—that make him happy at his two life stages(childhood and adulthood), I fabricated something based on this context that’s more tailored for him to play.
One of the key learning materials that inspired my project is also the Cas Holman’s documentary as it changed how I view toy design, creating sustainable fun pieces that can withstand time. For this project, this mean my toy have different play value for the user to engage in playing as the shooting material can be versatile and you can shoot anything with this slingshot. You can also play this with two people, with one shooting and the other catching. I think I did “designed for play” because the plush appearance of a slingshot combined with untypical shooting materials automatically give people a new impression of traditional slingshots. The user doesn’t necessary have to shoot and use the slingshot, but they can also simply hang it around as a room decor.
During the final presentation, I received feedback on the functionality of the slingshot band. Many didn’t want to pull hard because they saw it doesn’t have much elasticity. I learned that the strap part needs to be altered so that it looks more like a stretchable band. What worked was that I was able to machine sew half of the slingshot and insert the wood structure before I hand sew the other. I’m also glad the size of the slingshot turned out well this time because from previous times, I learned that we need way more fabric to cut out because it will shrink signficantly after we sew them together. If I have more time, I will fix the elastic band and make it more similar to scrunchy appearance. I will also add more functionality to the food materials, whether it is them being sound reactive to squeeze or adding velcro so that it can be thrown as a target to a plate or somewhere concrete instead of to anything. I would also needle felt on the slingshot to make it more personalized for my dad. For this project, I’m most proud of the visual aesthetics and the concept.
technique: needle felting
reason: small and realistic, dad’s favorite food to make that brings him fulfillment
technique: 2d sewing + wooden slingshot insert
initial sketch/concept: create round corners by adding depth on the back