Constructing Smash The Patriarchy

In order to secure the high striker we had to make two supports. We made these out of pine wood, to fit in with the rest of the wood/sculpture; and cut each at appropriate angles that would fix neatly onto the sculpted/melting surface on the back and the plywood on the ground.

*Photographs 1-3 were taken on 12th March 2017.

Once we had cut the plywood base into a large puddle for the foundation, we were then able to position the other pieces on top to see how the different parts of the sculpture come together. During this time, we made an assessment on whether the sculpture layout was going to plan. As these photos indicate, the position of the plywood base wasn't cut big enough to house the supports at the back and the lever contraption at the front. Also, it was clear that the puddle layers were needed to form a connection from the side blocks to the puddle base.

*Photographs 4-6 were taken on 18th March 2017.

Following from our assessment, I continued to create and attach the puddle layers around the lever contraption. Photograph 7 and 8 show this process of adding puddle layers, with photograph 8 depicting a complete perimeter of puddles.

*Photograph 7 was taken on 6th April 2017 and Photograph 8 was taken on 7th April 2017.

Finally, we have the high striker, supports and (most of) the lever contraption fixed onto the plywood base. Following from our assessment, I decided to change the position of the plywood base so that it could house the supports at the back and the lever contraption at the front. This switch also worked well for the front and bottom of the lever contraption, as I had enough space to fix the rubber pad onto the plywood underneath the lever so that the lever would hit the rubber and not straight onto the plywood.

This photograph also shows the additional bit of melting timber, fixed at the top of the high striker underneath the splash, the wire and chaser/puck. The additional bit of timber was pine, to fit in with the rest of the sculpture, and its purpose was to create a distance of two inches between the wire and the high striker so the chaser/puck could glide up the wire without coming into contact with the high striker. For the wire, I selected galvanised steel wire, so it would be strong enough not to snap and smooth enough to let the chaser/puck guide up and down it. The chaser/puck was harder to select: at first, I thought of using a lead weight, but then realised it would weigh too much; then I thought of using a skateboard wheel, which could've worked but I concluded that it would be too fragile (as in the rubber/plastic material wouldn't resist against metal/wire for too long); finally, I came across some metal doorstoppers in B&Q whilst I was shopping for the galvanised wire, and selected a couple. I then experimented with both to figure out which one would work best as the chaser/puck. One was completely hollow and therefore too light and fragile, and the other one was solid but because of its small size it was not too heavy. It was also made of metal, which would be able to resist against other metals/wire. I then drilled a hole straight through the top that was a little over wide enough to fit in the wire, as the hole needed to be a bit bigger so that the chaser/puck could glide over the wire easily.

We then needed to figure out how to attach and tighten up the wire. We first secured the bottom end of the wire to the underneath of the plywood base and then threaded it through a hole at the top of the bit of melting timber underneath the splash. Not forgetting to thread the puck, we also had to add a length of small metal piping at the bottom of the wire to set the puck in a higher position for two reasons: (1) because the hit from the lever was more affective when it hit the puck in a higher position than if it started at the bottom; and (2) because the puck kept disappearing underneath the lever or getting jammed between the back of the lever and the wire when it was hit. Once the wire was threaded through the top hole, we wound it into a mini racket strap attached to the back of the high striker, which we used to make the wire taut.

*Photograph 9 was taken on 8th April 2017.