Reflection

Finalization & Presentation

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Original DIY Practice Faceting Machine Drawing

Looking back the one regret I can say I have is that I didn't start building my machine soon enough which meant I couldn't give myself more time to get more into the small details and intricacies (even if I intended it to be DIY). I do wish I could have made an articulating arm rather than the O'Brien, but for this I aimed for more simplicity based off my experience with my attempted robotic hand project and how high I set the bar on that one only to not reach it. I want to move more into actually working with smaller motors and automations like the 3d printing machines. (I plan on building my own this summer.)

For Arts & Tech night I did my best to make my display interactive, even though I deemed my machine unsafe for the general public to just be playing around with, I tried to get them involved by other means. I brought in my books on faceting and had them turned to varying pages talking about the machine I worked on but also pages based on the art of Faceting to hopefully interest passerby's. I left notes on certain pages and told the audience that they were free to flip through them to their hearts desire. Included this was two individual Instagram accounts pulled up on my computer that served as perfect examples of home faceters and the results that they can achieve on a daily basis. Images of both unfinished and finished gems were shown in combination with my demonstration of the basics behind faceting. Outside of the machine I really felt confident having people approach me and ask me what I had done or what I was doing. I explained how I had built my machine and the structural concepts behind it. Yet what was always most intriguing to the observers were the results that my faceting machine produced. I felt people engaged in my demonstrations and that I was able to answer most all questions posed or refer them to a reading or source I knew of that could.

I really enjoyed working on this project and I feel that more than even in my school career I'm learning something that drives me to dig deeper. Although I was hesitant this semester to get completely involved electronically I anticipate the knowledge in the future.