Assemblage Sneaker
The goal of this assignment was to create or texture an object using found objects. I chose to texture a tennis shoe using the fabric from tennis balls. I had decided to do this because of the connection between tennis balls and tennis shoes. They both are related to tennis, however look very different and have very different purposes. I also thought that the texture of tennis balls was very intriguing so I planned on tearing the material off of colored tennis balls to then attach it to the tennis shoes in a stylish shoe design.
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I drew inspiration for the shoe design from the complex and colorful designs on Air Jordan shoes. However, the process of removing this fabric was much more difficult than I anticipated. The fabric was glued onto the tennis balls so strongly that I had to use a combination of scissors, shears, and exacto knives to remove the tough fabric from the rubber balls. But once I had the fabric removed and ready to be cut out, the process was much more enjoyable. I cut out and assembled the fabric pieces in fun geometric shapes, the colors loosely following a cool-to-warm gradient. Once it was complete, I added some wings made to look as if they were made of fire out of some scrap pieces on the back of the shoe. I did this to tie in the warm tones in the front of the shoe with the back of the shoe, as well as being a reference to Hermes's winged shoes. I feel like the finished product turned out looking great: colorful, vibrant, and captivating. One thing that I think went well was cutting out the fabric into the perfect shapes. I traced over the fabric before I cut it to create the precise shapes that I wanted, which turned out well. I think it paid off by making the finished product look clean and harmonious. One thing that I would do differently next time would maybe be to separate and prepare all of the fabric before I started assembly. I think this may have helped allow me to make a more coherent plan for what I wanted to do with the colors based on how much of each color I had.
