February 2010 Artefact; stage 5

Today I am doing stage 5 and my goal is to select the material for the treasure chest and then measure and cut out the pieces.

In the morning I created a scale model of the treasure chest on A3 paper which helped to decide wether the chest would be too big or

too small.

After this I got our wood cut to size so we could measure the length width and depth. Now I measured the wood and marked it ready to be cut.

Firstly when I did it the wood was different lengths, then I re-did the lengths - this time they were more precise and I used more appropriate equipment to check we did it right. Now I know if i do it again I will be more prepared and accurate. (RL5)

Last week when we presented our sketches and designs to the client she gave us her feedback and told us that she wanted us to use plywood and a purple silk to line the chest. I also had a print screen photo of the

gems which we ordered from ebay; these are going on the outer part of the chest for decorations.

The materials which we need are

within our budget and easy to access.

On ebay I researched gems, i found poor quality gems which looked plastic and cheap, however then I found the green gems were from ebay and the wood was provided by from the school. The materials which I have yet to purchase are....

* more gems

* purple velvet (the purple velvet was asked for by the client however I thought that red silk material would be a better colour because it look more royal - which is the look they want.)

* leather belts or material ( haven't decided which would be easier to use because the belts would probably look better however the material would be easier to use.)

* hinges for the lid and decoration on the sides of the boxes

* padlock which we are currently investigating where I can buy one from.)

As a group we all came to agreement, we have decided how were going to make the box. We are going to screw the sides, base, back and front all together. The sides have a higher curved edge and we will attach wooden planks to it. To create the curved lid we are going to use slats attached to the curved edges and then cut the slats to fit in as they go around. I am then going to re-attach it to the bottom part of the chest. I also have to sand the box and varnish it so it will not splinter or if anything spills onto it it will not stain.

The legal and ethical issues relating our artefact are...

* Health and safety

- the chest has to have a letter or a note explaining that there are small beads on the chest which is a choking hazard and sharp edges on the box

*Ethical

- this box is made out of plywood which can be recycled the leather strips, hinges, material inside the box and padlock can be recycled however the gems cannot be recycled.

- we are going to be non- toxic glues and varnishes on the box.

- however if we decide to paint the box to age it the paint will most likely be toxic because the paints which mainly do this are toxic and the ones that are not are not very good and expensive.

For this project I have already bought the gems which were £1.80 for 30 and the plywood was supplied by the schools and I will be charged nearer the end of the project. I need to purchase leather belts or material, more gems, bronze hinges, a padlock and the material for the inside of the box. Our budget for this project is £150 however I don't think that we will spend this much. we are probably going to buy the materials from a local material shop, the padlocks and hinges from random shops and the gems mainly from ebay. I estimate that we will spend from around £30-£80 on this project.

There are no copyright aspects to this treasure chest.

Today I did not meet the deadline for my goals as I did not cut out the measured wood because I ran out of time. I think that I could have worked quicker and started quicker because I wasted time getting settled when I should have just started the making straight away. Furthermore we have changed our first designs on the box - originally we wanted to make the chest 50 x 100cm, however when I started to make our model to scale it was very large and I didn't think it would be easy to store and access to our client so I made a new scale of measurements which are easier for us to make and for the client to use. However by changing the scale of our chest after making a scale model I think that i have developed a new skill, by making this scale model it saved time and was a good idea. The skills that I have used today are using my initiative and common sense - by making a scale model it saved time and I think was a sensible idea (this skill can be applied to other situations and projects in the future.) The weaknesses of today which I have found are making more plans and designs to support my final idea; detail needs to be added because if I add more detail and research into the artifact more I can come up with more options of how I can create it and ways I can improve my designs.

Today the personal learning and thinking skills i have used are...

* (SM2) this is because i set myself a goal at the beginning of the day and worked hard to achieve them.

* (EP1) because i discussed the concern I had with making the lid and we then re-developed how we would go about doing it.

* (TW1) because we all worked together to achieve our goals.

* (TW2) i discussed how the box scale would be re-done and we then achieved results (the new scale.)

*(CT1) i gave ideas of how we could measure each piece of wood so we wouldn't waste most of it - this was also an eco-friendly decision.

* (RL5) I said how i could have improved the work i did today and what i could have to done to achieve all of my goals for today.