At bokoshoko we normally work in the field of interior design where we make, re-use and re-purpose (hence our tag line). Every now and then ...
At bokoshoko we normally work in the field of interior design where we make, re-use and re-purpose (hence our tag line). Every now and then we get to explore another area, a challenge is presented which we cannot resist or we simply think it sounds like fun; this was the case with this project.
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| Two Heads Better Than One? In Two Minds About This? |
It started with two shrunken heads (don't most things?) from
Shrunken Head.com (yes, really), purchased as novelty gifts way back in the height of summer and laid to rest until Christmas. 6 months is a long time, plenty of time for a seed of an idea to germinate, grow and flourish and bloom. That seed was a thought that merely wrapping up the heads in some festive paper, attaching a little gift tag was perhaps not fully exploiting the opportunity.
Old vs New?
Two heads, two different ideas with a common basis; create an interesting packaging concept; take the idea of wrapping paper, discard it leaving behind the fundamental notion of containment and replace it with something unique and do it two different ways.
Our audience is 2 pre-teen boys who have a fascination with Doctor Who, doing things perceived as dangerous by over cautious adults, stories of brave adventurers both real and imagined in other words just what you'd expect of boys.
The idea then was to create two vessels in which the heads would sit; one would be a steampunk themed vessel and one would be a science fiction themed one. The heads are designed to hang from a hook or similar so rather than sitting on a support or plinth the heads should be hung. To fulfil the idea of being a vessel, container or display the vessel should be clear, made from glass or preferably some form of plastic.
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| New vs Old - Annodised taper socket cap rolled thread titanium to the left, machined brass to the right |
We'll drill into some detail but before we start on the differences between the designs let us go through the similarities; basically both designs used a 40cm to 50cm high, 125mm internal diameter acrylic tube with aluminium end caps. The top end cap in each case includes a clevis which allows the shrunken head to be suspended in the tube. Both designs use 120 degree interval spacing for end cap locking fixings, feet and legs.
Steampunk Theme...
What we're imagining here is brass, copper, technological yes but simultaneously old fashioned. Think of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Penny Dreadful, think of dark drawing rooms, with heavy curtains, smokey candles, large fireplaces and curios, think of leather bound books and scientific specimens under glass domes.
With brass being pretty de rigueur for this look we turned to compression plumbing fittings; these combine not only the correct material but a great aesthetic with their large hex nuts, exposed threads with the added advantage that they are available in all kinds of sizes and fittings.
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| Feet and leg sub-assemblies |
We added additional brass details in the form of machined bolts holding the end caps to the acrylic tube and large hexagonal bolts in the center of both end caps.
We used standard 15mm and 22mm copper tube along with the compression fittings to create feet and legs. Using flanged 90 degree compression fittings bolted to the top end cap allowed us to then suspend the vessel.
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| Top Cap detail - flanged compression fittings attached to leg/foot components |
Our original design showed only the copper tube and brass fittings but we found the assembly was not rigid enough and adding additional bracing below the vessel would have driven the overall height beyond where we wanted it to go. Fortunately the solution was both obvious and very much in context with the Steampunk aesthetic; a plinth. We re-used an old, end grain, chopping block which was stained ebony and then knocked back to distress it before we screwed the feet to it.
A few details worth calling out; the feet were made from our favourite sounding material; tellurium, which is a highly machinable copper alloy, the feet are attached to the plinth using fixings hidden inside them - a convenient side affect of using plumbing fittings, the brass end cap securing bolts use small o-rings to provide a buffer between them and the, relatively delicate, acrylic tube, finally we relieved each end cap to expose the top quarter or so of the end cap securing bolts.
If we'd had the time and budget we would have pushed for copper plating the end caps but giving them a brushed/satin surface finish along with leaving them deliberately imperfect was a good compromise.
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| Flat Pack! |
Science Fiction Theme...
What we wanted to do with this theme was conjure up the sense of a laboratory item from the future. Something that might have been found on the Nostromo, in the TARDIS or glimpsed in the background of The Fifth Element or Aliens.
The main feature of this design was the use of braided hosing arcing up from underneath the vessel and terminating in fittings that pierce through the upper end cap. The end caps themselves were deeply grooved with the tapered socket cap end cap securing bolts set deep within the groove.
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| Titanium, forged aluminium, stainless steel - top cap detail |
We chose to put this vessel on feet and for that purpose the lower end cap is a much larger diameter creating a flange through which the feet are attached. An additional detail here was the use of a through drilled hole that was then sleeved. When viewed from the side this detail adds a complexity without becoming overly detailed.
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| Lower cap detail showing sleeved foot assembly (image makes them look bent but that's just an artifact; they're straight) |
The other key decision in this theme was the choice of materials; whilst the end caps and tube were as before (aluminium and acrylic) we maintained a futuristic feel by using black annodised titanium socket cap bolts, blue annodised titanium flanged bolts to fix the clevis, forged black annodised aluminium dash 3 fittings with stainless steel braided hose.
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| Some Assembly Required (again) - Parts Manifest |
The Final Details
This project is great for demonstrating that this kind of work is not just about the workshop "stuff", the job is not done when the item is put together, there are finishing details required. In this case we needed to (ironically given the original impetus for this project) "wrap" the vessels and we needed to create some kind of back-story for them.
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| Tricky to photograph - Two Heads, Two Containers, Two Concepts! |
To wrap the vessels we took a two fold approach designed to maintain/extend the "suspense" and also drive the maximum curiosity from the recipients. Firstly we wrapped the acrylic cylinders in tissue paper, hiding the suspended head and securing it in place with a small logo sticker. Then we placed the entire assembly inside an old coffee sack secured with braided cordage.
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| What should be under every Christmas tree! |
The backstory was provided by taking two stock images of old maps with additional detailing such as a compass and a telescope, distressing the images and then printing them onto postcard stock. On each postcard a short story was written suggesting a journey to far off lands (and far off times) with the "relics" being entrusted to us upon our return.
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| Backstory Post Cards |
With these final details in place the entire project was completed; we delivered a unique gift that is demonstrative of our attention to detail and provided along with it a back story and unusual "delivery" mechanism.
You can see the full gallery of images associated with this project by clicking here
