Before college, I never thought that you could sand metal. Silly me.

Belated final photos of my wire rack.

I dipped the copper hand in a patina to give it an aged black appearance.

Normally this holds all of my necklaces easily (the joints in the fingers separate the different chains)...but seeing as I've been moving, all of those trinkets are packed.

Coffee Siphon

So over this past semester I tackled a coffee maker design, and wanted to do something a little unconventional. (Superfluous if you'd prefer)

Everyone and their mother's uncle focuses on making a more convenient and time saving machine...and I focused on a performance.



Basically, I have an uncontrollable love for the local coffee-shop (an appropriate passion for a San Franciscan)
I wanted to create something that would intrigue the everyday coffee drinker; a machine that causes the Barista to visually captivate an audience. That's where the coffee siphon caught my eye.

Siphon 101: Fill the bottom with water, and the top with grinds. Heat the water until it evaporates and soaks the grinds in the top chamber. Turn off heat , creating a vacuum effect that pulls the grind soaked water back to the bottom chamber. Result: A beautifully clean cup of coffee made with an AWESOME contraption.
The basic look involves two clear glass chambers, a stand, and a burner of some sort. The combination of fire, steam, bubbling coffee and a little physics adds for a great show.

Anywho, I'm talking too much, here's the actual product I designed

The changes I made were based on material and function. A bamboo stand is a cheap and eco-friendly alternative to a stalk of ABS plastic or full metal. 

The top carafe is held in place with a bamboo steamer handle, shaped to easily hold. The bottom has a little headphone-esque shaped handle (I wanted to mimic the imagery of the siphon in the handle, two circles and a line)


I have a little step by step guide somewhere...I'll share it when I find it..
But this was a pretty awesome project to tackle. I took a step out of the norm and designed this like a mini gilligan's island piece, but I love how it stood out amongst other projects.

Some sketches I made in the process:

This is just a quick overview post. I might share a few more parts later :]