Holder for Nintendo DS
Carlos Kershaw
Rosehill Intermediate
Year 8 Soft Materials Technology
Teacher: Joyce Shankar
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While his friends dash through the rain to keep their electronic games dry, Carlos Kershaw doesn't have to worry because his Nintendo DS (dual-screen handheld game console) has a specially designed holder to keep it dry.
Carlos, a student at Ardmore School in South Auckland, attends the Rosehill Intermediate Technology Centre. During a five-week Soft Materials unit (of three-hour blocks each week) his class explored plastic as a material and brainstormed its performance properties. Carlos listed the positive and negative aspects of using plastic in shopping bags – noting that it is light but gets carried easily in the wind and litters. He compared the performance properties of plastic and cotton using a Venn diagram, stating, for example, that cotton is quiet to work with while plastic is "noisy". He also considered how plastic is used and how its uses are linked to its properties.
After watching a YouTube video about recycling plastic shopping bags into new materials, Carlos and his class discussed how the performance properties of plastics meant the material could be used for a range of purposes. Carlos listed products that could be made from plastic material and considered issues he might work on. He decided that as his DS didn't have anything to protect it from the rain, he would make a waterproof bag to cover it.
In his conceptual statement (design brief) Carlos identified the attributes his DS holder needed. For example, that the holder had to completely cover the DS so that water or sharp objects wouldn't touch it, and how he would achieve this. He sketched some concept ideas and checked them against his attributes, and he decided to make a holder with a monkey design on it. Carlos identified the key stages he was going to work through and resources he needed and regularly checked his plan so that he could make any changes as needed.
Carlos collected lots of plastic supermarket bags and cut the handles and bottoms off to make squares for constructing the material. He did a lot of testing first to make sure his plastic would turn out correctly – trialling different layers of plastic before deciding that eight layers produced a material with the right strength. Carlos also trialled how much heat to use, so that he wouldn't burn or melt the plastic bags, and how much pressure to put on the iron to ensure that the sheets bonded as one material.
After creating his material, Carlos cut it into pieces using a pattern that he had created from his design drawings. As he sewed these pieces together, he continually tested to ensure his Nintendo would fit securely inside. He had planned to sew a foam monkey shape on to the holder but found that sewing foam was too difficult so used fabric glue instead.
Carlos evaluated his outcome by revisiting the attributes and describing how he had met each one – he rated the waterproof attribute as 4/5 because the holder itself was waterproof but the foam monkey might get soaked. The "awesome design", to which he had added a second monkey, was rated 5/5, and Carlos says that it really stands out as a key point of the presentation.
Teacher comment
Students often come expecting to sew using fabric, but I feel they also need to explore developing outcomes from a range of materials. They often have an expectation that they will create certain items, instead this unit of work allowed them to explore real-life issues surrounding plastic bags and the environment. Carlos clearly identified the need for a waterproof pouch for his Nintendo DS. He enjoyed working with a material that he had created, which meant he was highly engaged in his own practice. He understood the performance properties of his new plastics-based material and he showed that understanding in his attributes and evaluation of his outcome.
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