Applied Geometry

Some mornings you wake up thinking about icosahedrons.  Just me?  I promise, it is not a deadly disease, unless you are severely allergic to a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. Or geometry.  Or math.


I'm done with all of my college math classes now.  Don't get any ideas, I've served my time in lecture halls and through integral-heavy finals, but I can still appreciate the beauty of geometry from afar.

I had been inspired lately by geometric pieces.  HRUSKAA is an Etsy shop that has Scandinavian-inspired modern art like hanging planters and mobiles made from brass straws.  West Elm has a more cube style geometric home accent.



I loved the look of HRUKAA's mobiles and Mandi's project on Vintage Revivals gave me an idea of how I could re-create the look for much cheaper.  She created a geometric wreath from just cocktail straws and florist wire.  The results are very impressive.



I went to Target and was able to find cocktail straws and instead of florist wire I used some fishing line I already owned (from a different, equally odd project).  I wanted the gold look of the HRUSKAA mobiles without splurging for custom cut brass straw (I even looked it up, eek pricey).  However, I did have some gold paint, so I decided the most timely, but cost effective thing to do was paint the straws.  Warning: this is a bad idea.  I had lined up all the straws for an easier set-up for painting.  When the paint cooled, however, I realized that the paint had adhered all the straws together.  Pulling every straw apart, I felt very foolish.  This process also pulled half the paint off of each straw.  So much for all my efforts.  



After pulling my building materials apart, I started assembling my own mobiles.  The result was an icosahedron and another polyhedron with a top and bottom point.  These mobiles make an interesting focal point above my dining table in the place of a traditional hanging light (took a little less installation effort too).



Despite initial difficulties, I am happy with the end result (and spending less than $3 total).  Instead, the straws look a little more like aged metal and a little less painting faux pas.  At least, that's what I tell myself.

Let me know what you think!  Stop by again soon!


This entry was posted on Monday, September 1, 2014. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.

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