Raygun VII

Put my Juan Garcia Esquivel CD up loud but the sketches are still not getting to where I want. Making step-wise progress in refining the various concepts, though.

ATG: Carved up my massing study; reduced the dimensions, made it taller, brought the handle inside the outline. It works better silhouette-wise, but the combination of rough wood/stone and the tech isn't working for me. I don't know if Tiki will abstract into harder, more mechanical lines, but it is worth a try. Maybe in a smaller clay maquette.

Art Gun: The acrylic fins aren't working for me. I'm not even sure how they attach anyhow. I have one more sketch to develop along that line, using narrow side fins at 45' angles. Acrylic disks would be easy to do and would light wonderfully, but I haven't been able to integrate them into a design. Also played around with milled slots or other cooling vents revealing a lit acrylic rod, but this feels like a more modern aesthetic.

Hair Dryer: On the simple side, could use some turned/machined elements. I'm still concerned about getting a good surface finish (as well as being strong and stable). A pull in ABS or tough acrylic would achieve gloss and color but that leaves edges and clean-up. Powder coating would be wonderful, but of course requires fabrication from metals. Very tin toy there, actually. Not that traditional paint is impossible -- but still fighting to go in a white or pink direction.

Tin Toy: possibly a big advantage to this is I think it is small. So holster-able, and easy to store, but also less metal or resin, faster CNC passes, etc. Of course less space inside for electronics, though. I have a strong suspicion this is going to be the leader, and I may need to back-burner the other ideas to push something of this up to where I can get a realistic budget on it. It seems likely it is going to be metallic -- cold-cast resin, metallic paints, or actual metal. 

Perhaps at this point I need to take a different tack. The "tin toy" seems to be leading the pack as far as getting closest to what I think the client expects and leveraging the assets I have. But in any case a good question now is; what can I do within the low end of the budget projected?