Headboards

I have been looking for headboards recently and had not realized until now that there are a myriad of headboard designs that uses a wide variety of materials. First up, Apartment Therapy posted in January 10 Headboards one can make for under $50. Cost is definitely the constraint here so these are some very cheap or easy to obtain materials.

Burlap

Pallets

Hankies

Books

Paint

Painted Screen

Cardboard

Salvaged Wood

Ribbons

Framed Photos

And then there are some more in Apartment Therapy archives…

Corrugated Sheet Metal

Natural Wood Headboard

Vinyl Decal

Why do we need headboards? Traditionally, headboards literally hold up one end of the bed off the ground while the foot board holds up the other. As you can see above, there is a shift away from this mere function. Now not only is it decorative, some are also functional in the way that it holds decorations, or books, or general storage for duvets, blankets, sheets etc.

One thought that might be worth mentioning is that I, myself, consider a lack of bed frame somewhat strange and a quick poll with my wife and our family also reached similar results.

Leather Trashcans?

I've never understood why leather trash cans existed. Surely one would not discard liquid or viscus waste in it? And it would be somewhat absurd to have a leather trash can and then line it with a plastic bag. This might be one of those situations where someone would line this trash can with a linen bag? Perhaps a high-class hotel?

The perception of leather is usually one of luxury and of relative toughness.

Perhaps once upon a time there was an abundance of leather and it was easier and cheaper to shape one into a bin than metal?

Perhaps in the world of executive stationery sets, it made sense to have a matching waste paper basket along with leather in-out trays and pencil cups.

Here's another trash can from Ikea. It is made from metal mesh and probably powder coated to this final orange color. By comparing these two trash cans,  we can start to imagine the different kind of spaces we would put these vessel into service. Perhaps the leather trash can would be more suited to a more mature user who has mostly dry paper or plastic waste. The mesh can could be used by someone perhaps a little younger or younger at heart.

1:1 - Checking for fit

1:2 Scale Model

After a week of redesigning and redefining, here is a half scale model of the desk. These first two images shows the left hand side with deflectors which made it look a little flat, but it provides a little bit of rigidity to the second level that is required when a monitor it put on top of it.

These second set of images here, Mark, our professor, suggested removing the deflectors to see how it would look.

Without the deflectors, it does look a lot more like as if the second level is floating. This will present some engineering challenges.

1:2 Scale Desk Model before folding/bending

Hopefully, sheet metal will be as easy.

Micro Arc Oxidation Treatment to Aluminum

It's not really "work hardening" and a lot more intense than anodizing, micro arc oxidation is also known as plasma electrolytic oxidation. It is an electrochemical surface treatment process for generating oxide coating on metals. Similar to anodizing, it employs higher potentials (voltage) so that discharges (dielectric breakdown of the naturally occurring oxide on metal) occur and the resulting plasma modifies the structure of the oxide layer. This process can be used to grow thick oxide coatings (end or hundreds of micrometers, largely crystalline, i.e. structural) on metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and titanium. The oxide coating provides a continuous hard barrier protecting against wear, corrosion, or heat as well as electrical insulation.

The coating is a chemical conversion of the substrate metal into the oxide, and grows both inwards and outwards from the original metal surface. Because it is a conversion coating, rather than a deposited coating (such as coating formed by plasma spraying), it has excellent adhesion to the metal the oxide grew from. High levels of silicon in an alloy that needs to be coating can reduce the quality of the coating.

Processes include melting, melt-flow, re-solidfication, sintering and densification of the growing oxide.

-- From Wikipedia.

Another set of renderings with updates

These latest set of renderings is inspired from from the F-117. While the old design was nice but it just wasn't meeting some of the requirements I had originally proposed.

Why we like shiny things… via New Scientist

Why do we like shiny things? have come up quite a few times in various settings. I thought I should look it up… here's a few from New Scientist.

This answer was selected and edited by New Scientist staff.

Arguments on this point are necessarily speculative, but it's worth noting that we associate shininess, cleanliness and crisp outlines with objectively favourable attributes. In assessing a mate, a companion or a rival, we spontaneously see bright eyes and teeth, glowing skin and glossy hair as signs of health and quality. As children, we like things that stimulate our nervous systems with clear, vivid colours, contrasts and light.

Art may be seen as a form of play behaviour, in that it relies on elements that matter to our mental and physical development. As adults, our senses and creativity put a premium on media and themes that stimulate our innate mental systems in important ways.

Shiny things present intense, characteristic stimuli, and are used in social signals and communication, even in creatures that do not see art in our terms. Such dramatic signals may be based on anatomy or physiology, such as peacock tails or the belling of a stag, or may be collected and arranged as adornments, like bowerbird displays and human medals or finery. Much as we enjoy speech, we enjoy communication by vivid stimuli in a broader range of contexts.

Jon Richfield, Somerset West, South Africa

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Here's another answer that was selected and edited by New Science staff.

We like shiny things for evolutionary reasons. The shiniest thing our primitive ancestors saw was probably sunlit water. Those who were attracted to it must surely have increased their survival chances, described as follows in my poem:

All that glisters

Why should we prize a shining thing,
A sapphire, or a diamond ring?
Diamonds of light and water glint
Through leafy trees. Just here! They hint
For a picnic spot beside a stream
To dream a retrospective dream.
If we stay here we will survive
Or children and descendants thrive.
The rushing stream is crystal clear,
We'll be OK if we stay here.
Sparkles signal, stay alive!
With light and water, all life thrives.
Here food and sheltering trees too grow,
Even if we do not know
That's why we prize a shining thing,
A sapphire, or a diamond ring

Wendy Shutler, London, UK

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/lastword/2007/03/magpies.html