Name: Roly Poly
Year: 2017 Fall
Size: 10x10x5 in
Material: Plastic, floral foam and wood.
My mother likes planting flowers very much, but she always forgets to water them. So, the flowers in our family need to grow by their own willpower. Flowers can’t talk, so, how could people notice flowers and water them? To solve that problem, I design a vase which can remind people to water the plant.
I get the idea from a roly-poly toy: what if I turn the silent need into a visual signal?
The working theory of the roly-poly toy is the round bottom and the low center of gravity. (It was an one-week project and I need to finish in time. Instead of making from scratch, I bought a plastic ball to get the round bottom.) I add soil in the plastic ball and cover with a piece of floral foam. The floral foam can hold the soil from leaking and make sure the center of gravity could be kept in a low position. To secure the vase, I add a ring structure in the middle of the plastic ball.
When I put flowers in the vase and insert the stalk into the floral foam, the weight of the flower itself will unbalance the vase. Then I pour some water into the vase and see what happens: The vase stands up independently with flower inside!
Because of the weight of water, the gravity center becomes lower so that the vase can maintain balance again. In another words, the vase is balanced when it has enough water, it will be tilted to one side when the water is required. Thus, people could be told to water the flower by the unbalanced vase.
