Project Proposal

Haven Tucker

Welding Project #2 Proposal

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the role of some of my pervious work with baseball caps. Particularly the one made of welded sheet steel, as I feel it is the most wearable and also begins to speak to a combination of clothing (by appearance) and armor (by function). This is an especially interesting line of inquiry for me as I often feel that things like baseball hats, work boots, Carhartt jackets, etc. serve as functional modern armor against physical things, but also as a psychological armor. They are used to define a certain set of working class individuals, and in many ways have become icons that people use to align themselves with “blue collar” America. For this project I would like to continue my investigation into the role of wearable modern armor by creating a pair of work boots out of steel. To do this effectively I will utilize a plethora of metal working techniques, including but not limited to heat forming, welding, riveting, plasma-cutting, and forging. Technically, my approach will be to build a pattern template off a pair of my own boots, modify that to more effectively match the material being used (metal instead of leather and rubber) then begin constructing the metal boots. To fabricate the boots efficiently I will have to order thinner sheet metal, probably 16 gauge sheet steel will be adequate, I have also worked with it before and am somewhat familiar with how to manipulate it. I have also been researching medieval armor construction, to help find ways to make the boots more effectively wearable. I am particularly looking at 14^th -15^th century sabaton armor for inspiration and technical assistance.

Classic Sabaton 

German made sabaton 

         I feel that making the boots appear as much like modern work boots as possible is important, as I do not want them to seem just like recreations of medieval armor. However, I also believe that constructing them so that they are wearable is also important, as I think they become static if simply presented on a pedestal or the floor. I am imagining the sound of clanking around in these boots and the way they might make you feel while wearing them. I am also thinking about the overall weight and how they will seem heavy simply by their materiality.

Sketch of my personal work boots. These boots will mostly likely be used as the template for the steel construction.

Questions:

·      Does making these boots wearable make them more like armor than apparel because of their functionality?

·      I am not highly interested in performance art, however I feel that it is important that these boots be wearable. Is simply wearing the boots in everyday situations enough or does there need to be a more curated experience for the boots?

·      Does the idea that there are iconic working class brands/articles of clothing seem trite or contrived?

·      What should line the inside of the boot? Fur? Padding? Leather? Nothing?

·      Does this exploration seem to in keeping with my previous body of work? Does it need expanded, or approached from a slightly newer angel?