I was thinking about how the design process works when dealing with a new product. This is my favorite part of the design process is figuring out how something works or why it works. I think this is how every discovery is made. First you think about something and say “wouldn’t it be cool if it had this feature…?”.
I have been working in my new ceramic studio for the past couple of weeks designing and refining new products for my business Wowflutes. The concept of Wowflutes is built on the idea of dual-functionality in each creation. I try to think of something somewhat mundane, like a mug for instance, and make it into a new product with a musical twist. I have been working on refining my design of the Wowflute Mug. I first throw a simple cylinder on the wheel, cut it off and let it dry to leatherhard.
Then I take my trimming tools and trim it like a standard mug. After trimming I take a needle tool and cut in half about 2/3rds from the top. I then fashion the flute mechanisms into the bottom part of the mug and using knitting needles I create an airflow channel through the top 2/3rds of the mug and make this the mouthpiece. I then cutout a traced circle of the mug piece and add a flattened mid-section that serves as a false bottom to the mug and a top for my closed vessel whistle that is in the bottom portion.
Then it is on to tuning the mug by putting the proper amount and size of holes in relation to the size of the chamber. After it is tuned to play the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with the proper fingering to match my tableture notation it is ready for a handle!