You can use cut paper to design a dory as shown in the attached photos. Of course, this is my first effort and I will get better at it, refining the shape in further iterations and learning from each one. It is cheaper and more efficient than starting out with wood. Next time I will use card stock so the material won't bend so easily. When the final shape is achieved, I will scan the bottom shape and one side, and these will be scaled to full size for making patterns for real boats. I have this very strange idea of making tiny little dories using cheap 2 cycle weed eaters as inboard propulsion. Having made one successful wooden boat, there is a greater danger that I may be inclined to make more. Just imagine a whole fleet of children in 6 ft. dories propelled by 2 cycle weed eaters. What a race that would be! I guess you can see that being inventive and inclined to make things can present a hazard to humanity.
The kids would love it! Another way of adding fun to the learning.
ReplyDeleteAs far as design, I wonder about the design (and designers) of the ships that traveled the Maritime Silk Road between China and Iraq over a thousand years ago. Their design was state of the art for the time, just right for the job they did.
Mario
Great article this last month about the maritime silk road in National Geographic. A sunken treasure with thousands of tea bowls and gold. The ship was sewn together and shaped a bit like my first paper dory.
ReplyDeleteThe design of objects is a multi-generational and evolutionary process. My dory is dependent on two rather high-tech objects that took a million years of hands-on interaction with the environment to create. Paper and scissors. Add a rock to use as a hammer and you can build a culture.