Josh Mueller | Mechanical Engineering | Maker | Artist
Sculpture
Bottle Caps
This lamp was created during our recycle/repurpose assignment. The structure of the lamp is entirely self supported by the bottle caps with the exception of welded steel rods that form the arms to hold up the shade.
The name: "A Year's Worth of Water" was decided after I counted the piece used over 1,100 bottle caps. There are 822 clear bottle caps taken from plastic water bottles. At the time this piece was created, my family would go through 2 cases of water bottles every month, totaling around 500-700 bottles each year. Knowing that each cap represented a plastic bottle taking up space in a landfill, I reconsidered my environmentally harmful habits.
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The electric circuit that controls the LEDs features a 555-Timer circuit and can be set to either fast or slow color change as well as a solid color by setting the dip switches on the rear support. The lamp socket can operate independently of the LEDs allowing the lamp to be used as a night light or mood lighting.
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Title:
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A Year's Worth of Water
2014
Plastic bottle caps
Circuit board & LEDs
Lamp kit
Steampunk
This skull was sculpted from clay and fired without glazing. Acrylic paint was used to color the surface and various mechanical parts were added to complete the steampunk aesthetic. An old belt was used as a strap for the iris goggle made from a digital camera lens. Various gears and structural parts were added from a broken clock as well as nails and the LED.
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Steampunk Skull
2014
Clay, acrylic paint
Clock movements
Digital camera parts
Story Time
For this assignment, we had to create something out of cardboard. I have always been fond of Legos and this piece is a replica of the famous brick-artist, Nathan Sawaya, who also authored the accompanying poem.
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Various weights of fiber products were used to create this project. The main portion of the book is made from chipboard. The base of the castle is made from thick corrugated cardboard. The castle spires and boat are made from cereal box cardboard and the rocks are made from crumpled packing paper.
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Pop-up Fairytale
2014
Cardboard
Acrylic paint
Fasten-ating
We were told to pick an object that we used regularly or that held a special meaning for us. I chose my stapler because in my freshman orientation class, my professor recommended that we always carry a stapler with us during college. At the time, I thought this was a silly recommendation, but at any rate, I humored him and kept it in my backpack. To my amazement, the professor was right and on numerous occasions, not only did I use my stapler, but countless classmates have asked to borrow the stapler. Now this little chunk of plastic and metal holds a special place in my mind and in my backpack.
The only material we were allowed to use was chipboard. Needless to say, the chipboard in its native form was very thick and unyielding; a quality helpful for creating flat object, but difficult for making smooth curves. To remedy the situation, I burnished strips of chipboard on a table edge until the layers began to delaminate. At this point, I could separate the chipboard into thinner and more workable sheets that I later used to create the smooth curves on the top body section.
The stapler can be separated into the three sections: base, staple rail, and body. A chipboard spring is attached to the base section and allows the staple rail and body to remain at the open position until being pressed down to staple the pages.
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Stapler Reproduction
2017
Chipboard
Acrylic paint
Can you hear me?
We were given a cup of hardened wax and told to create a hybrid of something organic and industrial. I chose to combine the organic form of the human ear with the industrial form on an ear piercing. I only used one reference picture and the topography of my own ear to create this piece.
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Creating a realistic ear from wax is difficult since removing material until light passes through the wax like a real ear compromises the strength of the piece. I t was also difficult to only use subtractive sculpting techniques. I other words, if we cut off too much wax, we were not allowed to add any back on or fuse the wax back together.
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Ear Wax
2014
Wax
Cardboard
Minions!
This purple minion is made from
Paper Mache and cardboard with yarn for hair. After creating the original minion, his expression looked as if he was unenthused about some event. I decided to add the party hat and blower to round off the disinterested appearance
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Purple Party Animal
2014
Paper Mache
Cardboard
Pom poms, yarn
Acrylic paint
"Self Portrait"
We were told to create a wire sculpture that spoke about ourselves. While classmates made pineapples and Ferris Wheels, I created my self from wire. All measurements of the sculpture are slightly larger than my own measurements and I used my own clothes to dress the figure.
Every joint was made so that it mimicked the motion of a real limb, allowing the figure to be fully poseable. Plastic wrap “skin” was added and later removed since it hid the wire structure.
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Wired
2017
Wire
Plastic Wrap
Clothes
Suspension
This is a simple sculpture of cast plaster reinforces with wire. A cardboard form was created with holes for the dowel rod to be inserted. Wire reinforcements were added to the form before pouring the plaster.
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Plastered
2013
Plaster
Wood
Wire
Fries with that?
The assignment required that we create a hybrid clay sculpture of an animal and another form. I decided to create a visual play on words by combining a chicken and a chicken nugget. The piece was sculpted from clay and painted with acrylic paint after firing.
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*The original piece was broken while on exhibit at the county fair and has not been repaired*
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Title:
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Chicken. Nugget.
2014
Clay
Acrylic paint
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