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Initial IdeasFabric Designs.Teapot GloveMagneticI first thought that being a metal teapot it would be magnetic but after extensive testing the teapot is made from stainless steel therefore it is not magnetic. There is a picture and video below on proving the testing.
Prototype:
This is the rough sketch of what I hoped the product would look like.It is pretty much a smaller and single handed version of an oven glove.In use.Out of use.A problem with this prototype is that I used measurements of my own hand so limiting the range of future customers that could use the product.Development:To combat this problem of size. I have researched the average hand size of men as they hand larger hands and could still be used by women thus improving customer viability. Although if the product is successful, it could release a womens version of the teapot glove and this could boost sales.
The average males hand length is 189 mm and the width/breadth is 84mm. The pictures below are of my second prototype (tested on the same person who tested the last prototype and it didnt fit).
After researching I believe that Pyro blanket 32* would be the best at protecting the users hand from heat as it is not effected by water. I would also sew inside the teapot glove either some fleece or other thick fabric with insulating properties. Next I would sow parallel lines in one direction. Then, sow intersecting perpendicular lines to create a grid. The is a quilting effect it would also help the heat protective quality's of the teapot glove.*http://www.adlinsulflex.com/fire-blankets/pyroblanket-32-oz
Inside the teapot gloveInsulating fabricPatterned fabric
Quilted fabric Video
video
3797 (3) - PICTURES OF PRODUCT PROTOTYPE AND SKETCHS
Snap Band Fabric Designs.Initial IdeasZip
This was the original idea to have one giant piece of convex either metal or plastic which would then snapped round the teapot handle. As shown in the sketch.Developments:It was soon realised that it wouldn't be possible as I couldn't make the plastic curve as well as I hoped. In case you are not familiar as to what a snap band is or how it works (as they are called many different names) please look at the video. This snap band is convex metal with a rubber covering/coating. Rubber is good and protecting from heat unlike metal which conducts heat very easily, these materials balance each other out. Video
This lead me to the conclusion that it would be best if there was only the snap band in the pocket. I then wanted to test what type of plastic would bend round the teapot handle with the snap band. I first tried a thick piece of plastic with did not seam to want to curve round the handle. I used the same snap band as in the video and placed it into a pocket I made out of some man-made fabric. This is only a proto type as the man-made fabric is not very good at insulating.Next I tried a slightly thinner piece and this curve round width ways but not round the top of the handle. 1234This works well as it is a very innovative idea and would encourage kids into remembering you use the cover before picking up the hot teapot handle. This is the original sketch made during designing. The idea is relatively quite simple, attaching a zip to heat proof material. The idea did not need much development and as you can see from the prototype the design has not changed. As you can see from the picture the material product is not the full length of the teapot handle this leads for it to slip up and down when pouring. A solution for this would be to place rubber grips into the design hopefully this would improve the users grip and handle of the product and also the slip quality of the product. The zip I chose was a closed zip meaning it didn't completely separate from the other side of the zip. This meant it would not attach on to the teapot handle like a coat as I had originally planned. I solved this by cutting the connecter at the bottom off. this can be seen in the picture. But this then lead to another problem involving how to connect the two sides again once on the tea pot. I had to carefully interlink the sides this took a lot of time and was fidderly which would make this product not commercially viable. I realise now that it would have been much easier to buy a better zip.
In discussion with a member in a focus group it was brought to my attention that as the zip is metal as well as the teapot, and metal is a good conductor of heat, with the zip design it is merely creating a new form of source for the heat to travel to. So the zip with get hot just as much as the teapot and result in burning the users hand. To combat this problem I could either change the zip to a plastic replacement or create a cover underneath the zip but the material used could get caught in the zip.
video
Initial IdeasVelcroVelcro Designs.
I started off designing the Velcro version just to wrap round and attach to its self. Soon after starting I realised that the fabric slips on the metal pushing up the users hand to the teapot body. This is a problem as the teapot body is hot and could cause burns.I firstly thought that maybe as the teapot is metal it would be magnetic. So I would be able to incorporate a magnet in to the Velcro design. But the teapot is not magnetic. Developments:To combat this problem I redesigned the cover to include pockets for the user to place their fingers. This in solves the problem of risk with the product and the consumer.
Simple designFor multipurpose users (left and right handed people)Here is a rough sketch of what I hope the prototype will look like.
First I made a teapot on pro desk top. This jpg is saved on album as I have changed material to steel as that is what looked most like the teapot in real life. Then again, using pro desk top I created the virtual prototype of my developed Velcro design with pockets. Side view Plan view Plan view Side view Next I joined the two together creating a realistic design of what my prototype would look like on a teapot . In evaluation I maybe shouldn't have used pro desktop as the best way of explaining my design. As it is hard to replicate fabric virtually. 1
This is the Velcro design with pockets around the teapot handle. As you can see it is a little big on the teapot i did this in hope that my development two would work. It does not as the material merely bunches together and the slide still happens. Here is the first rough prototype of the Velcro design, made from a man made fabric blend of cotton and polyester and Velcro. I sowed it together using a sewing machine It was during the placement of this design onto the teapot handle that I first noticed the problem with the slip and came up with the possible alternatives.
Another way of solving this problem would be to increase the size/length of the product thus creating no room for the fabric to slip up or down the teapot handle. A different way I thought of improving the problem would be to create rubber grips on both the side touching the teapot and the fabric in the users hand. Hopefully this would help the fabric from sliding and give the customer more grip.
Here are sketches of just how would lengthen the Velcro design.This is just an example. For a more practical product I could use a combination of all my development ideas to improve the slip of the Velcro design.32
This picture shows the Velcro product in use. As you can see the pockets cover the fingers, so if there is a risk of the fabric slipping the fingers will not get burnt as there is heat protective fabric over them. This is the rough proto type of the Velcro pockets. As you can see the Velcro is on opposite sides this is because when you grip something your thumb goes over you fingers, and this is where the Velcro join.
3797 (3) - Pictures of fabric velrco designsInitial IdeasPlastic Designs.
Semi-Circle
Tear Drop
This is the rough sketch of the first semi circle design. The labelling explains how it would work and how it is made. This is the 2D design that I then sent to the laser cutter to cut out. I did not care for the colour as this was a prototype. Once all cut out and bended into the right shape I would use acrylic glue to keep the pieces together. VideoThe strip that encloses sides of the sides was shaped by being placed in the oven then once reaching melting point moved to the teapot handle then bent around. This gave the product a close to perfect fit when placed on the teapot. The problem with this design prototype is that as it slides on the teapot handle, the underneath is left bare so the users fingers could touch the metal handle and unintentionally harm themselves. Problems: As pointed out by Hannah in the video another problem with the design is that the finger gap is painful to hold. Development:
The tear drop design is the same size as the inside handle of the teapot. It solves the problem with my first design (semi-circle, finger gap) as its is placed inside the teapot handle instead of around.VideoVideoAs you can see their is a difference between the first initial sketch and the 2D design version for the laser cutter. This is because when you pick up the metal teapot your fingers tend to squish together and many people have different finger sizes I would not want to alienate any potential customers if the finger gaps were to small.
I added some foam support to cushion the sharp edges of the plastic finger grips. This video shows a good and bad point of the semi-circle finger grips by a users perspective. This video shows that finger grips are very useful when I comes to picking up the teapot its just the sizing used need some work on as they are still to small, the same problem the semi-circle finger gaps have. The 2D design involved getting 3 tear drop shaped acrylic plastic pieces they sticking them together using acrylic glue. This would hopefully create the thickness big enough to cover the inside part of the teapot handle.A reason why this is not a very good design is that there is no cover over the outside teapot handle this could result in burns and so on. The colour was not a big part in designing as these are only prototypes. In the final piece I would have set up a focus group consisting only of my target market and going with the majorities decision on the best colour.
videovideovideo
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