The Octopussy is a medium size mutant vehicle that will explore
the depths of space and time. A radically illuminated octopus/cat hybrid
creature, the Octopussy, will perch atop a Geo Metro decorated to appear as a
rock in the interstellar ocean.
Description: The Octopussy has ears and nose like a cat, eyes and tentacles
like an octopus. The entire structure is covered in white projection grade
spandex and internally illuminated by strips of multicolor LEDs connected to a
sound reactive controller. This gives
the Octopussy the ability to change color and pattern on the fly, much like her
octopus brethren. Lighting up the night
sky, she will bring joy and wonder to all who lay eyes upon her. In addition,
the car is painted to appear as a rock in the ocean and has interior blue rope
lighting and large plush seating (3-6 people, depending on how snuggly they
want to get). This underwater lounge
comes complete with a treasure chest!
The Octopussy is the largest of her kind at approx. 11’ tall x 14’ wide
x 17’ long!
Although
she is a mutant vehicle, due to land restrictions, the Octopussy will be a
stationary art piece for her debut at Apogaea in Bailey, CO on June 10,
2015. But she will be fully mobile and tentacling
about at Element 11 in Stargazer Ranch, UT on July 8, 2015.
Background: This large-scale project has been
underway since August 2014 and will take roughly $2450 to come to life. We have
already made some great headway towards this goal by hosting a concert
fundraiser in October 2014 where we raise $670. Since
then, we have been busy building the base structure and are currently stalled
due to lack of funding. We applied for two rounds of Apogaea art grants and
despite our grant applications being rated highly with many positive comments,
we did not receive funding. Although we are disheartened, we are not
deterred! Anything worth doing does not
come easily and we have been presented with a great opportunity to think
outside the box and be more creative with our resources. As part of this, we
have been crowd sourcing to find materials that can be repurposed for our
project. Thankfully we have a very supportive community that has already
provided many opportunities that we did not know were available.
In addition to crowd sourcing for
materials, we are planning to have another concert fundraiser mid-spring which
will hopefully bring us closer to our goal. Fortunately, Kitty and the entire
Octopussy team have plenty of experience fundraising for large theme camps.
Kitty has played a leadership role in 6 different Apogaea/Burning Man theme
camps that were 40-80 people. The
majority of these theme camps had large-scale art projects like the Octopussy. Last year, one of the projects was the
Crystal Gardens, which raised $2566 through Indiegogo! ( https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/crystal-gard...)
The
Crystal Garden project was a major inspiration for the Octopussy! It provided
the general idea of using metal conduit structure wrapped in white spandex
internally illuminated with light strips!
For the Crystal Gardens, Kitty assisted with multiple aspects of fundraising
and was in charge of fulfilling handcrafted perks to 52 supporters! In addition, she has 4 years of experience
volunteer managing a Denver sound production company, which has provided many
opportunities orchestrating concert fundraisers. We already applied for the third Apogaea art
grant round, but the maximum we could be awarded for this art grant is
$600. We also applied for an Element 11
art grant to fund transportation to bring the Octopussy to Element 11. Even if we are awarded these art grants, we
still need additional funds to make this project happen!
How you can help: The Octopussy team is working very hard
to bring this project to life and pursuing all possible funding opportunities
including: submitting Apogaea/Element 11 art grants, putting up a donation
booth at the Apogaea art fair, and planning additional concert
fundraisers. However, even with all
these sources combined, we will need additional funds beyond that to complete
this project. This is where we need your help!
This Indiegogo campaign is the last piece needed to complete this
fundraising puzzle.
With your support, the Octopussy could be swimming the
interstellar ocean near you soon!
Why you should support the Octopussy: By supporting this Indiegogo
fundraiser, you are bringing immense joy not only to the Octopussy team, but
also to many people in the greater Colorado area! Being big and beautifully bright, the
Octopussy is eye candy for everyone in her vicinity. The Octopussy is one of only a handful of art
cars that resides in the Colorado burning community. So a big, bright, beautiful art car is a
wonderful art installation that will delight many burners year after year! Once completed, the Octopussy team intends on
bringing her out as much as possible to share this art with thousands of
people! To all the regional burning man
events that they possibly can for the next few years! In addition, we will also bring her to the
First Friday Art Walk in Denver during the summer/fall and to Artocade, an art car parade in Trinidad, CO. The impact of a large, colorful art piece
such as this has the potential to go viral on the internet, delighting people
all over the globe!
This project has been a long-term dream
in the making. The Geo Metro base of
this art car was previously another art car, the Dubmarine, which was built in
2012 by Kitty and another member of the Octopussy team. That project was so much fun to work on, so
when this vehicle went up for sale, Kitty jumped at the opportunity to snatch
it up! Her deep passion for art, music,
cats, and octopi is all coming to fruition at once! And now, with your help, she has the
opportunity to morph this into the project of her dreams!!!
Spread the word: More
important than anything else, you can support the Octopussy by telling everyone
you know about this art project! The
more people we can reach, the easier it will be to make her come to life! Please take a moment to share this page to
all your friends, family, facebook, twitter, or preferred social media! Be sure to use the Indiegogo share tools! Thank you so much for your help!
Perks: As
a big thank you for your support, the Octopussy has some nifty thank you
gifts! She is very crafty, so these
unique perks are handcrafted by the Octopussy herself! As a beautiful creature, she is eager to send
headshots to all her supporters! These will
come in the form of stickers and postcards.
For a daily reminder of her magnificence, the Octopussy will send
you a tentacle refrigerator magnet! For
those who like to wear cool SWAG, she has tentacle earrings and laser cut
pendants! Art lovers are in luck because
the Octopussy will custom make tentacle paintings in your favorite colors. And for the diehard tentacle enthusiasts,
there are tentacle dream catchers!
Where your funds go: All funds from this Indiegogo will be going towards the
creation of the Octopussy and will not be going towards sound or transportation
of the project to events. Every penny
raised will go towards this project, regardless if we reach our Indiegogo financial goal. Our goal is to complete the Octopussy by
Apogaea in June, but we will not stop until she is finished! If for whatever reason she doesn’t make it to
Apogaea, we’ll bring her to Element 11.
In the very unlikely situation that we are unable to bring the Octopussy
to either of these events, we will keep working on her and debut this art piece
in September 2015 at Artocade. We are
determined to bring the Octopussy to life and will continue fundraising and
crowd-sourcing materials until the project is completed.
We
are searching everywhere for cheap/donated items and have ‘Needed Materials’
listed below. We will keep this list
updated here and on facebook (www.facebook.com/tentaclesforall).
Below is a breakdown of the materials
needed and their subsequent cost:
Description
|
Cost
|
Wood (Plywood & 6ft 4x4)
|
$50.00
|
Metal Conduit (400ft)
|
$175.00
|
PVC & Fittings (100ft)
|
$100.00
|
Hardware (Nuts, Blots, Washers,
Screws, Zip-Ties, etc....)
|
$200.00
|
Octopussy Lights (LED Strips
and Sound Reactive Controller)
|
$400.00
|
Generator (2000W)
|
$575.00
|
Paint for Exterior Decoration
|
$125.00
|
Tools (Conduit Bender &
Drill Bits)
|
$75.00
|
Interior Decoration (Cushions,
Fabric, Rope Light)
|
$275.00
|
Geo Maintenance (Tires, Brakes,
Shocks & Headlights)
|
$475.00
|
|
|
Total
|
$2,450.00
|
Octopussy Needed Materials List
·
Qty 4 - Large Cushions
·
Fish shaped pillows - fish/underwater themed fabric, batting/stuffing
·
Blue/green blanket for interior to cover cushions
·
100 feet of 1.5” PVC
·
Qty 11 - 1.5" PVC T Fitting ·
Qty 6 - 2" PVC Y Fittings
·
Qty 2 - 1.5" 3 Way Elbow Fitting
·
Qty 2 - 1.5" PVC Cross Fitting
·
Qty 2 - 1.5" PVC 45 Degree Elbow Fitting
·
Qty 12 - L Brackets
·
Qty 100 - Jumbo 175lbs Zip-Ties
· 80' of 3/4” of Metal Conduit
·
Qty 2 - Brown duct tape
·
1 Yard - Black Canvas for Eyes
·
White spandex
·
Quilt Batting for Padding for the Tips of the Tentacles
·
Pool noodles for Padding for the Tips of the Tentacles
·
2 Gallons of Brown Exterior Acrylic Latex paint
·
1 Gallon Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint – Blue, Red, White, Green, Pink
(for coral/sea life on car exterior)
·
25' Extension cord
·
6 plus surge protector
·
2000 watt generator (free/cheap/discounted)
If
you’re in the Denver area and are interested in helping out, we are in need of:
- General Car Maintenance
- Metal Conduit Bending
- Good/Advanced Sewers
- Experience with large scale
structures/Art Cars
- Re-conditioning speakers
- HVAC
- People that are generally handy and
would like to get involved
NITTY GRITTY DETAILS FOR THOSE
INTERESTED IN PROJECT LOGISTICS:
The
Geo Metro will have two plywood boards in a cross pattern bolted to the roof
that will provide a sturdy and flat surface to anchor the Octopussy. In the
center of Octopussy board, attached to the plywood with metal L brackets, we
will build a small wooden crate that will house Two JBL JRX100 active monitors
and a 2000W generator. The monitors and generator will attach to the wooden
crate using ratchet straps and bungees to prevent any movement. In addition,
the car will be painted to appear as a rock in the ocean and will have interior
blue rope lighting around all safe entry points into the car. All doors and the
back hatch have been removed as well as all seats besides the driver seat. In
order to provide comfortable seating for all occupants, large plush cushions
will line the rear (formally the back seat and trunk) and the passenger seat
will provide storage for an emergency kit (basic first aid kit, tarps, ratchet
straps and bungees, a bullhorn, and a fire extinguisher), occupants bags, and
will house a small mixer that will provide sound to the two monitors that are
encapsulated in the head.
The
Octopussy has ears and nose like a cat, eyes and tentacles like an octopus. The
entire structure will be covered in white projection grade spandex and will be
internally illuminated by strips of multicolor 5050 SMD LEDs giving the
Octopussy ability to change color on the fly. In addition to being sound
reactive, IR remotes will provide the ability to control the color and pattern
of the lights in real time. We will attach lights to the structure of the
Octopussy with zip-ties in order to illuminate the entirety of the interior.
The tentacles of the Octopussy will be made of 3/4” metal conduit that will be bent
to shape and will connect to metal conduit cubes that are bolted directly on
all four corners to the plywood roof of the Geo. The tips of the tentacles will
be padded with either pool noodles or quilt batting depending on the width of
the tentacle. In addition, each tentacle will also be internally illuminated for
safety and splendor. The head of the Octopussy will be made primarily of PVC
and will have a wooden 4x4 in the center for support. The wooden 4x4 mounted in
the center of roof with metal L brackets and braced on the sides by the two monitors.
If needed, we will add bracing on the front and back of the 4x4 to provide more
support. The base of the head attaches to a PVC collar, which will then attach
to the metal conduit cubes with jumbo 175lbs zip-ties. The ears and nose of the
head will be made from PVC and will attach to the main structure of the head to
provide more stability. In order to give the illusion of an octopus eye, the
eyes will be made of black fabric stitched to the white projection grade
spandex cover with giant googly eye pupils.
Every hybrid creature needs a fuel source and
the Octopussy is no different. In addition to being fueled by beautiful smiles
and dancing feet, the lights and sound will be powered by a 2000W gas generator
that is housed inside the Octopussy's head.
Since the Octopussy is entirely covered in spandex, proper ventilation
of the head is a must and will be provided by a professional HVAC technician.