About a mount ago our teacher told us that we were going to start our final project for the spring exhibition. Our project was called blue sky, in this project we had to find a problem and try to solve it by creating something. It doesn’t matter what you create just that you have to create it and it has to somehow be important to you.
The problem I found is that I’m allergic to mosquitoes. I’ve tried multiple different repellents but none of them have worked so far. So I wanted to make to try to make a new repellent. I decided to interview Ally about how allergic she was to mosquito bites and it turns out she is allergic to some sort of chemical and regular mosquito repellent sprays. That gave me inspiration to do a natural mosquito repellent spray. After time to research online I found three key ingredients in the natural mosquito repellent spray, witch hazel, rubbing alcohol and distilled water. After making my first prototype I tested it on my brother. This mosquito repellent spray failed because he got three mosquito bites. So I did some more research and it turns out mosquitoes are a repelled by an essential oil called lemon eucalyptus. I made second prototype with the same ingredients but just adding the essential oil. After that I tested it on my brother and he got no bites so I tested it on me and I got no bites. finally I tested it on Ally and she got no reaction. So I solved the problem but I wanted to go deeper. I decided to make a cooling neckband that can also a repelle mosquitoes with the essential oil. Mosquitoes are attracted to people who are hot sweaty and their blood is circulating more, compared to people who are cool and calm and the blood is circulating less. In this neckband I added something called polymer, it is usually used in gardening to hydrate plants. When you add water to Palmer it expands and absorbs the water and slowly lets the water out to cool you off. After making a neckband I decided to try it so I put it on my neck and go outside for about an hour. I got no bites since I added the essential oil. After discovering this I decide to make another neckband, a wristband and an anklet.
After everyone was almost done prototyping and creating we were put into groups that had to relate with this subject. So mine was World Products because the products in my group that everybody created could work anywhere in the world. basically what my group decided to decorate was a trade show that showcase all of our products.
Once it came to the exhibition day I was super nervous because we had to get our group organized and me and one of the people in my group were painting a Mural to go across the trophy case in the hallway. We also wanted to make a sign. It was really stressful but once everything was organized it was smooth sailing and we got through the exhibitions and it was such a success.
I’m so excited for our next blue sky experience.