acrylic bowl from design & technology class

my wife was clearing the store-room of stuff accumulated over the years and was about to throw away this simple plastic tray when i 'rescued' it. reminded her that this tray was the handiwork of our elder girl, one of the things she made on her own when she was in secondary two. my younger girl also made one. i have not been locate it; it could be lying somewhere in the house.

around the 90s, all students had to do design and technology, what we referred to as a technical subject in the 60s. while the students of the 60s worked with metal and wood, those in the later years made things out of plastic. for my two daughters, design and technology was not one of their core subjects; it was more an enrichment programme.

to assess the students, they were set a project. both my daughters chose to make the acrylic bowls.

to make this plastic bowl, the student had to first come up with the design. this design, drawn on paper, was cut out and transferred to the sheet of plastic. a scroll saw was used to cut out the design. the edges were polished and smoothened before it was put in an oven to make it malleable. first, they have to remove the paper on both sides of the plastic sheet. out of the oven, while it was still hot, it was then pressed into the desired shape.

although we do not have much use for this plastic bowl, it is still treasured as a memento, as it reminds us of one aspect of her school days.