This painting tool was another piece in my thesis project, in which I explored the boundaries between interacting with furniture and creating art. This piece focuses on the display and physical representation of the user’s decision making. I wanted to find a balance between giving the user a degree of control, while at the same time initiating a fundamentally random process. To achieve this, I created a skeletonized column using dowels and plywood, then randomly placed pins pointing towards the center of the column. The outside is wrapped with a paint permeable fabric, hiding the structure within. Then, a participant mixes a custom color using acrylic paint which is then put into a balloon. After blowing up the balloon, a fishing line connected to a small fishing rod is dropped through a hole in the top of the column to the bottom where the balloon is attached. Finally, the participant raises the balloon through the column until it pops. The pressure within the balloon sprays the paint onto the fabric walls.