The prototypes came yesterday and I’ve spent a full day just getting to know them. Here are some pictures of them in non-rendered, real-life goodness.
To be honest, it’s everything I dreamed it would be. As my first throw design project, I’m filled with real joy, but also huge relief – a feeling, I think, more experienced and seasoned people than myself might understand. Once the final file went out to the machinist, I spent many days second guessing it and wondering if I had missed something in its design. To finally have it in hand, and have it feel and play exactly like you imagined designing it is an amazing feeling.
At 56.4mm (dia) and 48.58mm (wid), it’s pretty full and wide – it fills your hand very fully and feels soft on the catch, but doesn’t feel excessively or unnecessarily sized. It just feels good in hand.
Playfeel wise, it is agile, floaty and very nimble, and also simultaneously powerful. It doesn’t feel like a competition bimetal, of course, but it has the “hollow body” feel I was hoping to capture – the kind of blend between lightness and punch that I feel in throws like the TiBowl and Akita.
My machinist did a great job. All ten prototypes came in dead smooth and playing great out of the box. The colours, however, are still a work in progress – the blue you’re seeing on screen is actually a really nice teal in real life, and the clear is really closer to champagne (for some reason I can’t seem to capture them properly on camera). I’ll be working on getting the colours closer to original renders (although the teal is growing on me…), as well as applying a heavier blast.
The week ahead will be fun! I’m sending out a couple of prototypes to friends to test them, and will also be working on some other things that I’ll share in a few days : ) I’ll also be posting more at @atmos.projects on Instagram, so chuck me a follow over there if you’d like to keep an eye on progress and updates.
Thank you for reading this long post and sharing in my excitement! Please do let me know if you have any thoughts, questions or criticism : )