The Trypophobia Egg Challenge

Trypophobia is the intense and irrational fear or aversion to images or surfaces with repetitive patterns of small holes, bumps, or clustered geometric shapes. It manifests as nausea, anxiety, itching, or chills upon seeing honeycombs, sponges, or seeds.

Many years ago I faced a mild level of aversion to this phenomenon and in this instructable I will show you how I was able to gradually overcome this phobia through my art.

Egg Template

Scissors

Cutter

Embossing ball tool

Soda cans

Soft base for embossing (I used Foam) You can use some fluffy fabric.

Tape

First, cut the material, which is aluminum soda or beer cans; try to use recently used ones so they don't have dents.

To form the decorative egg, you will use a template, which I attach in this step. You must print the template twice to obtain 10 pieces, which you will work on day by day or according to your tolerance to the process and your level of phobia.

Cut out the templates and prepare the material for transferring them; remember to print them on high-quality adhesive paper.

Remove the backing from the adhesive paper and stick each template so that it occupies the required space and does not extend beyond the edges.

Cut each template sheet with curved cuts to later detail the joints after embossing.

the plan is to begin understanding how the phobia works. It is associated with repetitive patterns, so what you will do is make large figures leaving long spaces between each figure. You can start doing this challenge one day at a time or as your phobia level allows.

For level 1, use the circular shape; don't worry about them being perfect circles. The plan is to start associating the shapes without feeling any aversion towards the figures that you will be embossing on the material.

Take the materialand place it on the foam or soft material of your choice,

This material will be useful for applying pressure with the tool without breaking the foil.

Now use the ball-tipped embossing tool to emboss the shapes.

Once you are comfortable with the patterns, we will finish the technical aspects for assembling the egg.

Then cut out the tabs, and the holes of each piece, the tabs will go into the next piece through the segmented holes on the opposite side of the next piece of the next level of phobia.

use the scalpel to make segmented cuts on each piece.

Cut only the blue area indicated on the templates

The piece from the next or previous level will enter through these segments, depending on the assembly.

Remove excess material where the tab cuts intersect. use the scalpel to make these folds.

You will obtain the Level 1 piece ready for assembling the egg.

Here begins the journey to confront or learn to live with this phobia. Depending on your decision, you can then move on to the next level or practice again with the current level.

For level 2, I use large geometric shapes to help manage aversion to repetition; in this case, use the hexagon shape. Respecting the spacing between each hexagon, remember to make the indicated cuts for assembly.

Being a geometric shape with exact distances, its level of tolerance is more manageable towards the phobia

The classic honeycomb pattern, but this time we'll make the hexagons closer together and smaller, so start from the center towards the edges and make each hexagon one at a time.

By level 4 we will begin to approach more organic shapes; at this level we will move towards more circular forms, resembling a splash of bubbles.

Remember to progress through each level according to your tolerance level; at some levels you will feel repulsion depending on the level of your phobia.

Remember to finish the details of every piece of the egg

For the scalpel cuts, use a hard surface

At this level we can already begin to see more proximity between the shapes, so you must understand that in the next levels the proximity between shapes will increase and size will decrease drastically to generate repulsion.

At level 5, the previously circular shapes now approximate bubbles shaking in a bottle of gas at high speed; they get closer together and their size decreases.

LAt level 6, a drastic change occurs, forming a texture of miniature dots like stars in the sky. But why? Because from here on, several levels will begin to merge. Use the embossing tool and mark as many dots as will fit on the metal piece, maintaining a uniform distance.

This is where organic shapes combined with circles come into play. The deformation might cause repulsion, but since they are worked on a metallic rather than organic material, the level of repulsion is lower. Remember to gradually increase the level according to your tolerance to the phobia.

Level 8 is crucial as it will cover the entire piece, in a level way, and with geometric shapes but this time of smaller size, taking advantage of the volume generated by the material. This level is very important as it is the entrance to the final stretch to understand the phobia.

Start by making a small hexagon (remember, the size depends on your ability and tolerance for what you're seeing; if you can't make it that small, you can start with larger hexagons or go back to a previous level). Then start surrounding this hexagon with more hexagons of the same size. Try to maintain the size to better tolerate the phobia.

At this level you will obtain a miniature honeycomb that respects the distance of each shape

At level nine we will use the shape of the seeds but we will add a radial origin to generate more impact on the shapes, without following a pattern, visually generating more repulsion to the viewer.

Finally, we will have the most difficult level, since it will be in the form of a honeycomb with seeds inside. This level causes maximum repulsion when it appears in organic formations, but that is the plan when using materials like aluminum, since by not being wet or having a sticky texture it is easier to concentrate while working on it and forgetting the reason for the phobia.

You'll get 10 panels, each with a different level of resistance to these formations. Each one is more aggressive and complex than the last, but the idea is to progress through all these levels to complete the challenge.

By focusing on the forms artistically speaking, and not as formations of nature, you may find a way to confront this type of phobia. Perhaps this project can help you at this moment to face the level you are experiencing.

If you succeed, you'll complete the egg challenge

which will be completed in the next steps: egg formation.

In the end, 10 panels are obtained, each with a more progressive level of reaction to trypophobia.

Arrange them in ascending order from level 1 to 10 and proceed to the respective assembly

For joining, we won't need glue; just cut the tabs so that they fit into the straight holes of the next piece in the order of levels.

Repeat this process with each panel, and the next piece, level 1, level 2, level 3, etc...

First assemble one part of 5 panels and then the other half of 5 panels.

After completing this entire tutorial, you'll have a beautiful embossed metal egg with interesting shapes, which you can place anywhere in your home where you can observe it and try to cope with the phobia known as trypophobia.

Remember that the patterns I present are shown in an exponential projection; you can choose each texture or composition of shapes that you prefer and that helps you gradually overcome this phobia.

I hope you enjoyed this project.

Goodbye and have a good day!