Torch Handbag Review: Is It the Right Bag for You?

Okay, so I was messing around with PyTorch the other day, and I got this kinda silly idea to make what I’m calling a “torch handbag.” It’s not a real handbag, obviously, but more like a fun little project to see if I could combine some basic PyTorch operations with a, well, handbag-shaped output. Think of it like a digital arts and crafts project.

Getting Started

First, I had to get my PyTorch environment set up. I already had it installed, but if you don’t, it is very easy to do it.

Then I made a new file named “torch_*”.

Building the “Handbag”

The core idea was to create a tensor that, when visualized, would kinda resemble a handbag. I started by making some basic shapes using tensors.

I used to start with a bunch of, well, zeros. And make a simple rectangular shape.

I wanted to simulate that I am adding the “handle”. So I just created another, smaller tensor, make it full of ones , and then I was carefully placing it “on top” of the bigger rectangle. This took a bit of trial and error, getting the dimensions and positions right.

It look like:

import torch
# Create the base of the handbag (a rectangle)
handbag_base = *(10, 20)
# Create the handle (a smaller rectangle)

handle = *(3, 8)
# "Place" the handle on top of the base
handbag_base[1:4, 6:14] = handle
print(handbag_base)

Playing Around

Once I had the basic “structure,” I start to make a loop and using some simple operations like multiplying parts of the tensor by different values to create some kind of “texture” or “pattern.” It was totally random, I would have to do it again because I did not write down the numbers, and that is not very smart, I know.

The final shape? It looked… abstract. Definitely not something you’d see in a store, but it did have a vague handbag-esque silhouette. And most importantly, it was a fun way to get some hands-on practice with basic tensor manipulations.

My result

I know It did not look very good, but this is my result.

tensor([[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],

[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 1., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,

0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],

[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,
0., 0.],
[0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0., 0.,

0., 0.]])

What I Learned

• Tensor basics are key. Even something silly like this reinforces how fundamental operations like creating, slicing, and modifying tensors are.
• Experimentation is fun! Just throwing stuff together and seeing what happens is a great way to learn.
• Visualization helps. Even though I didn’t use a fancy plotting library, just printing the tensor to the console was enough to get a sense of what was going on.

It was a good learning experience! Maybe next time I’ll try to make a “torch backpack”.