Result!

Just two days ago I was moving out of my student house in Hereford. It’s hard to believe my first year has finished!

Since returning home I have received a letter confirming my results. For my final project, the work below, I received 80! A very good 1st.

Obviously I am very pleased with my result but, although the project itself was very successful, I will admit I was a little disappointed that the actual final necklace wasn’t completely successful. You can see this below.

Having said that I still think elements of it are very effective and the initial design very clever.

My overall mark for the whole year is 1st. Yay!

Necklace Designs

Today I finished my final necklace for my current project. The deadline is this Friday and I still have a bit of book work to do but it is a big relief to have the final outcome over and done with!
Before I present the final piece I want to show some of the journey towards my final design with some of my ideas in my sketchbook.

Paper Landscapes

ALL of these photos are of the same piece of paper – smaller than A4!
It is fascinating how different it appears when photographed from different angles – sometimes as zigzagging steps or as dramatic geometrical drawings or even sometimes as little landscapes, like sand dunes.

Playing with Paper

Recently we have had some classes in paper engineering. I have really enjoyed these and have produced some fantastic yet simple pieces. I love these because of the bright colours and geometrical patterns.

This folded paper work is great to photograph – showing how the shadows show the 3D form. This is particularly effective because of how this means they appear to create different patterns when seen from different angles.

Some of these techniques are very simple yet very effective.

Hot Metal

Metal is definitely one of my favourite materials to play with!
Isn’t it amazing what you can do with it if you just apply enough heat and pressure.
These next three images are of two sample which I created simply by heating brass with a torch until the metal began to reticulate.

I have technically just finished this project however it actually leads straight on to the next one. In this last project I had to identify elements of my work, by producing samples, which I then intend to carry forth into my next project. Some of the elements I wish to continue working with can be seen in these next samples:

Triangles, layers and contrasting surfaces.

Folds, textures and warm colours:

Some other ideas I have been working with which i would like to develop in this next project are windows and combining materials – particularly metal and thread.

Textures and Triangles

I’ve recently been responding to my 50 words and 50 images mostly in 2D which is different for me but I’m really enjoying it. Soon I will be translating these into ideas and samples in 3D.

I started these investigations by drawing elements of some of the images I chose.I then started working with the word Windows.

I cut shapes out of paper to use as windows to reveal my drawings behind them.
I did more of these using photocopies of other experiments I have done on this project. I am particularly keen on working with textures and triangles.These last samples I have displayed on my own handmade paper which I made in a workshop near the beginning of this project.

50 Words, 50 Images

Wow! I’ve been busy!
I’ve had a presentation to do, an essay to write and a new project to start.

The new project is 50 words, 50 images. Basically it started by me choosing 50 or more images and words to inspire my work. The images can be anything: my own photos, found images or images of artists’ work.

I now have to respond to those words and images. Here are a few of my samples, using metal and stitch, which I did at the beginning of this project:

Here are 12 of my words which relate to these samples:
Vessel, Light, Shadow, Linear, Texture, Combine, Reflect, Warm, Geometric, Growth, Contrast, Windows.

Feeling Pretty Pleased!

Thought I’d post these photos of my salt spoons displayed together as I think they look great and I’m really pleased with them.These photos also show the great finish on the spoons. I used antiquing fluid to give them a less harsh colour and surface. It also really emphasizes the extra lines I created.I have another reason to be pleased. Yesterday I got my results and feedback for ExM (Exploration of Materials) and the Spoons project…….
I got a 1st!!!

This is the display of my work for this project:
I have also had a 1st in the two other modules I have completed so far! It will be fantastic if I can keep this up!

A Pinch of Salt

Someone asked if my geometrical spoons actually had to have the bowl part of a spoon on the end… Could it be a part of the handle instead?

This prompted me to make these last three spoons as part of my final collection. They are the same design as the others except with just a small dip at the narrow end of the handle as the bowl making them the perfect spoon for just a “pinch of salt”.

Brass Angles

This past week I have been working on developing my geometric spoons in small metals. I have four more in brass which you can see below.These two have not yet been bent but I have looked at working with the surface of the metal. I have gone over the surface with sandpaper to create this scratchy appearance which I rather like. With this next one I have practiced making the folds sharp and angular. I have experimented with ways to change the shape of the handle with the placement of the folds.These spoons are also very interesting and fun to photograph as the shapes and angles create beautiful shadows which really emphasise the geometric 3D forms.This last spoon has been the most successful. I have added extra lines where there are not any folds. This really adds an extra dimension to the design.As my deadline is this Thursday I have decided to abandon my idea of wooden and plastic spoons so that I can focus on developing and finishing these designs in brass. I am really pleased with them!