Initially I decided to look into tribal celebrations, things like Rain dances and hunting celebrations. This didn't inspire me though. I think there was too much colour. Bright yellows and reds really wouldn't suit my work. I know it's bland, but I don't like to use colour. The project that I've enjoyed the most in my whole artistic education was my Final Major Project, and for that I used NO colour. Sorry Africans, but it was never meant to be! So I got in my banana boat and sailed to blander pastures.
I had to think of something that was really 'me' so that I knew my interest would be maintained for the duration of the project. Naturally I startied thinking of food. Yeah yeah, I know. Funny isn't it. But it actually worked! I like cake and cake and cake....where do you get lots of cake? A tea party! So it was settled. Tea parties would be my theme.
But then I started to doubt this theme! A tea party itself isn't actually a celebration, it's a way of celebrating things. People don't shout out "Happy tea party!" do they? So I had to come up with a disguise for it. As tea parties are quintessentially British I had to think of a celebration to match. GOT IT! V-E Day. Victory in England day was perfect! A celebration of England and English pride, celebrated with tea parties and street parties! Perfecto!
So, what would my object be? My idea was to make some sort of contraption that made "the perfect cup of tea" but all of these ideas failed, mainly due to milk's inability to be solid. I'll scan in some of my designs once I get them back from Uni, then you might understand more. My idea shifted slightly from that to a way of adapting a cup of tea that's already been made for you. I'm not a tea drinker myself but I know how fussy people are about the way it's made. Too much milk, not enough milk, too watery, too sweet, didn't brew for long enough, too strong...blah blah blah. As it can often seem rude to ask for extras at a function of any kind I thought it'd make sense to make something that would allow a guest to control their own tea strength without making any kind of a fuss.
So, what would my object be? My idea was to make some sort of contraption that made "the perfect cup of tea" but all of these ideas failed, mainly due to milk's inability to be solid. I'll scan in some of my designs once I get them back from Uni, then you might understand more. My idea shifted slightly from that to a way of adapting a cup of tea that's already been made for you. I'm not a tea drinker myself but I know how fussy people are about the way it's made. Too much milk, not enough milk, too watery, too sweet, didn't brew for long enough, too strong...blah blah blah. As it can often seem rude to ask for extras at a function of any kind I thought it'd make sense to make something that would allow a guest to control their own tea strength without making any kind of a fuss.
So I set about designing!
Before this course I'd never really done much by way of design sheets. I was used to a lazy attitude of "create at least three designs and pick the best one" that I'd learnt from a less than inspiring art teacher during my GCSEs. Now, however, we are encouraged to do as many designs as was physically possible. We are to ask ourselves questions about the design, and answer them with another design. For example I drew a tea strainer ring, with the strainer sitting on top of the finger, and asked the question "what if it was to be hidden so that no one else but the wearer knew it was there?" and designed a ring which concealed the strainer under the hand. I found it to be an extremely effective way of designing, and it certainly lead to more innovative final pieces amongst the group.
I continued to design like this until I reached a piece that I was 100% happy with. And here it is:
Before this course I'd never really done much by way of design sheets. I was used to a lazy attitude of "create at least three designs and pick the best one" that I'd learnt from a less than inspiring art teacher during my GCSEs. Now, however, we are encouraged to do as many designs as was physically possible. We are to ask ourselves questions about the design, and answer them with another design. For example I drew a tea strainer ring, with the strainer sitting on top of the finger, and asked the question "what if it was to be hidden so that no one else but the wearer knew it was there?" and designed a ring which concealed the strainer under the hand. I found it to be an extremely effective way of designing, and it certainly lead to more innovative final pieces amongst the group.
I continued to design like this until I reached a piece that I was 100% happy with. And here it is:
This part of the piece is designed to hold one sugar cube. It sits underneath the hand with the rest of the piece. There's a cup attached to the side, the wearer would take the piece off of their hand to drink from in a tea-drinking emergency! The rest of the time the cup would sit off of the side of the little finger.
As you can probably tell, this is the tea strainer part of the piece. It's designed, like the sugar cube container, to be worn under the hand. This piece is separate to the rest of it though. I think, as soon as I'm allowed to have it, I'll actually wear this part.
And this is the WHOLE thing together! Like it? My tutors seemed to. They suggested getting it silver plated, then they'd put it on display. But I like it this colour. I might ask if GOLD plating is a possibility. BLING BLING.
Here are a few pictures to demonstrate how the piece would be worn:
And that's it! 
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