The Gift That Keeps Giving ;)

Sooooooo I said I'd catch y'all up on what I've been up to lately at Uni. So here it is:

This term has been split into four three week projects. They were entitled:
- The Alchemist
- The Transformation
- The Secret Ingredient
- The  Big Issue

SO

The Alchemist:

‘Regurgitations of Consumerism’

My pieces represent consumerism in its most simple sense, gluttony. Through the medium of confectionary I have created symbols of what will happen when someone ‘over consumes’. The result is something of revulsion and disgust. These pieces are not just representations of gluttony but are a symbol of the effect consumerism has, as a whole, upon mankind.

The Transformation:
‘Feast and Famine’

Not what you'd expect from a jewellery student is it? Well, the whole purpose of this project was to transform the silhouette.

I explored the shape of the body associated with both words. When thinking of the word ‘feast’ one would normally picture a large, or obese, person, and with ‘famine’ they would envisage a skinny, bony one.
I overlapped the two associations to develop a combination of the two. I used the angles (bony bits) of a skinny person, and the scale, albeit rather exaggerated, of a well feasted body.
The piece also affected the way the wearer moved. There was restricted leg movement to sympathise with the uncomfortable movements of a larger body.

The Secret Ingredient 

Profession: Milkman

This piece was designed for a stereotypical Milkman. This would be a promiscuous man who would typically be suspected of having affairs with women on his Round. 

My piece has a fairly whimsical purpose. It is to be used as a tool to aid the Milkman in picking which of his favourite women on his round he’s going to visit. The Milkman would spin the piece in front of his comrades, jesting about how many women he has to pick from.

The secret function of the piece is that it is weighted to land on the one woman the majority of the time, his favourite, the one he’s falling in love with.

(sorry about the poor quality of these last two photos, I left the good ones on my Uni account, eep!)

The Big Issue

‘Blood Diamonds’

My piece highlights the relationship between the diamond miner and the rest of the World. The shovel represents the miners; it is entrapped by the diamond, as is Africa and its people. Many people that were released from slavery in the mines have had to return, under their own will, for a source of income, however poor it is.

One side of the piece is ‘cut’ almost like a gem, and the other has been left ‘rough’. One side is Africa, ones side is the outside world.

You can’t see straight through to the piece inside. The vision is clouded. It can be ignored and disregarded. On the ‘rough’ side the shovel is almost touchable, almost free, but it never will be.

(and the same for these photos!)

B-B-B-Bad to the Blogging B-B-B-Bone

I haven't blogged in AGES, I know. But, I have a valid reason. I've been working so hard! But at least that means I have lots to share now that I'm playing the role of the Prodigal Blogger.

So...brace yourselves!

Where did I leave you then? Ahh, I was struggling for a direction for my Batch Production project wasn't I. Well, I sorted myself out, somehow. I went for the pencil shavings, which lead me onto frills, frills and more frills. I took the pencil shaving drawings and simplified them, from these drawings I selected one, which I cut out and used as a 'component', a form that I would repeat multiple times to create a final piece of some sort. To start with I tried to mimic the form of a ruff or a frill. I was happy with the effect that this had with my paper models. To make these I curled the component into a cone shape and glued them together in rows.

My production methods for these models brought the realisation that this form perhaps wasn't the best for a Batch Production module seeing as, to reproduce this effect, each piece would have to be soldered into place. So I had to think of another way to build my component into a piece... Alongside the project we were also being taught some useful batch production methods. My favourite of these methods was 'Lost Wax Casting' which involves producing a wax master which then gets set into a mould of plaster, burnt out and then replaced with the molten metal of choice. What was extra lovely about this demo was that we actually got to make a piece ourselves that we could then get cast in the metal of our choice, and then buy. Here's what I did...

Please excuse the blob on the bottom of the ring shank, this photo was take prior to finishing because I was so excited to share it with the world! It was quite an expensive piece and cost me £22.50 in silver grain, but it IS pretty weighty. I love it though, and although I don't usually wear silver I've been wearing this. I think that I don't mind the colour because it's not a dainty, delicate piece. It's chunky and heavy, and I made it!

And now back to the main project...I was trying to think of other ways to build something bigger with my single component. We were encouraged to think of new, innovative connections, ones that involved our component joining to the next one without an extra component. This was hard, very hard. I felt my creativity was shutting down on me. If I'm honest, I sort of started to give up at this point in the project. A few other people around me seemed to, and I didn't find myself inspired by the work that the people who were getting on were doing. I don't mean that I didn't like their work, it just wasn't...me. The sort of ideas that were working involved a lot of geometric, sharp, smooth and pointy shapes. I do like simplistic designs, but I also like soft and gentle shapes. I tried to conform to the idea of slotting pieces together, but didn't like any of the results..

Sortly after doing these models my class had a critique. By this time I had made a metal version of this. For some reason I can't find any photos of it so I'll have to describe it as best I can! The flappy bits on the inside were cotton, and either side of the flappy bits was a piece of gilding metal. Instead of the cocktail sticks I had made metal rivets, which I used to hold each component together as well as joining the pieces onto the next one. My design proposal was to make a brooch that attatched from on side of a shirt/blouse collar to the other, or hooked onto buttons/botton holes so that a nice frill could be added to any outfit! However, when it came to the critique it was suggested that I think of alternative connections to rivets and that instead of moving away from the big frilly things I was looking at before that I embrace it more, and make my piece frillier and bigger.

I did an Arnie...I came back!

Well, I did it! I'm back for a second post this year.
So, what have I been up to since I last blogged? Well, I've completed my first term of University. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before (and I can't be bothered to check) but I'm doing Jewellery and Silversmithing (BA) at the Birmingham City University's School Of Jewellery. People often say "that's a bit masculine isn't it? Hitting hot things really hard and that?" and I reply "no, that's BLACKsmithing", jewellery isn't exactly glamorous though. As a result of last term I've had to do away with my fingernails, had metal infused into my fingers and clogging my hair, and have had the hands of a self-harmer. I think it's been pretty worth while though.

To start with I had my doubts as to whether I'd picked the right course or not. The first thing that we made was "a crown for a rat". Sounds cute does it? Well, I don't know any royal rats so I doubt that activity will get me any commissions in later life. So, my lack of royal rodent companions lead me to crowning a little cork man that I made over the summer:

Blogger doesn't seem to want to allow me to upload a picture of my other Cork Man, it's probably for the best, he has a rather sour attitude. Anyway, they're pretty cool aren't they? I made them with the leftover Cava corks I had from my 'Message In A Bottle' project and some clothes pins. I think the faces are what makes them cute though. Mono-Browed-Man is my favourite I think, but Shocked-Man got crowned. I'm going to have to make another post with a picture of Angry-Man and Crowned-Shocked-Man on.
READ ON!

Old habbits die hard

I'll admit. That has to be the poorest comeback in history. Even worse than that of Bradley McIntosh from S Club 7 when he attempted to form a band along with those other faceless pals of his in that nameless band.
Anyway...it's a new year so, like all of the other sheep-like creatures in the world, I'm going to claim to turn over a new leaf and do all of the things I should have done last year. I'll make no promises but I'll try to blog more. That's the most I can do. Try, because trying requires hardly any effort at all really. No one else can tell how hard you TRY to do something. A fat person can TRY to lose weight, we'll commend them for dropping a pound, when if they'd put all their effort in then could have lost at least a stone. An ugly person can TRY to be more attractive...but really, what can they do about it? And a racist person can TRY to be racially accepting, but by switching from jokes about Indians to jokes about the Scottish are they really making any effort?
So, I'm going to TRY not to be a totally bone idol slob from this day on.
You have to commend me, I'm trying, really I am.

Long time...no blog

Where have I been you may wonder? Why am I back may be a more popular reaction.
Well, needless to say, after finishing at college I allowed myself the pleasure of a well earned SLOB. The thing is with such past times, it's hard to break away from the habit. And slobbing is in my blood. I was born ready to do it!
But now, alas, I feel ready to turn my back on my birth right, my way of life for the past few weeks. I'm going to change back! Back to my old constructive ways! Back to activity! Back to CRAFT!

So yes, I'm back bloggers!