Sunday 14 December 2014

Friday 12th December, 2014

Today I incised aluminium with the similar idea I tried using paper. It was hard to correspond the paper idea using metal as the materials work differently.
I think this idea looks very messy though because of hand cutting.
I'm planning on taking it in Monday and talking to Cerys about it because I'm really stuck!

Tuesday 9th December, 2014

Today was the day of my assessment, I came in for 9 to set my work up ready for my time slot.
I put out the samples I developed from since our last assessment and what I'd produced so far.

My feedback was mostly positive although no one was convinced by my final design idea so they while Cerys was looking through my sample catalog she shown Jenny one of my paper machetes which they both really liked and told me to concentrate on making something simple for the photos and Jenny told me that my project is something I could come back to time and time again to develop which I found very true as there were so many different avenues to go down.
I thought I got a lot of constructive help from this assessment although I'm very lost on how I can develop this idea, so if I feel the same way by next week after trying a few ideas I may have to speak to Cerys again.



Monday 8th December, 2014

Today I went into uni to drop some of my work off before going into the workshop and testing out some enamels I had bought online for future use.
I written my evaluation about my work and how it had developed from my last assessment and went to the library to print for my contextual file, technical notes and sample catalog.

Friday 5th December, 2014

Today I drawn some design ideas for my final assessment and made paper machetes to show my ideas. I decided on a larger version of the samples I'd created using the milling machine.

Thursday 4 December 2014

Thursday 4th December, 2014

Today I played around with using rivets, tomorrow I plan on experimenting with enamelling so I wanted to play around with connections just in case hinges break and soldering doesn't work.


Wednesday 3 December 2014

Wednesday 3rd December, 2014

Today I came in and finished making my hinge, I found it easier soldering the sides separately but unfortunately pieces move during soldering and this can cause the pieces to not fold into each other equally, so I had to be really careful and I used binding wire to keep it in place under the heat.
I successfully made 2 hinges today!

Tuesday 2nd December, 2014

Today we had a seminar with Cerys on Craft Theory in preparation for presenting our dissertation proposal, speaking about craft theories and how to break down reading information. We spoke about selecting important information for an essay and using critical thinking. Julie mentioned something really interesting, she described this as 4 steps;

First we're unconsciously incompetent
next we're consciously incompetent
then consciously competent
and hopefully we will end up unconsciously competent.

In the afternoon I attempted making a hinge and prepared cutting pieces to play with, unfortunately I came across a lot of problems doing it the first way Cerys shown me last week so after a few failed attempts I soldered one side and decided to re-visit the technique tomorrow.

Friday 28 November 2014

Friday 28th November

Today I carried on with my enamel samples and Cerys also shown me how to create a hinge but she did warn me using soldered pieces in the kiln, even when using enamelling solder can always break because of the heat so if I used this technique I may have to think of a way around using one or the other or attaching the pieces using cold connections and be very careful.
This was Cerys' hinge example, I'm excited to create mine next week! 

Thursday 27th November

Today I had my final lecture with Adam all about post-modernism which made me think about what era we are in right now and how it is to reflect at an era that has changed society. We all are free to speak our minds and these days we question everything put in front of us and people get involved whether that's expression through music, art or design. I believe this lecture left the module on a very good ending because it geared us towards the present and future and what mark we want to leave within society.

This afternoon I carried on with some enamelling, trying to reproduce a block colour using the water packing technique, I sanded the bumps down once fired and cooled and then popped samples back into the kiln, this created an even surface. I really enjoyed using yellow as it stood out and it worked great for the effect I was trying to achieve.




Wednesday 26 November 2014

Week beginning 17th November, 2014

This week I went home for a week as I had some health issues so I didn't get much work done during this period.

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Tuesday 11th November, 2014

Today Julie shown me how to use the enamelling kilns and wet packing enamel and also how to apply dry enamel. For the outcome I wanted I think wet packing the enamel onto my pieces would be the most effective for blocks of colour. I tried this technique and struggled estimating how long my pieces should be in for but I realised the kiln was temperamental, so I will have to practice knowing if or when the enamel on my pieces has set.
I prepped some white based pieces to see if I can get an opaque colour pay off after layering another colour on top, I'm not sure how it will work so I'm going to experiment on more pieces to find an interesting colour, I'm sticking to warm colours to reflect my research on monarch butterflies.

Monday 10th November, 2014

I carried on using the milling machine today, I struggled using it today but Julie showed me how to use the band saw so I could cut some some blocks up for my pieces as the vibrations from the machine moved my metal when I was trying to score a straight line.
 I also cut some pieces of copper up for the following tests to use enamel the following day.

Sunday 9th November, 2014

Today I played around with paper, making some machettes and then drawing designs ready to play around with in the workshop and to show Cerys or Julie what I was trying to achieve.
I coloured in parts of the paper forms using orange fine liner to represent enamelled parts.



Friday 7th November, 2014

We recieved the second half of our brief today, Cerys explained to us what was expected and the dates we are going to be assessed. I worked on using structure today and playing around with wire
for rough ideas. I carried on using the milling machine today and speaking with Julie about enamelling for the following week so I could plan ahead what techniques I want to practice with.




Thursday 6th November, 2014

Today I had a go at using the milling machine, I cut a piece of wood to attach my metal to using masking tape then changing the machine to adjust to my angle I wanted to achieve.
I marked the metal both sides as accurate as possible and then began the process, I found it very difficult to keep the measurements accurate and this lead to difficulty when it came to folding the scores after anealing the piece.
I found the shape interesting in the end because when i flipped the piece of changed it's position the appearance would change completely.



Wednesday 5 November 2014

Tuesday 4th November

Today I laid all my work out ready for Assessment with Cerys and Jenny, I was very nervous about talking them through my work as this was my first assessment for this project and I'd only been speaking to Julie about my work. I was excited to show them what I had been making and my thought process so far. Both Jenny and Cerys gave me brilliant advice which I was very pleased with.
They suggested instead of focusing on pattern and texture I should focus on the structure and pops of colour, Jenny also mentioned looking into introducing pops of colour into the structures and using wire to outline a skeleton of the butterfly.

After my assessment I looked around in the scrap boxes and found a piece of brass angled rod, it was shaped as a right angle and triggered my imagination, I cut pieces up and soldered wire to them before using pliers to shape a flying pattern inspired by the butterflies movement this created a contrast between block metal and wire that I found really interesting.


In my assessment Cerys advised me to use the milling machine to score my metal instead of doing it by hand which I agree'd would be faster once I had experimented. I shadowed Sarah on the milling machine and watched how she used it, it scared me less watching her use the dials and being careful not to go to deep into the metal straight away and instead make it gradual.
I have marked some metal out ready to experiment Thursday.


Tuesday 4 November 2014

Monday 3rd October, 2014

Today I made my sample catalog, taking photo's of my work and thinking of how I would like to display my work, I written an evaluation for my assessment and notes on how I'd like to explain my work to Cerys and Jenny.
I printed off work in the library and organised my files as well as finishing off any sketchbook work to explain my ideas and thought process.

Friday 31st October, 2014

Today I decided to make paper machetes, playing with arrangement again, this allowed me to see ideas 3D visually.

Thursday 30th October, 2014

Today I played around with arranging my forms together, I think this was helpful as I could see the idea coming together, when the pieces are in clusters they do abstractly appear as butterflies.


Wednesday 29th October, 2014

Today I dedicated my time to writing up any technical notes and carrying on with sketchbook development. I printed work off in the library and stuck photos in my sketchbook with annotations.
I researched more into Monarch butterflies and collected images.

Tuesday 28th October, 2014

Today we had a seminar with Cerys and each explained what 'Our Manifesto' would be.
I found this task confusing at first as we had to find images of designers work or something that would allow us to explain our thoughts and opinions. I found this a really helpful and interesting task as we all had quite similar ideas of what our class should be known for in years to come.

In the workshop today I carried on making triangle forms using the rolling mill and textured hammers to experiment on the metal and see what the turn out would be, I also used needle files to texture the edges of my objects.

Monday 27th October, 2014

Tonight I played with some porcelain making forms to stick my aluminium forms into inspired by photos of monarch butterflies clustering on trees.



Saturday 25 October 2014

Friday 24th October, 2014

Today I decided to make some paper machettes to play with composition and thinking of bases and attachments.


I had a go at making some basic shapes in porcelain looking at photos to reference how butterflies interact with their surroundings.

I found this image by Ren Hang that inspired me to capture that free moving form of the butterflies


Thursday 23rd October, 2014

Today we had a lecture with Dan about Innovation and reflected back on the evolution of Apple products and how innovation is a big part of being a designer coming up with products to make life easier thinking about the customer and their perceptions of an object. I found this lecture very interactive and interesting compared to my others so far as this appealed to me the most.

In the afternoon we were shown how to use the milling machine, I found it quite intimidating at first but then once I got into the idea of what I could use it for it opened up a lot of doors and I think it's one of those things I mean to play with and dedicate a few hours to play and spark my imagination.


I carried on creating samples, I have decided to keep the triangle folded form and play with size, colour and composition. I am finding it to be quite repetitive making the shapes but I find it relates to what I'm trying to achieve and believe the final results pay off and that's the part I'm enjoying about the making process so far.

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Wednesday 22nd October, 2014

I am researching into a lot of designers that use reflective surfaces, movement and light taking into consideration my contextual research and what techniques I can try next such as more texturing metal in different ways.

Tuesday 21st October, 2014

Today I experimented with a few of the ideas I drawn yesterday making them in Copper and Brass
and seeing if any of them would work out.


I spoke to Julie about my ideas and research I have been looking at, we both brain stormed ideas and she suggested sticking with the triangular form.  
We spoke about what paths I could go down such as colour, form, size and surface finishes,
I liked the idea of looking into the environment and reflective surfaces, projecting scenary onto my piece bringing the element of nature back into my piece.
I spoke to her about looking into Art Nouveau and how I wanted to link it in with the Will to Flight but I didn't want to use too much decoration, Julie suggested playing around with softer shapes and how this movement was for the young and fresh at the time and how I can reflect this ideal in today's society and claim that I am the new and fresh face of design.
I feel I can keep developing this project further now and I'm excited to do some research and take some photo's!


Monday 22nd October, 2014

Sketchbook Day.                                                                                                                                                                        
Today I had some brain waves so I decided to draw them out in my sketchbook and write some notes and then have a play with painting. I feel like I need to speak to Julie about my ideas and see which one I should concentrate on!                                                                                                                                        

                                   

Saturday 18 October 2014

Saturday 18th October, 2014

Today I decided to do some doodles and get some ideas our of my head ready to make into paper and maybe metal for samples.

Friday 17th October, 2014

Today we carried on making our claw setting, I made a ring shank for the setting but found it extremely difficult to solder onto the claw but with Cerys' help I discovered the problems I was repeating during setting it up for soldering and what flux is best to use with extra easy solder. I finished it up using a barrel polisher for half an hour then set my stone which I found quite difficult and time consuming, I wanted to make sure this part I took time over since it was the last step and didn't want to rush this process.