Saturday 21st March, 2015

Today I got an idea for my project, I've always been interested in buildings and derelict ones and their upkeep.  I like the idea or jewellery being something you upkeep too or decorate so I had an idea I would create a piece of jewellery and it would come along with interesting packaging that may give ideas into customizing it and to make it interactive including a twitter name they can send images to.

17th - 20th March 2015

This week I did loads of sketchbook work and research, planning what I'll do over Easter break and spoke with Cerys about what I'd done so far.

Monday 16th March, 2015

Today we set up our exhibition at Erddig, everyone that wanted their pieces in cabinets was placed in the Dairy in the end and we all helped each other as a team when help was required outside.

11th-13th March, 2015

Through this week I went away to find out what theme I wanted to use and base my project off. I find buildings and shelter really interesting so I think I will go down a structured route but keep it simple! I went to Chester Zoo and took some photos of the shelters there and also got some secondary research off Pinterest.

Tuesday 10th March, 2015

Today we received our new brief that linked in with our creative futures week. We were due to have new seminars on how to start a business and all the things that come along with it. I was really excited about our Dragons Den project as this will help us create bread and butter pieces to start a business and help us work within a project to make something interesting.

Monday 2nd March -5th March 2015

Creative Futures.

Monday - 
On the Monday we all attended the opening ceremony for Creative futures and really enjoyed the first talk with Bedwyr Williams then I went to the Intellectual Property with Dafydd Evans which was really helpful but I'm looking forward to researching more into this and having Cerys explain everything more in depth. Next I went to Jenny Barkers lecture on getting commissions  and stayed for Steve Hitchin's talk, i loved his sketchbook work and it inspired me to record all my ideas more in my sketchbook.

Tuesday-
Today I went to a lecture on the National Theatre Wales & Collaborative Arts Practice but I couldn't see how it really related to my course and should have picked a different lecture. The last lecture I went to was Kate Hamilton Hunters on her Jewellery business, It was interesting seeing inside her business but her work wasn't to my taste.

Thursday-
I attended 'running a bespoke craft business' by Gemma Roberts, I really loved hearing about how she's doing with her business only in it's early stages. She spoke about online presence and how she networked to get where she is which was an idea for getting my business started when I graduate. The last lecture I went to was Wendy Lawrence's seminar on her ceramic business, she was very down to earth and realistic about her business as she worked for a company in Wales too, this helped her invest in her business and now she only works part time.

Friday 27th February, 2015

Today I finished the tops up to place on the top of my rings then oxidised them in liver of sulphur until they were a dark grey/black colour then put renaissance cream on them to lock it in.

Thursday 26th February, 2015

Today I soldered the Wire onto the bases of the ring shanks then cleaned them up and placed them in the barrel polisher for about an hour.

I also had a go at making the earring back tops but was having difficulty in making them anything elaborate like I wanted to inspired by the gates at Erddig, unfortunately I couldn't using the workshops the week after so I made the bases simplified with too swirls on each side,
On the night I decided to finish the paper elements of the rings which took a few hours, I tried to cut neatly and decided the tracing paper was the best contender when I experimented with different papers. It looked neater and more ghostly, I enjoyed their ethereal look.

Wednesday 25th February, 2015

Today I finished polishing my ring shanks using wet and dry paper in all grades from 400- 1200 and wrapped them up ready to solder the wire on  tomorrow.

Tuesday 24th February, 2015

Today I couldn't find a tap and dye tool small enough for the wire I wanted to use on my rings so I had to unfortunately change my design idea. I thought about using a similar method to an earring back and consulted Julie about the idea and she told me how they work.

In the afternoon we went to Erddig to look around the inside of the building and so they could find out about our display arrangements. The visit was confusing as I wasn't sure where my work would go but once we got back to university we were told to arrange photos, display ideas and cabinets and send the information to Erddig.

Monday 23rd Febuary, 2015

Today I began making my ring shanks with the square silver wire(3mm) I decided to go down a square ring shank and a 2 finger ring shank.

 

16th-20th Febuary

Unfortunately I was ill this week but I tried to do some research for my contextual file.

Friday 13th February, 2015

Today I carried on finishing the rings up and I also drawn and designed my final piece in my sketchbook and bought my silver once I knew the shape I wanted to make and the width of the wire, comparing prices on cooksongold.

Thursday 12th February, 2015

Today I played around with different shapes using square copper wire.

I really liked the chunky brass ring I made except from the fact it was tougher to solder completely without gaps.

Tuesday 10th Febuary, 2015

Today I carried on making ring shapes, printed my technique write ups for my file and also cut my sample castings of pine cones 

Monday 9th Febuary 2014

Today we joined the first years in a hot forging tutorial, Wayne and Julie advised us and shown us how to set up, talked us through safety and we made a hook each.

I found it difficult to begin with until I got into the right position and a routine of hitting the hot steel 

with the hammer. In the end I really enjoyed this technique and I'm really glad I had a try.

On the afternoon I read a book Sarah brought in "

Non-precious Jewellery: Methods and Techniques (Design and Make) by Kathie Murphy

with loads of inspiration and techniques people have used in textiles and paper.

I also carried on making square wire forms
(ring shanks)

Friday 6th Febuary, 2015

Today I played around with structures and the shape of my ring, I rolled some square wire as cerys recommended me making my ring that shape rather than just flattening it. I loved the appearance of it and how it felt compared to the round wire and flattened wire.

Thursday 5th February, 2015

Today I played around with a idea I'd drawn in my sketchbook, I worked with wire creating structures.

Tuesday 3rd Febuary 2015

Today I asked Emma if I could add some pinecones to her investment ready to be casted sometime next week.

I also checked if my paper was dry and  played around with the tree tag idea by using letter stamps.

Monday 1st Febuary, 2015

Today I made paper using scraps of what I already had, I played around with thickness' and placing seeds or pieces of dried things I found on the grounds of Erddig.

Friday 30th January, 2015

Today I carried on making stands by soldering wire to a base and cleaning them up before building paper up on them and practicing cutting it.

Thursday 29th January, 2015

Today I shown Julie what I'd made and my ideas behind what I'd used the paper for, she said I should carry on with this technique and even possibly make my own paper.

Tuesday 27th January, 2015

Today I spoke to Julie about my idea of casting the pine cones and we spoke about other ways I could portray my ideas and concept as casting the pieces limits me from changing the appearance and what I cast is what I'll get in the end.

I thought about what we discussed, using papers and how the appearance can portray meaning.

I went to hobby craft and bought some silk paper and other bits to begin making samples and sketchbook work.

Friday 23rd January, 2015

Today I designed an idea I had in mind while collecting more research ready to hit the workshops for Monday.

Thursday 22nd January 2015

Lately I've been carving pinecones out of leather hard and bone dry Porcelain ready to high fire.

Wednesday 21st January 2015

Today I carried on drawing pine cones and thinking of ideas and concepts I could pursue.

I carried on with research and pinning things to a pinterest board to collect images and inspiration.

Tuesday 20th January, 2015

This morning we had a lecture talking about our dissertation proposal, we were told to write it on a subject we found interesting and not too vague as the paper will be 5000 characters. I written notes on how to layout a dissertation and how to create the proposal professionally so the information would be directed and correct to then move on and write my paper. I felt quite confused after the lecture because of all the information we were provided with but I felt more motivated to find a subject I would be interested in writing 5000 words on.

In the afternoon we visited Erddig, we were met by Sue and a few other staff members when we arrived at the gates. We were told we couldn't go inside the building which I was quite disappointed by this news but I understood  the building isn't open until Spring again.

I decided to run with the theme I was already thinking of involving the outside of the building.

I carried on drawing more pine cones I'd collected from the grounds below the trees.

I got some more photos to work with late.