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 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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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. 

Thursday 16th October, 2014

This morning we had a lecture on the Bauhaus, I really enjoyed Adam speaking about the different tutors and what innovative ideas they brought to the table and how they created pieces before technology such as Photoshop.
I was intriged by their circle/timetable and it made me think about our schedules.
I thought it was interesting how they got the chance to find out who they were, working in different workshops and then picking their speciality.

Claw Setting.

Today we had a go at creating a claw setting which I found very frustrating but at the same time there wasn't as many steps to this setting, I just found soldering the claws onto the base difficult.

I will continue to make a ring for the base tomorrow and stone set my piece as I found it took a lot of concentration to get the setting it's self made in that one session.

Friday 11th October, 2014

Introduction to stone setting!

Today I was quite nervous about stone setting as I wasn't very knowledable about stones and gems.

Cerys explained a lot to us in a short amount of time and I felt it was so important to keep record of everything through photos and notes.

We created a bezel ring with a stone and shoulders, I felt this session was very fiddly but with more practice I believe I will progress in this technique and the finished pieces will become much more satisfying. I tried my best to keep it neat but piercing something so small was very difficult to me even though I took my time.

Stone setting has triggered my imagination for my project as I've been looking into butterflies and the interesting sections of their bodied before, after and during their transitions I believe stone setting would be a brilliant decoration technique.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with the other ways of stone setting next week!

I'm really interested in Art nouveau (1890s+) and the 'Will to flight' theory and taking a modern spin on this manifesto within my work development. 

I have being researching into designers such as Rene Lalique popular for his jewellery at the time.

"Art Nouveau jewellery by Rene Lalique"

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/98234835592042181/

This is also a wonderful piece by Lucien Gaillard, I love the symmetry and attention to detail, although these pieces seem outdated they're very interesting forms and concepts that I would like to apply to my own work.

"Moth Pendant, ca. 1900 Lucien Gaillard - Gold, enamel, citrine, and horn."

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/273804852318063483/

Thursday 9th October, 2014

This morning we had a lecture on Design Thinking and watched some videos about the founders of the comany IDEO http://www.ideo.com/uk/ I found this part of the lecture really interesting hearing these successful people speaking about how their companies work and why. 

This afternoon we discussed precious metals, what the difference between fine silver and sterling silver were and hallmarking!

I loved this part of the day as we got to make a silver wire ring and I was shown a  better way of soldering than I have learnt in the past.

I loved working in sterling silver and hope to use it again in the future.

Tuesday 7th October, 2014

This morning we had a seminar as a group seaking about our 'favourite things'
and selected work we found interesting and inspirational to speak about together as a group.
I found this task daunting at first but enjoyed finding out about some new designers and techniques they've used. I wish I prepared more research for the seminar but it was great finding out what others found inspiration in and why; whether it be the concept or the techniques used for the overall appearance.

In the afternoon I prepped samples for etching which I left in for 2 hours so see how effective it would be, I really like the results and look forward to oxidising them and finishing them up to see what effects I can achieve.

I also worked on my raising Sample and worked out a quicker way to add shape to the bowl shape. I started further up, banding the vessel with a mallet instead of a cross pean hammer then going in and making regular marks to shape the piece evenly and effectively 

I was shown how to get the pleates/wobby edges out of the metal with blocking which I think is a faster process for jobs that have limited time.

I found this technique difficult to find a rhythm too and control the metal but through practice and keeping track of the changes I have found the progress I have achieved and an appreciation for the technique.

Friday 3rd October, 2014

Raising!

Back in the workshop again today, Cerys shown us how to create a metal raised vessel using forming stakes and Cross pein hammer, this was a very difficult task for me!

I was getting the hang of this technique nearer the end of the session but the hardest part is controlling the metal and getting into the rhythm of hitting the metal.

 Here are some expampled of vessels made from various metals; guilding metal, copper and nickel

Here's my piece after my session today, it was a difficult task but I think it's very satisfying seeing the progress from this technique! 

Thursday 2nd October, 2014

This morning we had a lecture and were given our first brief for Contextual Studies by Adam.
I was initially confused about the brief but wanted to go away and figure out my next move. I understood I had to write an introduction to this module in a blog style or negotiate another way if needed. I decided to think about how I was going to approach this module before starting!

Etching!

Being back in the workshop was the highlight of my week!

We had a etching demonstration today, I have etched before but I wanted to refresh my mind!

Turns out I was missing a few steps last time, for best results we had to clean the copper before doing anything, so we used wire wool and a steam cleaner for metal and wearing gloves so we didn't put anymore chemicals onto the copper. 

 We learnt about the various ways of masking out the acid from the surface of the copper to create the etching effect.

We could paint it on with black stop out paint, parcel tape, nail varnish and black sharpie markers.

I discovered the parcel tape didn't work very well, this piece was in for about 40 minutes and the tape  drifted away from the copper in the acid but it left a very interesting effect on the surface, like a satin finish.

Then if we used black polish we could clean it off with paint remover but this is very difficult if your design was precise because you can't check fully how it will appear without the polish until you remove it. 

We also we shown how you could finish an etched piece, buy using liver or sulphur which I have used before but I would like to experiment more with various solutions.