BA3 Proposal

My aim for my final year is to create jewellery that’s full of stories but very personal and secretive. I will be focusing on nostalgia and belonging; looking at the environment I was brought up in, and how I was brought up in it, in the home I lived in for 20 years, and to see the effects of moving homes has on me. I will be exploring materials from both homes and focusing on the differences for example, Tyn Y Coed Farm has layers of secrets and stories, the secrets can be depicted by the work that was done on the house for example the peeling back of history when we did the fire place, taking one away revealed an older fireplace and again an even older one which revealed the original stone covered in lime. This fascinates me thinking about the lives of other people living there. The older house has interesting structures and textures, which I want to explore.

The two homes represents opposite ends of a spectrum in a number of ways which I want to bring into my final piece which mirrors or reflects my life hence the secretive and personal aspect of my ideas.

Firstly the two homes are opposite in that one is very old and constructed out of traditional materials of stone and bricks, whilst the new home is made of timber and modern efficient materials. My former home is in the countryside, which affords several ideas in terms of textures such as bark, various plants that are interesting and lend themselves to ideas and composition.

My inspiration has come from a Jewellery artist that I look up to, Sebastian Buescher, his use of materials and how he works will have a huge influence on my whole final year.

“What matters to me is meaning and purpose, creating timeless pieces, which mark times in my own life, capturing moments, thoughts and ideas”.

Studio.

Building the studio was a lot of fun, it's almost there, but not quite! Needing the basic equipment! 

Home

Update!

So this update is going to be kind of an explosion of an update! I  haven't posted anything since my travels, as I have moved homes, been travelling a little more, busy with a personal tutor which I was lucky to have over the summer, and starting my final year of University.

Moving homes has had a huge impact on myself, which is what I'm basing my final project on in University, but I will talk about that again.

I have travelled to Poland, which was absolutely beautiful! We went for 3 days, visited the Auschwitz, bought loads of amber, ate loads of bread and simply had a lovely time with family.
I also visited my second home, The Red Barn, Vermont. For 2 weeks this time, which was absolutely amazing, it was during Autumn, so a little cold but so beautiful-definitely my favourite time of the year. That place always gives me a sense of belonging and nostalgia, which is something you will hear a lot about.

I was lucky enough to spend almost 2 months with the lovely Mary Ann Simmons. Such a talented lady, who was kind enough to give me her time once a week, I learnt so much from spending that time with her, and look forward to hearing and catching up with her from now on.

Late post..

This short essay about my future was the last requirement whilst studying at K-State. I had never thoroughly thought about my future, so I was interested in my own thoughts and ideas as I wrote this, but yes, here is a brief idea of my future and how I got to where I am now. 

In the UK before embarking on an Art Degree, students are encouraged to sit a Foundation Degree where they explore different disciplines over a year in quite a tight schedule and have to produce high level end products and a professional end of year exhibition. This course introduced my love for sketch books and certainly stretched my imagination as we were not allowed to purchase sketch books but had to design and make the sketch books, this course was the dawning of my love for jewellery. I made a number of large neck pieces all from recycled materials, my favourite being a necklace made from tightly rolled up quills of maps of locations that have had a significant impact on my life. It was at this time I realised the significance of sketch books and the meaning behind every piece of art.

The next phase involved applying for a BA degree, I researched different locations and degree programmes and realised that the sea/ocean played a large part of my choice but also the disciplines that I had discovered I most enjoyed. Hence, my choice of Ceramics and Jewellery in Carmarthen, whilst travelling is a huge part of my life and the wealth of experiences that it brings, I appreciate the culture and traditions of my home country so my choice of place and programme of study reflected these influences.

Which brings me to year 2 at K-State, an immense opportunity to study in a US university to experience totally different cultures, traditions and way of life whilst enjoying excellent facilities and tutors which will help form my choices and open my eyes to new techniques, artists and disciplines.

The direction I aim to go down is most definitely jewellery. Whilst learning basic ceramic techniques in my first year at University, I have decided that Ceramics is not the best discipline for me, as much as I enjoy and can appreciate a Ceramics piece, I much prefer putting my energy, thoughts and ideas in to metals.

My experience and time at K-State has honed my skills on stone setting, enamelling and working with resin, silver and casting. I have produced numerous brooches, rings, pendants and even glasses. The new skills I have learned include, stone setting, resin techniques, electro forming, working with silver, casting, creating glasses; the frame and cutting the lens. I’ve also extended my knowledge on some other things I already knew. I also appreciated the aspect of exhibiting my pieces and using new friends to model and photograph the exhibits, all these add to my portfolio of experience and final pieces. I have certainly matured in my approach to life and coping strategies in dealing with day - to- day survival and believe that my writing style has improved an area that I know I am weak.

           

I have and always will enjoy doing sketchbooks to support my projects, I love putting all my energy into the sketchbooks which I can refer back to as a research resource, as it always helps focus my mind and thought processes on the more practical aspect of my projects. I have and always will enjoy doing sketchbooks to support my projects, I love putting all my energy into the sketchbooks which I can refer back to as a research resource, as it always helps focus my mind and thought processes on the more practical aspect of my projects.

 This could be something I incorporate in my jewellery work. Becky Adams, a Welsh artist, influenced me with this I first saw her work in a gallery and later spent a day working with Becky on developing sketchbooks, she specialises in Book Art. I believe this could inspire and guide me with exhibitions, presentations, and displaying my work in different areas and arenas.

On my return to Carmarthen I will have a wealth of new techniques and experiences to apply to my final year and assist me in the choice of my final degree project. I am going to aim to produce a piece of jewellery incorporating the skills of resin and casting. I do have a skeleton of an idea for my final piece, which will need a great deal of development over the summer months before my final year. I would like to research the use of light and shadows and the concept of using the shadow as an actual piece of jewellery on an individual, this idea came from a fellow student at K-State showing me their final piece of jewellery and I noticed the shadows it produced before the actual finished piece. I have worked with projection before in Carmarthen, and look forward to enhancing ideas and final pieces.

The overseas study / experience has been worthwhile and will have a lasting impression and influence on my work in the future and I am looking longer term to a post-graduate degree possibly in London or again overseas to expand my knowledge and expertise. The idea of working with other artists and collaborating with peers in joint exhibitions excites me also, and perhaps this could happen during my travels, I am excited to see what my future holds.

Enamelling

I experimented a little with enamelling, I have always been interested in enamelling, but have only focused on colour, so this time, I tried drawing with it. I used a pencil and vaseline. After basing the piece with white, it was as if I had a blank canvas to work on. I used the vaseline as a gel/glue for the enamel to stick to. I used my love for enamelling in my 'Under the Sea' necklace, and focused on the colours that I already had in the necklace to tie it all together. 

This is an on going experiment, and so I will keep uploading images. 

This is where I got my colour scheme from :

Pinterest

Electro formed necklace

Electro forming is a way of casting objects through currents and voltages. I will be electro forming little rubber figurines/toys, that are creatures from under the sea. 

The process of electroforming is in a lot of ways similar to electroplating. It is best described as a process similar to electroplating, but one that is used in manufacturing metallic articles, rather then a means of producing surface coatings. Simply put, the difference in most cases, is that plating is a coating over a metallic item, it is a thin layer and becomes part of the work piece. Electroforming in most cases is metal built-up over a non-metallic surface, it can be quite thick and it can be separated from the mandrel or work piece as a stand alone object. Some of the common uses for electroforming are jewelry, mold making and reproduction of parts.

Under The Sea-Pinterest board.

Felieke Van Der Leest is what influenced me with this piece, I will create a charm necklace or bracelet, using animals, repetition and colour. Just as he does. Here is some examples of his work...

"Unusual attributes like toy animals, crochet work and precious metals are being combined to form humorous and colourful jewellery and objects.
 
The magic is not just in the unconventional combination of technique and materials but above all in the casual way that she presents this wonderful world ..."

http://www.feliekevanderleest.com

2004
Cowboy Lion Cubs Necklace
necklace
plastic, gold, textile, glass beads 
18 x 18 x 4.5 cm

2006
Snail-with-Sprouts Train
object with bracelet
textile, plastic, silver, coral
object 32 x 4.5 x 6 cm

2004
Magician Tiger Cub and his 5½ Little Rabbits
necklace
silver, textile, plastic
tiger cub 7 x 2,5 x 5 cm

To add my own twist, I will add enamelled domes, because I want the piece to be bold, large scale, full of colour, and have some depth to it. I am thinking of adding different sized domes  and enamelling them in blue tones, to represent bubbles, keeping to the 'Under the Sea' theme. I will also be adding the actual rubber figurines/toys, that haven't been electro formed to add colour, texture and a bit of fun! 

Here are some images of my sketchbook pages, they include photographs, artist research, processes, methods, techniques, designs, inspiration, sketches, ideas and thoughts, and samples. 

Step 1

I will glue my objects on to copper wire. When dried, I will paint on an even coat, and when that is completely dried the next step can be made. 

Step 2

I will set up the acid solution with the copper sheet inside, then hang my object in to the solution, and clipped to a device. It needs two leads that come out of a digital rectifier, the red lead is connected to the copper sheet, the black one is connected to the copper wire. There also needs to be a magnet tablet at the bottom of the solution, so that it can create a current in the solution for an even cover on the object. 

Step 3

The rectifier needs to have a voltage of no higher than 0.12, and left for a few hours but depending on how thick you want the object to be. My objects were quite small, so they only needed to be in the solution for roughly 2/3 hours. 

Step 4

It must then be stirred in distilled water after it has been through the acid. It is then ready to be filed and polished.

Here are some images of my final piece...

I didn't think the colour and finish on the electro formed pieces were effective, and so I pattinated them in jax, I think this was very successful as it highlighted the texture very well, and I was able to have more control over them, by scrubbing with a scourer where I wanted lighter areas, and darken other areas with cotton buds. I appreciate learning new techniques, and having the opportunity to try this, although I didn't enjoy it, as there was a lot of waiting around, and I had to re-do the process many times on one object, as it wasn't a successful finish, and so I had to pattinate it.