Project 2 - A New Development

A bracelet is just a bracelet, right?
What if that bracelet was as much a part of the meaning as the flowers themselves are? The flowers are't just attached to this chain as a way of making them a single series of art, but they are chained together, fixed into this repeating pattern of bloom and wilt, life and death.
Each charm is shackled onto this chain, which in turn is representing a ball and chain that might have been used in past ages to make sure slaves couldn't run away while they were working.
This means that instead of using a fine silver chain, perhaps I should be looking at a studier, blackened chain - something heavy and solid holding these fine charms in their place.

Lots of images of shackles and balls and chains :3

I shall have to draw some ideas up...

See y'all next time :)

My links seem to have gotten all jumbled, so I deleted them, I found all these images under google image search (one for "shackle" and one for "ball and chain") and when I get time I shall go back and try to find all the links for these again.

Project 2 - again :)

Isn't it cute XD
It's a bit hard to tell what it is, especially with the not so good lighting, but I spent part of Tuesday afternoon carving this little car - or more specifically a stingray corvette based off the one my friend own - out of wax, using old dentist tools to get some of the finer details and shape :3
I still have a way to go before it'll really look like a good model, but it's a start, and it's good practise for when I do my main pieces for this project :)

I consulted our very helpful head technician about the possibility of casting it myself out of zinc, and it sounds like the whole process might take a bit too long considering how much time we have for this project (about 4 weeks) so i am seriously considering sending any models I make up to Regal Casting in Auckland to have them cast there. It will be more expensive, especially with freight costs included, but it could mean a much better, and possibly quicker, finished piece. I have looked at their website and cannot find a lot of the information I require - like the length of time it will take from sending the wax pieces away to having the finished product delivered back to me - so I will contact them and find out more information, which i will include in a later post.

I have been practising carving the wax, and definitely have a long way to go, but I feel that I am skilled enough, if I can be patient enough too, to complete this project to a high enough standard to both be proud of it, and get a good mark for the small amount that the final work contributes to my final grade.

Here are some process work photos of some more carving practise I did yesterday

 I had two main trials of carving wax, but the corvette was the only one I took to the stage where I can take the next step, in which I will apply a small amount of heat to the wax to smooth out the surface, so I can try to carve some more details in that won't be lost in the light, unintended scratches made by the

 carving tools.

 These are the sketches I've made so far as ideas for my charms.


Sakura Blossom - from buds to blooming to full bloom, to wilting to bare branch.

Sunflower - From seed through germination, budding, full bloom, wilting, and dead, but with seeds.

Sunflowers are quite loud, bright flowers, so could silver or zinc or similar portray the feel of the flowers enough?

6 stages is quite a lot for carving out the wax, and for if I do get them done in silver, maybe less stages is better for this project, even if it will look a bit empty on a full length charm bracelet.

A more developed and simplified version of the cherry blossom/sakura design.

Rose - seed through germination through budding through full bloom through dying/seeding back to seed.

Rose can also symbolise passion/love, and how many relationships bud, bloom and die just as the flower does

Project One - Urban

Our first project was a group project based upon the concept of "Urban". As of now we have completed this project, so I shall only give a quick overview of the project.

It was a paste up project, with the theme of Urban, so after a discussion our group decided to fulfil the paste up part by pasting up sheets of blank, white paper, in the fashion of posters that are put up around the city, then to paper mache some texture onto it to give our background image a more visually interactive quality. Then we projected a short film up on the paste up.
We decided that the people and community of the city were really what made up the "Urban" rather than the buildings themselves, so we while our background is simply a street scene, people are the focus of our projection, people who are individuals, but all part of the community.

Through this project, and working together with the group I was in, I developed my knowledge of the importance of communication between all the team members, and about finding the strengths and weaknesses of each member to utilise the team as a whole best :)
I also found out that I'm useless at using the squidgy thing to flatten the poster paper that we pasted up on the wall :/ I was alright at actually putting the paper up, but I kept getting it more wrinkled when I tried to flatten it and get the air bubbles out :/

I would like to have seen this work actually put up in an urban environment (that's artist speak for putting it up somewhere in the city ;P ) somewhere instead of in our studio - perhaps on a brick wall somewhere, with the background paper just starting to peel off the wall a little - but it was too much work for the short amount of time we had, especially when we were working on other projects for other classes as well...
Because it used silhouettes as part of the projection, it would have been fun to try to make it more interactive by placing it where people would walk in front of the projector and cast their own silhouettes on the background. Also i would rather have had a longer loop and vaster variety of people on the loop, as it was fairly obvious watching it that there were only a few people casting the silhouettes for the film.

I know I haven't really put any good descriptions or photos of the work up, but I shall try to get some photos of it to put up at some point soonish...

Project 2 - Narrative

Project two is about the Narrative - "representing stories or events pictorially or sculpturally" (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/narrative)

Within that, our project should be based around either the body, the environment or semiotics (study of signs and signifiers)

Since my interests lie in object and useful art, I would be very interested in making a charm bracelet for this project. This also links with the group workshop I will be part of, which is lost wax casting, as this type of casting is practical in the creation of small charms.


As for the "narrative" aspect, I would like to do a story about a seed becoming a flower, then wilting, and this would be about life and death, how everything has its moment to bloom, but then it will wilt and die, no matter how much care someone takes to preserve it.


I will probably use plain zinc or pewter for the cast charms, as they are cheap and relatively easy for me to get a hold of either by myself or through the polytech. I will investigate the price of silver and casting in silver, and if it is affordable I would much rather cast in silver, as it is a nicer metal, is more appealing to many prospective buyers (I wouldn't be selling these, but if I make more charms in the future it would be preferable to make them of silver, and doing that now would gain me the knowledge I would need to make the process as simple as possible later) and is more sturdy than pewter and zinc - though it is still a soft metal.


It may be difficult to craft a delicate flower/plant out of wax, especially as I have very little practice in carving wax, so I may have to do a representational flower, rather than a realistic flower/plant.


I'm thinking at the moment that i may try to use a rose, as a rose - even a silver zinc one - is a well known symbol of love, or passion, and this would tie in nicely with my theme of things blooming then fading away, as many loves and passionate relationships do the same.

http://curezone.com/ig/i.asp?i=63053

Other flowers I've considered are: Sunflowers - the large, bright flowers could be seen as a representation for our life, as they grow tall fast, and stand strong while reaching for the sky, as though nothing can stop them, then when they wilt the wither and slowly bend over, as so many people do as they pass their prime in life.
http://floerstory.blogspot.co.nz/2011/02/sunflower.html

And Blossoming Cherry Tree flowers, or Sakura Flowers - These short lived flowers are gorgeous in season, and a whole tree can go from budding to finished flowering in two weeks.


I have dome some simple sketches to try to capture the stages of the flower's life as they would be in charm form, which I will hopefully upload tomorrow.

To Begin

Well. Here we are at the beginning of 2013. So I suppose I should start with the basics...
My name is Aimee, I'm 20 years old, and I am a student at NMIT - Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. I am in the second year of my degree in arts and media, and I am intending on focussing on object art - things like jewellery, sculpture and textile art (wearable or otherwise).
One of our projects this year is to keep a blog of our studio work with all our research and thoughts recorded for our tutors and classmates to view.
So here is mine.
So.