Glasswork: Blowing glass

In the hot glass workshop, I had my first go at actually blowing glass. I found it difficult to keep turning the iron, and keeping the glass on center is very important so the bubble is in the middle and the sides are even.

I used the newspaper pad to shape the glass, before thumbing in a bubble. I used the jacks to cut in and did eventually end up with some sort of small vessel type things. This seems to be something that needs a lot of practice.

Vision: Changing how people see

For our theme of vision, i wanted to take a very everyday item, and change the way people see it or think about it. i decided to use a leaf, because leaves and flowers are one of my favourite things to photograph, because they have details in that people don't notice usually. I decided to make these details obvious to everybody. I chose to look at veins in the leaves.

I first did this by photographing the veins close up to show them very obviously.

I then decided to cut out parts, to make the veins more prominent, because the parts in between are taken out.

I photographed this against the window, to get the light coming through the gaps. This photo also has the cityscape in the background which i really like.

Eat: art about how we use food

I was thinking about food, and how we use food. I wanted to make an artwork that would show how we waste food and how some people are greedy while others don't have enough. I did this by using rice, first to make images, of a skull and a skeleton.

I then decided to use words rather than images to get my point across. I thought of words related to food, and lack of food. I also did some very small illustrations. I did these actually on the grains of rice.

I photographed these on my hand to show how little rice there is, to show how much some people have to live on (while others have enough rice to waste by drawing on it)

Still life: a modern vanitas

I did a still life based on the Dutch vanitas paintings. these paintings showed wealth, and often showed things like meat, but their aim was to show the passing of time, to give the idea that wealth doesn't last forever and death is inevitable. They show the meaninglessness of earthly belongings. The paintings often showed egg timers or clocks, skulls and bones, and flowers. i wanted to merge this idea with modern life and consumerism, to show both how short life is, and how much people rush nowadays. The traditional vanitas paintings were painted in a very realistic style, so i wanted mine to contrast to this by being a very simple line drawing.
I drew a digital alarm clock, to represent time passing, a chocolate wrapper to show how people don't eat proper meals a lot of the time and instead rely on pre-packaged foods and snacks. I also drew a dead leaf, instead of flowers, because many people do not have gardens any more and the only nature they see is on their way to work. It is autumn at the moment and there are beautiful leaves all over the floor, but nobody stops to appreciate them.

Glasswork: cold processing

we learnt cold processing, as an introduction to some of the machines that could be used to finish off our pieces. The first machine I tried was the sand blaster, which fires grit at the glass, to create a texture on the surface, and can create depth if used with a resist.

I then tried the engraver, which can be used to engrave patterns or writing in to the surface of the glass. I wrote my initials, and it was a lot harder to control than i thought it would be. The glass has to be kept wet at all times because the engraver creates dust, and needs to be kept cool to stop the friction heating up the glass too much.

I then had a go on the grinding wheel. I started off on the wheel which uses larger grit, and used this to flatten the base of my animal, and take off the sharp bit, then i used a finer grit to make the surface more smooth. this also has to have water on it at all times, to move the grit between the glass piece and the wheel.

Metalwork: Sinking a shallow bowl

Sinking is a method of creating a shallow bowl shape from a flat disk of metal, by hammering it against a dipped surface to shape it. I worked in concentric circles from near the edge to the centre, which stretches the metal in the middle and makes the dish shape.

this gives a good overall bowl shape, but leaves a very lumpy texture from the hammer.

once I was happy with the shape of my bowl and I had got it as deep as I wanted it, I started planishing it to create a smooth texture, but one which would still have hammer marks on. I used a round stake and  a flat, shiny hammer, which meant the marks it left were shiny and even.

I used the same method of concentric circles to do this, so it would be even and wouldn't be misshaped.

Glasswork: using hot glass

A snowball, made by spinning the glass in a hoop on the floor, to get air into it, and then the glass was gathered up and rolled into a ball using kevlar gloves.

I then had a go at gathering glass from the furnace, and using the jacks to cut into the glass, to create a blob which would snap off neatly from the iron.

I then made an icicle, by pulling the blob out with tweezers, and then sticking the end back on itself. I then put one side of the tweezers into the loop and twisted the iron whilst pulling out with the tweezers to create a long icicle.

I then made some flowers, a bird (or attempted to make a bird) and another small animal which i'm not sure what it is. I experimented getting used to using the tools and using water to make a weak part of the glass that would break off to get the piece in the kiln.

Metalwork: Soldering and decorating the ring

i decide my half sphere would be a birds nest, so i used a piercing saw to cut out the shape of a swallow. i first cut out the basic outline, then cut the 'v' out of it's tail. i had to be very careful on corners to make sure i didn't turn the saw too suddenly, which would snap the blade.

 I then cut out a tree shape, using cut lines to show the branches.

 I soldered all the pieces together, first soldering the tree to the inside of the ring, so it came out sideways, and then I soldered the bird into the nest. The next bit was quite difficult, because i had to solder the nest onto the ring, without disturbing any of the joints i had already soldered. i used the bricks to hold the ring and the nest in the right position while i soldered them.

 I quenched the whole ring and pickled it in the acid to take the flux off. This is the finished ring. I hope to polish it some more so the surface is more even and shiny.