In metalwork, we are still in the skills building stage of our course, but I also wanted to link my experiments to my theme of things people have left behind, so some of my pieces include footprints and fingerprints.
Thumb prints made from varnish, which I then put in acid, so the surface was eaten away, but the parts with varnish on stayed shiny. I used a blow-torch to colour the rest of the metal, to contrast with the shiny tin.
The next technique I tried was reticulation, which is heating the metal until it almost melts, which forms a 'skin' on the surface of the metal, which crinkles and textures the surface of the metal. I like this technique but I found it quite difficult to do and accidently melted right through the metal at one point.
Next I used the metal roller. I used a craft knife to cut a fingerprint pattern from paper, which I then put onto the metal and rolled it, so the paper left an imprint on the metal. I think this is a good technique because it can create very detailed textures and patterns.
This is an acid etched piece, I used part of a footprint as the pattern, as if somebody had stood on it by accident.
More acid etching, but I hammered the metal before, so it is not smooth, but dimpled as well as patterned and coloured with the acid and blow-torch.
A lace imprint on tin using the metal roller. I have been looking at fabric/textile imprints in ceramics so decided to try in metal.
Using punches on annealed copper to create footprints, I like the very detailed patterns on some of the punches, and they reminded me of the tread patterns on boots so I tried to make boot prints.
More punching into copper, using a spiral that reminded me of an ammonite fossil. As well as a nice pattern, I feel this photo is also quite a good piece of art on its own.
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