Ceramics: slabwork.

First, I made 6 squares of clay the same size, and used my collected objects to imprint patterns onto the surface. I tried to make each square different, as I wanted all the sides of my cube to be a surprise, which you had to ppick up and turn around to find all the patterns. I mitred all the sides at a 45 degree angle, so the joins were not visible on the outside.

I used slip to join the edges and make them look neat, and also put reinforcements on the inside of the cube to strengthen it.

I next rolled out some more clay and made cylinders, to put together to make a repeating pattern similar to how I made the triangle.

I put marbles into the bottom of the cylinders, to hopefully melt and create a decorative abstract piece in the bottom of each cylinder. I have used marbles because I have lots of marbles and would like to make something new out of them.

Repeating pattern with found objects.

For this piece, I used a pipe cutter to cut two plastic cylinders into different lengths and arranged and glued them into a triangle. I then photocopied some patterns I had drawn using circles to make them smaller, and glued these to the back, cutting them to size so they were visible through the tubes. I think this could be used as a pendant or a large ring.

 I then started looking through the objects I had found and seeing which ones I had a lot of. I found I had quite a few plastic caps that my mum brought home from work, which are usually thrown away with the rest of the packaging. They are transparent plastic, with labels around the edges. I wanted to use these properties  to make jewellery, so I wanted whatever I made let the light through, and also leave some of the labels visible, so you can tell it has been made from something that was once something else. I used wire and a little bit of glue to hold them in a repeating pattern so that there isn't anything covering the sides or ends of the pieces.

Ring pull ring

In looking at old and discarded materials, I also wanted to look at how these can be combined with new materials to create more interesting pieces. For this ring, I knew I wanted the ring pull to be visible on top of the finger, So I then just experimented fitting different pieces and materials I had collected to complete the rest of the ring. I then found a stone (cubic zirconia) that would fit in the top of the rubber piece that sticks out on top of the ring.

I think this mix of old and new has worked really well, and the ring is decorative but not overly-complicated. It is wearable, and hopefully more of this type of jewellery can be made by recycling materials in the future to make jewellery more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Metalwork: Recycling a cat food can

 I decided to use empty washed out cat-food cans, because we have four cats, so the cans are readily available  and are always just put in the recycling bin, so I wanted to use them to make something new. After looking at leaves, I decided to use the ridges that go around the can for the veins of the leaves. I cut diagonally across the ridges of the can, then cut out the two halves of the leaf. 

I used a punch and a hammer to make holes in either side of the leaf, then used wire to attach them together neatly. I made three leaves in this way, and when they are all put together I think they would make a nice necklace, or brooch.

 Next I used the base of the can, which is thicker than the sides and has circular grooves, and put enamel powder into the centre circle and put it into the enamel kiln.

 When I took it out and it cooled, I made a copper wire flower shape, based on the centre of the pink flower, and put it onto the enamel, then put it back into the kiln to melt the enamel again, so the wire would sink into it and would hold  it firmly. I then used white enamel powder around the wire part, so a little bit of the yellow was still visible through it.

 I wanted to also colour the outer grooves, but not to cover up the whole of the surface, because I wanted it to have the mix of old metal with new enamel. I used white and red enamel because there was no pink, and think it has worked well. I have not used enamel before this, and think my outcome is very successful in showing the mix of old with new, and also making a new object from an old one. This could be used as a decorative object on its own, or could be made into a brooch or necklace.

I then tried to make something from a can base that didn't include using any new materials, so I decided to use some paper clips and a drawing pin, to add to the can as decoration. I think this worked well because all of the materials are shiny metal, and are designed to be functional not decorative so using them in this way is interesting. I have bent the paper clips so they look like the flower petals, and also used shears to cut the edge into petal shapes.