Heart mould

Half way being cut on the JWX10

The hearts are nearly finished

This is cut I was doing in plaster in order to make a mould. I needed to make a more exact heart mould for the inside of my perspex frames...so cut this blank on the jwx10. It was the first time cutting plaster and it worked well. The intention is to now re-draw the images on the moulded hearts, in order for them to fit into the perspex frames that I've been cutting .

Bird house brooch

Elements that make up the Brooch, the bird will set the back

Back view of Birdhouse brooch

Front view

This is what I've been doing today....

Ballerina ring

Making of the Ballerina Turning Ring

I started making this ring a while ago. The concept formed from my memories me doing ballet as a child and the old music box my sister had, with a ballerina that turned... Movement and sound...so this ring has bearings that allow it to turn when pushed. Working out the mechanism for movement was a great challenge and achieving it was like being able to preform a perfect dance sequence in ballet...It is just really cool that the ballerina turns. The ceramic skirt is something I asked my dear friend Carla to make...she has done such a wonderful job and it allowed me the freedom to just work on the design and concept.

Can't you see I'm broken...Kewpie tags

Cutting tag

These are the different tags, that I have designed in Rhino and am cutting in wax with the JWX10, my intention is to cast them and then decide which will best suit my concept, this is a decision that I feel can only be made with all the visual elements resent.

Bird house brooch

View from the back with plate cut

The front view

Cutting a pattern on the back of the brooch

Second Rhino cut of Birdbath rim

Bird-bath rim re-designed (Rhino) and cut (JWX10)

This was my re-design everything is alot bigger and the perspex is not trancelucent but, a solid white this is much more effective. I was desiding wether this should be made into a ring or a brooch, it became a brooch with quiet a complex system to 'set' the bird-bath...pic's to follow

Bennoi Bunny Park

The only Afikaans sign, I think the rabbit image is great

this sign is outside two of benoni's high schools, hence the graffiti

taken from the Hi-way in a fast moving car

this was taken from the car so it's a strange angle, pity about the ultra 'disney' bunny

So i finally got to take images of Benoni Bunny\Harsie Park signs, these are spotted around Rynfield and on the Hi-way in to Benoni. I want to find a way of incorporating these signs with my Rabbit, this was my original inspiration. Still thinking about how to do it, print on canvas, have a sign made or print the image...but how to attach my brooches is another problem...

Birds

My new adventure is about birds, as always they relate to my childhood and memories as well as a reminder of my father, who was an enthusiastic bird watcher and kept a beautiful aviary.


The images that I associate with the birds are...bird-baths and banksia roses...there was a massive bush over the aviary at home. This range started by modeling birds in bee's wax and then casting them...I did something similar for artisan a while ago but as always things move on. I'm using my new shape ring as a base for the birds to perch on and am trying to model the birds in quite a lot of detail...The first ring was quiet simple three little birds sitting on the ring...I sort of remember a rhyme about dickie birds sitting in a tree...there are also three children in my family and I think three is a great number.

Birdie with feet, sculptured from bees wax then cast, sterling silver

How the bird sits on the ring, its feet will wrap over the top

The next ring is my little bird sculpture where i wanted to try be a bit more realistic, so I decided to add feet,it was quite fun filing these up a challenge to say the lest.Soldering it to the ring was another story all together, I had to add a pin that comes up through the shank in to the birds body. I'm pleased with the end result and the bird is much sturdier with the pin.

Rhino design for bird-bath rim. Cutting on JWX-10

Next challenge the bird bath...not to sure if its a ring or a brooch but I have designed the outer rim on Rhino and am doing my first cut on the JWX-10... this takes ages but the results should be worth the wait.

little people / pastic / hearts

This little people cast was very porous but I quite like it

this little people cast was not to bad

cleanest little plastic people

I cast plastic little people a while ago, with different degrees of success. Some were very porous and lost limbs, while others were a bit blurry. I had forgotten what brand of little people, I had used and cast a whole set of new figures... they worked out well but because of their obvious worker look they could be very restrictive... I've been trying to figure out what to do. I made my own little person which has not turned out that bad, but do i now need to make lots of them or reuse that figure. At a Masters meeting it was suggested that i use the not so successful porous figures as they are obscure yet still representative of the human form.

My idea started with ' people who leave holes in your heart' this was a bit negative as i thought about what I really wanted to convey. My thoughts were of those people that who help and hurt me and how they affect my heart physically and emotionally. The physical pain of loss and joy, but the idea stems from my feeling that no matter what happen good or bad it adds to my wholeness as a human being. So the W/Hole heart idea emerged... which now holds multiple layers that i have not quite figured out...

little people / whole heart

This was my carve little person that i blogged about earlier...

So this is it cast, I know it's not well proportioned but I don't think it turned out that bad

I have started cleaning it up... cut the arm off the body to make it easier, and to try get the proportion right should be easy enough to extend them when the body is ready.