W/hole hearts

Heart from the whole alphabet

So these are the hearts enamelled all 26.The process: I hand wrote names on the copper plate, on each heart  names are written starting from a-z. The names where possible are of people i actually know those who have been a part of the process of my life...which is the intention of this work, a reference to people who leave wholes or holes in your heart...all of whom should be acknowledged. The reason for hand writing the names was because these are a reference to my life, my hand writing connects the names to me. The enamel is not  perfect in fact, I have tried to have imperfections. I torched fired each heart over lapping colours, leaving the copper oxidised...the colour I chose are in the range of bruise hues... Now to make brooches

W/hole hearts

These are the final prototypes for w/hole heart brooches. The front will be etched with names starting with a all the way to z... Then enamelled and set in silver, with a pin at the back. The little people will be individual brooches which fit into the back of the heart... so there are 26, well 52 brooches in total...

Ballerina music box

Antique butter dish

Disassembled butter dish with light-cover on top and lid

Without lid

I've been trying to find a box to insert a mechanism of a music box which rotates the ballerina, creating my own version. It has been rather unsuccessful, then on two separate scavenging outings with the help me my dear friend Carla, i found the light cover / bell jar and the old silver butter dish. My mind had one of those moments of clarity and connecting today and i thought that they might work well together... Which they do... now i have to see if they will work as a vessel for my music element and ballerina.

Can't you see i'm broken, ideas for tags

These are my 3 tags with Kewpie head. The idea is that the tags will be stamped with an item number and description...02a face... something like that. So that it is like tagging a specimen. These will also be brooches that will hang inside my cupboard with jars of Kewpie bits... can't you see I'm broken referring to the times when I've felt like I'm falling apart emotionally or physically...there are always spare parts that can put you back together if you know where to fine them...

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

There are how my tags came out after being cast. Now i need to decide which one will best fit with my idea of tagging the kewpie pieces...

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