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.

Process Pages

'I'm cross'

'Kewpie moulds'

'Farm Animals'

'Heart Memories'

I've been putting together process pages, using Picasa collage. I hope that it will help my writing about each collection and the processes and thoughts that occured during the making. It's also a nice way to collect a whole lot of images together that relate to one subject.

little people

filed up little person

wax

2010 Feb

I cast some train-set little people a while ago, now I'm trying to make my own person. The Train-set people were restrictive- to what i could get and also how the plastic cast. So I'll see how this person turns out, I used carving wax and did most of the carving with a small ball burr.

Work Bench

bench 2010

Thought I'd take a picture of my bench at DUT..it's clean for a change...it won't look like this after the roof is re-done

Red Cross

So I saw this series of cross on the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia- Biennial Conference...it turned out to be work from Elizabeth Turrell. This is the image and context that I found on flickr...

Elizabeth Turrell • Bristol, England
Red Cross
vitreous enamel on etched copper and hand-held
2.25" x 2.25"

"This Anti-War medal uses a fragment of text from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a reminder that this declaration is one that every government and individual need to know by heart."

This is a link that Chris sent me...Lisa Crowder I think the setting is really interesting and it makes me think about how i set my 'I'm cross' brooches, if i plan on developing the design further this is some thing to keep in mind...

Kewpie Doll Mould

getting ready to make second mould half

building clay walls to support and hold the silicone

the silicone has been poured in...waiting for it to set

I'm Cross Brooch

I'm cross
brooch (front)
silver, copper and enamel
201050x50mm

I'm cross
brooch (back)
silver, copper and enamel
2010
50x50mm

This brooch was made as a reaction to being cross; I needed to make something so to remain stagnant. I had fun making it, so my emotional state changed. I realized through making that I don't necessarily need a thought-out concept in order to made jewels. An emotional state can spark creativity and the need to make. The emotional state that I have experienced will not be accessible to the viewer of this brooch, but the process of making is documented on this blog. My next challenge is to try making that emotional experience 'viewable' or assessable to the viewer (this need not be my exact experience but one that is related)