Little boxes on the hillside...

This is the start of a work I conceptualised a while ago, which seems apt because I'm in the process of buying my first home

Can't you see I'm Broken...video

One of the first stop-frames I made and the beginning of the process which lead to a series titled Can't you see I'm Broken (and that I can Mend), part of An Anthology my Masters exhibition.

Rabbit brooches

This is a test for the display concept behind the rabbit brooches. I glued the pages of theis small note book together and then sawed out the rabbit shaped hole. My in tention is to insert the brooched in to childrens books about rabbits, creating a sense of nostalgia and childhood...

Ballerina music box..

butter dish and light cover

bottom of butter dish with ballerina

music mechanism and base

all the elements together

bottom of music box

I've been making my ballerina music box, from the butter dish and light cover that I found. Things have changed as I've been working on it. I first thought about having the music mechanism show but after taking it apart and realizing that remaking the plastic elements would not work, I decided to cover it. But, it turned out that the butter dish and light cover were meant to work together, because once i cut the bowl section out the dish I realised that it fitted inside the light, with the music mechanism snugly covered.

I made an insert for the bottom of the butter dish which clamps everything in and it worked as I wanted. Now to make a beautiful wooden insert...with a lot of help from Nick...

W/hole hearts... 6/20

h-z enamel hearts

finished a-f

image taken 24/06/11...So I've made 6/26...not quite sure what happened to my images of names starting with...f.... This is much like...a...with a little person in a window, but this time a lady (it's the last bag on the right of the 6 hearts).

Any way this is my process, I have all the enamelled hearts pinned behind me on a board and then remove them to make one, when finished I pin them up on the board in front of my bench. I prefer seeing what I have done, rather then what I have to do. Mentally I think it's a more positive and less daunting to see what I have achieved. When I took these images I was busy with names beginning with...g....

I did have a little bit of a brain faff and thought that I should start making these hearts at random, I was worried that one of two things could happen...either I run out of ideas by the last few letters of the alphabet or the works get more intense when I get to the end. Should I make the work randomly to avoid this melt down or build-up, so that everything looks even and balanced???? Well I decided to carry on in alphabetical order, no matter what the out come. I think it will be a good insight into my design progression or regression...

W/hole heart...names beginning with c

back side of the two halves of c brooch

front side of c brooch with porthole

set brooch with man's legs through the porthole

front enamelled side of c brooch

Photo's taken 17/06/11....names beginning with c...carla, charmaine, chereen, craig....so i made porthole and decided to that I wanted to see a little person through the porthole. Why his legs...why not...as I was viewing different people through the window, this view happened by chance and i liked the oddness of things...what is he doing?

W/heart brooches - names beginning with - A

This is the underside of the back of the brooch

This is the back of the brooch with the little person inserted

The front - names beginning with - A - anna, andrew, amelia, adam...
People who leave w/holes in your heart
Silver, enamel, stainless steel and copper
2011

The two brooches separated

This is the first of the brooches to be finished. I've tried to create a window shape for the little person to slide / fit into and have left the pin a minimal as possible, cutting it's catch from the backing. I am going to make the rest of the brooches in a similar manner, but I'm sure there will be changes as the process develops.

W/hole hearts....deciding how to start

lady brooch sitting on top of the heart

lady brooch hanging off the heart

I've been working on my w/hole heart brooches again...starting with A. Been trying different ways to attach the little people, I think the window at the back works well, however I'm not to sure if all the brooches will be done in the same way...it's a process that might end in changes. A is completed, I tried to make the pin and catch as clean and minimal as possible, so it is not a distraction. B comes next ...

W/hole hearts close-up

Enamelled W/H brooches

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