Project 1 Final Reflection

I am very happy with the final outcome of my first project. Although I only produced 15 tiles I think that some of the work included in those 15 was nice. One of the tiles I am more satisfied with is the one meant to mimic a butterfly pinned in a box. I think that my choice of display was very successful in bringing the pieces together cohesively and displaying them to their best advantage. I wish I had jumped in earlier with this piece because by the time I really go going with it I had really started to enjoy creating it rather than feeling intimidated by it.

Project 3 Reflection

My project 3 was seriously derailed by the amount of time I spent on project 2 and the consequential overlap. My piece was originally intended to be Art Decco inspired and include etching as well as a bezel setting, though neither of those elements we used in the end. The piece that I finished with was ultimately unfinished, under designed and disappointing. I had a very difficult time keeping the walls of my piece straight and true to their intended shape. Due to this the design was altered as I constructed it and as I continued and tried to remedy the problems that arose the form of the piece became more and more distorted. The final reality was effectively a poorly finished hollow form sample with no indication of its intended inspiration and a poorly finished twisted wire suspension. Knowing now what I do about the difficulties of building the walls for a hollow form I would construct something that had more even heat distribution during soldering. A major problem that I faced was keeping the metal of the walls from overheating and becoming warped and distorted. I am disappointed with the product of my hollow forming attempts and feel that I should have had a better design plan and schedule for construction.

Project 2 Reflection

Over all my I feel that project 2 was the piece that taught me the most. I learned to build walls, set a hinge and etch larger more complicated pieces. I also learned how to incorporate a flange into my work. I feel that my piece was successful overall, although it did stray some from the original design I had planned for it. The piece also has some issues with craftsmanship as I struggled to make the walls perfectly square and the hinge is set slightly off from where it should be. Also the final magnetic closure that it will have is not set. I was pleased that the suspension that I worked out to look like an adjustable camera strap was pretty successful. Ideally I would have been able to bezel set a clear stone to mimic the lens of the camera but because of time and material constraints I was unable to do so. I was pleased with how the etched map portion of the piece came out and I feel that the overall design of the piece was strong.

Project 3 Research

Art Deco's linear symmetry was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its predecessor style Art Nouveau; it embraced influences from many different styles of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism and Futurism and drew inspiration from ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms. Although many design movements have political or philosophical beginnings or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.(Wikipedia.org)

Project 2 Research

Project One Reflection

My first project is incomplete at this point. I was initially overwhelmed by the project which kept me from jumping in initially but now that I have really started working on it my understanding of surface texture has increased. I have enjoyed seeing how multiple techniques can be used together to create a piece with real depth and interest. I think that my designs and use of techniques need improvement but I have learned to trouble shoot the complications I have faced with certain techniqes especially lamination inlay. As I progress with my project I hope to improve my metal working skills and the quality of my designs.

Project 2 Concept and Design Development

The first of my possible personal narratives for project two is about the first time I used a manual camera. I would like to incorporate a print from the contact sheet I made from my first roll of film. I would make a hollow form frame to hold the photo and use a simple hinge to attach a door and make a locket. The locket door would be made of nickel silver and textured to mimic the texture of the front of the Pentax K1000 camera that I used during my first shoot. The textured piece would be given a liver of sulfur patina. The shoot took place at a pond near my parents house with a lot of tall reeds. I would like to incorporate the reeds into the design of the flange through etching or cut outs. I would incorporate etching and possible some lamination inlay on the back of the piece to ensure that all the surface of te piece are equally interesting.

The second of my possible narratives is about photo trips to New York City that I have taken in the past. I would like to make mini frames for 3 or 4 negatives from these trips. The frames would be done in nickel silver and incorporate liver of sulfur patinas to mimic the black and white of the negatives. I would make the frames by sandwiching the negatives between two flanges using rivets. I would then link the flanges together using jump rings or another cold connection like a rivet. I may make the flanges to mimic the look of the sprocket holes of the negatives. The center negative frame would have a hinged door with a silhouette cut out of the city. I have considered incorporating an etched map of the city into the design, possible focusing on one neighborhood.