Natural Shapes

Experimenting with natural shapes to see if there's anything that could be designed from them.

Design ideas to experiment with in claywork. Also need to experiment more with natural forms and casting.

Katrina Tyler - "Pieces of Eight"

Ideas from Natural Forms

Studying different natural objects, such as pinecones and seeds, to see if any ideas for a final piece can be developed from them..

 Ideas for jewellery/casting I could do..

Turned out to be quite difficult to cast, as pinecone tended to squash.. could try again and stuff sand into the gaps to create a more rounded shape.

Had a few ideas to do with casting sycamore seeds and hanging them up in display or some form if installation, but when I tried to cast them, I couldn't get all of the fine detail, so I might combine ceramics and metal to make it work more effectively..

Created some sycamore seed shapes in ceramics with oxides, and sketched some ideas of what I could make with them.

Ideas for a potential final piece? Idea of something valuable being broken, but something new growing from it, this could be in the form of cast metal shoots, or ferns..

Studies of sycamore seeds and natural forms..

Value in Money

Decided to explore money, coins and notes as it's something which a lot of people place their value in.

Some photography of money:

I took some studies from the coins/notes to see if I could use them in some way to relate to my project..

I found it interesting how in many forms of money, from any culture, natural forms, plants and animals were used to decorate something we value and tend to rely on.

I also found an example of coins being used to make jewellery from "Hairy Growler Jewellery" which I find quite interesting:

This led me on to a few possible ideas..

Possible design for a brooch or necklace pendant? The coins have lost their value, but have been given a new purpose. Through this, objects could be appreciated in a new way..

Melting Money - lost it's value..

Clare Twomey - "Scribe"

Twomey's "Scribe" gave me an idea to leave an imprint of a natural object on the surface of the clay with clay dust surrounding it.

Ceramics - Natural Forms

Experimenting with pressing sycamore seeds and leaves into clay and using oxides to bring them out..

Before firing:

After firing:

Some ideas for developing this technique..

Could create a series of vessels, one with leaves pressed into untreated clay, one with oxides and another with aged-looking clay with the shape of the leaf sprayed on so only the imprint is left.

Cornelia Parker - "Alter Ego"

Parker's "Alter Ego" has an underlying theme of value. Identical objects, but one has been rendered useless. If something has lost it's use, has it lost it's value? Also good to reference for display ideas.

Exhibition: Weston Park "Seven Treasures"

I went to the "Seven Treasures" exhibition to glean some ideas from Japanese Ceramics. The main thing I noticed was how more valuable or expensive ceramics tend to be more extensively decorated. Surface decoration seemed to include a lot of natural forms - may be worth studying some to inform surface decorations.

Some drawings studying different vessel shapes I could use and photos of the exhibition..

Final Major Project: Value

For the Final Major Project I've chosen to do a project with the theme of value. I could study and use objects which we consider valuable, and question where we place our value. Some initial Ideas:

Smashing pots/vessels/vases could be an interesting concept. Could play with the inside/outside decoration. Could make the inside decorative and leave the outside untreated? Then when you smash it you reveal the decoration on the inside. Also played with some display ideas - could hang a pot as if it's in the process of pouring, then hang pieces of jewellery made in metalwork as if they're pouring out of the pot.

Experimenting with some more display ideas - toying with the idea that if something has lost it's use, is it still valuable? Half a vase is not useful for holding water but might be useful for displaying something.

Observational Drawing

Some examples of observational drawing, studying natural objects

Graphics and Typography

Interpreting the word "collapse" in it's own representation.