Material Progress

I am now fairly comfortable with my Hype project. I have three version being made at Shapeways and I have sun-reactant paint on it's way to me right now. If all goes well I will have three fabulous rings. When I first approached this concept I knew it was more conceptual and meaning to portray a message, rather than being completely applicable to the average individual. I have since changed my mind. My original plan was to make a headband via Ponoko but when I learned that I had to submit my project to Shapeways I scaled it down significantly. I was upset at first but now I've concluded that it has increased the overall success of my project. The headband would have been used to portray a message to bystanders around the individual. It would have been eye-catching and provocative. My new design is more for individual use. It's still a stimulating ring but the scale and proximity to the user makes it more provocative and useful to said user, rather than the general community around them. I'm pleased with the results because this new design is a more realistic product and I know I will use it myself. If the prints look nice I will choose the most successful material and get a few more printed to give out to my friends that I know need them.

J2 First Project Reflections

All in all I am very satisfied with how this project turned out. Usually when I do a study like this there are one or two pieces that I just want to chuck out the window because they pale in comparison to the rest (usually made in a mad rush right before the deadline). I feel like I paced myself pretty well during this project and it has resulted in my liking each and every one of my tiles. They are all pretty unique, may it be through texture, luster, or coloring. They're all very united and I think the theme is clear enough that most of the tiles can be correctly interpreted through a close look. I threw in a couple more obscure ones to make the viewer think. I know people had some issues in deciphering the "braces" but, upon hearing the answer, they all let out an "ahhhhh" and appreciated it for it's ambiguity and sudden clarity.

I've got to say that my favorite technique was the rolling mill. I just adore experimenting with different materials to see how they impress themselves in the material. I really loved the effect that paper stencils made. The raised areas (or the cut outs in the paper) because super shiny while the areas that the paper indented became very matte and beautiful. The contrast in level as well as gloss made this technique one of my favorites. I also came up with the idea to drip elmers glue onto a piece of cardstock and let it dry. By doing this multiple times, building up layers in certain areas, I could push some gorgeous organic images into the metal. I used this technique for the baby sea turtle tracks. It was my very first tile and one of my favorites.

My least favorite technique is, without a doubt, solder inlay. Perhaps if I had made my indented paths by etching rather than rolling the copper through the mill with wire I would have liked this technique more. I am just a stickler for detail and exact lines and execution. The wire is so hard to control and the the solder spills all over the place. It just seemed like a poorly crafted mess. I made the best of the situation and tried to distract from the unevenness of the lines in the splitting cell tile. I riveted it on a nice sheet of brass and heat patina-d the whole thing. I really love rivets so I felt like I had to include them in at least one tile.

I am just really happy with how these turned out as a collection. I think I will display them as a wall hanging, most likely in a frame. I was considering bonding them to the fronts of journals to give them the purpose of being a pregnancy journal. I wouldn't know what to do with them afterward, though, as I know no pregnant women. A wall hanging just seems like the most practical idea for me.

J2 Study: Youth

From left
Row 1:
Sunrise (asphaltum etching), Cracked Egg(lamination inlay and piercing), Big Bang(hammer texture and layered heat patina and removal), Dandelion Seeds(sharpie etching)

Row 2:
Tadpoles and Water Weeds(rollprinting, hammer texture, liver of sulfur, burnishing, and piercing), Egg Fertilization(sharpie etching and chemical patina), Bird's Nest(rollprinting and liver of sulfur), Honey Comb(rollprinting an liver of sulfur), Child's Drawing(sharpie etching, liver of sulfur, and burnishing)

Row 3:
Braces(etching, solder inlay, liver of sulfur, and burnishing), Cell Splitting(solder inlay, roll printing, piercing, rivetting, heat patina), Ultrasound(sharpie etching, liver of sulfur), Baby Sea Turtle Tracks(roll printing, heat patina)

Materials Project: AVM Difficulties

Okay so it is 11:30pm the night before this project is due and I am desperately scrambling to put my light diffuser together. I had planned to do the entire project on Saturday but I had difficulties in my mold making and ended up only being able to finish the molds in that whole day's work. I then spent Sunday molding the sugar but found that it was near impossible to get out of the molds before it sets and letting them set in the mold makes it shatter when you remove them. Through the week I tried various methods for molding this sugar. I tried breaking the mold off, which worked decently but made each cast have a slight variation in shape. I then tried to spraying oil in the molds, which only made a huge mess and made them impossible to firmly hold together. In the end I found a semi- successful method involving lots of sugar-coated masking tape, completely broken molds, and a technique involving sliding a piece of card stock under the mold while holding it at a particular angle.

I made about 30 slices, only to have ten mostly-together pieces. I made 3 main pieces, as each takes about 30 minutes to pack in the mold correctly. I have broken more pieces than I choose to share and screamed profanity at a material I never thought I could hate. There is at least a cup of sugar ground in to my poor carpet and it somehow made its way into my sheets. I have a broken spirit and several hand injuries (not having to do with this project but they don't help in delicate processes with sugar). I am attempting to glue the slices into their slits as I type and I have a feeling this will not be up to par with my intentions. If this piece makes it through crit I will thank whichever Gods I have to.

All in all it was a good experience in dealing with a crystalline material. I appreciate the knowledge I gained and enjoyed researching the innovative uses of sugar out there in the world. I don't, however, like my end result. This aside, the project was a success in researching and understanding the limitations and possibilities of a base material.

Materials: 10 action-oriented activities (with Jess)

Today Jess and I worked together to brainstorm for the One Object, Three Materials project. We sat and talked out what we thought "hype" meant. Here is our resulting bubble chart.


We then spat out ideas for a good half hour on some issues to attend to with out projects. I chose to free-write while Jess chose to stick with the chart. We then selected the ten most inspiring issues and sought to hype them in some way.


Our first issue is that of caffeine addiction, particularly in college and the work environment. As I was on a caffeine buzz at the time, the idea was not hard to stumble upon. I thought we could use a jarring image to bring the drinker's attention to the effects of their actions. What better place for this image than the coffee cup itself? I thought we could design a coffee cozy with the image of bloodshot eyes, as if the coffee were looking at you. I sketched up some eyes and grabbed a starbucks cup from the hour earlier and mocked-up the concept.

Jess had the idea of bringing people's attention to their food waste. She had the same thought of hitting the problem right at home. She thought we could use the jarring image a landfill to paste around the outside of a trashcan that people commonly use to dispose of food waste.

An issue that plagues me, as well as many people I know, is a lack of energy and enthusiasm in the winter. I know that my problem is in a large part due to such a deficiency of vitamin D as I am never outside for a long enough amount of time in the winter. Sunlight is very important to your mental and physical health and it is recommended that a person get at least 20 minutes of sunlight per day. I began thinking how I could draw attention to this fact and then I thought of the stakes that are used in potted plants to remind the owner of the plants' needs. I thought I could use this same method to remind people of their own needs.



Jess's next idea had to do with person health as related to inhalation, may it be germs or smoke. This piece bring attention to the fact that how you maintain yourself affects not only you but the people around you.


Our next issue had to do with energy overuse. It deals with the unnecessary use of lighting. It is your natural reaction, upon walking into a dark room, to flip on the light switch. This happens even when the lighting isn't necessary. This object makes the energy user think before switching on the light. They must maneuver into a box instead of just running their hands along the wall to switch on the light. This extra bit of effort will prevent the user from switching on the light out of habit.


This is Jess's idea to hype the fact that war is all around us. She thought to use an image that both makes the viewer think of war and play. Pairing two concepts that don't commonly coexist.

At this point we were beginning to run out of steam. These objects are less developed but the concepts are clear.


Humanity is beginning to overuse technology and substitute it for real human interaction. These pins/stickers would bring attention to this and force the viewer to consider whether it's completely necessary to use technology in a certain situation.


This is the concept for a sign and fingertip cover that brings attention to the issue of germs spreading through elevator keys.


A serious issue that affects the health of many people I know is lack of a good night's sleep. This sign/binder cover brings attention to how sleep affects how one feels an generally lives their life.

Our final issue deals with the absurd prices of textbooks. This sign rides on the coat tales of the go green initiative and adds the message of reselling textbooks you don't need so that others can get reduced rates.

American Craft Council Show

I attended the ACC show on Wednesday, February 24th with my Metals and Jewelry II class. I tried my best to center my attention on the jewelry vendors as I had a short amount of time. One of the first vendors we came across was Ashka Dymel. She had some really neat work dealing with similar techniques to what we are learning now. She deals a lot with inlays and has this technique of melting a sheet of gold leaf onto another metal. It's a technique called kum-bu or some variation of those letters. I thought it was really neat and looks gorgeous. i would love to try it but Janet says the materials we work with aren't pure enough. Maybe next year. She also does fabulous work challenging what is expected to belong in a bezel.


Later down the line we stopped at the booth of Connie Verrusio. Her work was very inspiring and was made using all techniques that we are working with. She uses common objects and very delicate sawing to create wonderful, approachable jewelry. Her work has a very mechanical feel to most of it. We asked her about her soldering technique and she told us about the powdered solder that she uses. It helps her to solder down such delicate pieces with no solder leaking between the pieces. I think this is definitely something to look in to. She also told me about the requirements for sawing into coins and her experiences with photo etching.


We breifly passed the table of Namu Cho but he was dealing business at the time so we didn't stick around. He seemed to have beautiful pieces incorporating delicate gold work into steel.


We made our way over to Jennifer Cho's table and talked briefly to her about her experiences in the business. She had very small, intricate soldered pieces that were a magnificent display of repetition. All of her pieces seemed to require a great amount of patience and a deft hand. Jennifer is a very nice woman and was eager to share with students entering the major.


We spent a very long time at the table of George Sawyer. I was very impressed by his interest in spreading his knowledge. I noticed that he ignored a phone call and a buyer to continue talking with us. He introduced us to the techniques associated with Mokume and Mokume Gane as well as with his own method that he calls "Koi." The precision and care that goes into every fold of Mokume is just astonishing. I later heard from another vendor that Sawyer is called the "American Father of Mokume" and I can very well understand why. He has a beautiful technique of slicing the metal such that he has the same image on two pieces. He then makes these into one-of-a-kind perfectly matching, intricate wedding bands. I think the idea of the "perfect match" reflected into these band is just spectacular. I know who I'm going to when I get engaged!


At this point our time was almost up. We saw a few more artist very quickly, none I feel I would be doing justice to mention so briefly. I would say that the most important thing I got out of this show was from George Sawyer's words of parting to us:

"One thing to always remember is to make each of your pieces tell a story. It could be a simple story like 'I am a fish and I'm swimming," but make sure each piece has something to say."