A Journey Through Textures

With more things that have started to demand our time, the art of walking is slowly becoming lost. There are those who make it a hobby and others who would walk more around a holiday destination rather than their own home. In a world where people rarely walk anywhere and only when they have to; do they pay any attention to what they pass? These are the sort of things I have been thinking about when working on this project and through interesting reading around the topic of walking. As my brief was to find a way to record textures I found that I was force to pay more attraction to what was around me and so then I saw more.  

Another main aim within this project was to learn how to throw and improve on the basic skills I gained last year. I have put in many hours on the wheel to meet this aim, as well as taking part in an induction, and feel that I have reach a good level of skill though I do know that it takes years to become a master.

On the Plymouth Hoe

At the same time I was working on the wheel I was trying to find an outcome for my brief to which I found slow at first. My first idea was to throw my pots and then push them into the textured surface but an earlier test I found that I didn’t like the effect. Also because of my skills on the wheel were still basic I found that I could turn them again to improve them. I thought about looking into the history that surrounds the area that I walked around to see if this would give me other ideas.

Down by the sea

 

However I then felt this was going off topic and continued to find a better way to show the texture. Then I saw a pot that had been cut and altered which led me into cutting away part of a thrown pot when leather hard and replacing the part with a textured bit of clay that I rolled out over the chosen surface. After working on this approach I found that I could get the effect that I first wanted by making the cut out clay bigger so that it bends and now has a look of movement to which I feel is fitting.  

From the wall of the Citadel

 

I have also looked into finding a glaze that would show off the texture by becoming darker in the deeper parts of the surface. Glazing however has been difficult as it rarely comes out as promise and would have been something I would have liked to develop further if I had the time. Before this project I thought glazing was a hard thing to do and so was put off doing it. Even though it takes a lot of time to find the right glaze I now know that it isn’t that hard to make them up and so happy that I got over my fear in glazing.   

On the cobble streets of the Barbican

I have found this project interesting by learning a lot more about a skill area that before I knew very little about; also the thinking that surrounds the idea of walking. Overall I feel it has been a good project and I will take many things away from it.

Twice a Light

The second project took place in winter time which brings us the dark months. Where it seems we get up to darkness and go to sleep in darkness. I never like this point in the year as every little bad thing seems to become a lot worse than it is really worth. However not all is doom and gloom, I do love the lights that shine and has the ability to change the way a city looks. This idea is what I based my next project around.  

Plymouth city in the sunshine 

A new city after the sun goes down

 

To reflex the changes, like the city, when the light is switched on, I wanted it to have two looks. The first is when the light is off, which just shows small squares in a pattern, and then when it is on, which shows the blacked out buildings.

The wood is flexy ply that has the ability to bend which I was then able to make it fit around a base that I made. CNC was also used to cut out all the small squares and lines.    

Design From the Body

Hiya all, been quite a lon time since I last wrote and more so about the following project. The 'design from the body' was the first project we were given to kick start our second year at uni so its fair enough to say that I can't remember all the details.

For this project I became very interested with the idea of artificial limbs and the mix of machine with the organic form. This led me to then think beyond the first idea of just the physical look and into the narrative behind objects and people. This is a thought that I look more into as the year continue.

So with this project I started thinking about what losing a limb would be like and how it can have a big effect on a person’s life. Also in the way a person could lose it in the first place which made me think of the members of the army who suffer injuries from road side bombs.

And so came about the idea of using an old chair that shows the organic side to which is aged and set in a certain way, with a leg removed and replaced with a metal alternative.     

The first leg is more of a psychological response behind what a person might feel from losing a limb, the shock and dramatic effect that it must have on their life. That is why I have the steel rods coming through the chair to show how it can affect the whole body. It has also taken form as an explosion as it is one way that people can lose their limbs but how it can destroy someone’s life.    

 

I also wanted the idea of the leg being interchangeable which was great for me as I could then do two legs to show different things. The second leg was made by taking the original leg from the chair and getting it sand cased in aluminium which was a first for me to learn about and glad that I got it in there.

This leg is to show the person that have accepted and try to blend in but will also have that small difference from everyone else.