Necklace Design

I have produced some sketches and come up with a final design for a necklace for Sara to make, while I help & tutor her through the process. I designed a necklace that I felt had a look of Re-worked to it - similar colours and themes - and featured some small challenges for Sara along the way; some beading, soldering, oxidising and some branding. 

Below are some doodles and the final design (last picture). Despite designing it, I would love it if Sara had any input whether before making it, or whilst in the process of doing so, as I think it would be interesting to see if the materials bring out some creativity. I can't wait to see if Sara enjoys the task as jewellery making can require a lot of patience! We hope to arrange for Sara to come through soon to Aberdeen to get started!

Ideas for beading - Amber / Hematite?

Pendant sketches.

Workshop Schedule

I have been busy trying to make a list for a workshop "schedule" for Sara's day with me learning some metal work techniques. My list contained the following...

1. Saw piercing.

2. Soldering.

3. Filing & Cleaning.

4. Work with Findings.

5. Oxidising.

6. Beading.

When it occurred to me that most briefs I have followed have a physical outcome hence I have decided that to make the day more enjoyable, and rather than just follow some random tasks, I decided to set Sara the task of making a necklace. I think trying to make a piece will tie in nicely with the project as I feel Re-worked is based on acting on ideas quickly and seeing the results to then learn from them. I will produce a small rough sketch of a piece that would incorporate the above list and then talk Sara through the process of making it. I would be interested to see if Sara has any ideas to add to the design and would welcome them! I am really excited to see how Sara will find the day, especially as I often find jewellery making extremely frustrating and often lose my patience with it. Will it be as she expects?! I hope to hear her views both before and after! 

Doodles

So I have been trying to get my head around this project again so have been doodling in prep for some final pieces. I'm not sure if I've posted any sketchbook for this project before but it actually differs from how I use sketchbooks for jewellery design: more flowing and expressive whereas I'm more technical with jewellery. 

Another Collar, in a Similar Vein

In considering with what next to 'affect' the other collars Nicola had sent me, I trawled through other bits and pieces that Nicola has sent over the course of the past few months and found these gold jump links below. I think that working with gold coloured fastenings/fasteners recently (as in the pink basque), has taken with me and I began stitching them onto the collar below. I think that it will make a lovely partner to the pearly collar once rusted up. I would like to source more of these rings for future experiments as (dependant on their ability to rust well), I believe there could be great scope to create large lace-like pattern repeats that could be printed onto soft silks. These could be beautiful organic echos of much of the found lace items we have used throughout Re-worked project.

Collars

Some ideas I've been throwing around for the mens collars that Nicola sent me...
Apologies for the quality of the images - I haven't the best scanner in the world and I had to use photographs from my phone (note the yellowing collar second from the bottom is not so yellow in real life!)
I have been thinking mostly about composition, combinations of materials (though nothing too wild as I don't think that these pieces should be overcomplicated), weight, shape and scale...
I feel that it is important to put real thought into the process before I apply anything to any of the collars, particularly the white ones as I am unsure as to how well the starch will take any rusting. I want to get them right. Though it is tough to predict what an erratic process such as rusting will do!
More to follow...

Unplanned Post

This is not the post I had hoped to make tonight - I am having irksome technical difficulties uploading photographs of my latest experiments. So instead, I decided to show some more goodies I've found laying around. On my jaunt around the factory I work in, I found some utter beauts but they were sadly too large to pocket, so for now, meet these:

Another mobile phone special, this photograph lacks in quality but I am glad that it still portrays well the warped shapes of these 'specimens'. I still enjoy the idea of cataloguing these found pieces and examining them for inspiration. I feel that shape manipulation and moulding are aspects that I would like to play around with more. Being a printer by trade I am too quick to 'make prints' and dye as opposed to physically kneading my materials and affecting their structure.

Latest Playthings...

Here are some of the materials Nicola has recently sent me. I am playing around with a few ideas - how to rust/affect each of them, composition, end use etc. Nicola has a great eye for delicate, lovely things...

Apologies for the darkness of the last pictures. I feel when edited, that they do not correctly represent the true colours of the handkerchiefs... They are beautifully fragile, so I am taking care in considering how to use them. I wonder who 'R' and 'E' are!?!

Will post some sketches soon! 

Fabric Samples

In response to an earlier post in which Nicola and I discussed the possibility of producing rusty prints from rubbings, I have experimented with fabric swatches. Having begun with different weighted papers I found that too smooth or dry a surface encourages the rust to simply flake away. In order to make successful prints from the rust deposits a damp surface is needed. Samples previous to the paper below were dampened before rubbing but without prolonged contact with the damp surface, produced a weak print. The paper below was left overnight in damp conditions pressed against a pre-rusted paper clip chain.

 The results, though strong in colour, lack form.

I found that fabric treated with diluted vinegar and kept in the same conditions as the above, produced a far clearer print, with the fabric moulding to shape as it dried.

I think that making literal prints such as this could be an interesting way of making printed jewellery e.g. an emulative necklace or bracelet.

Powder Puffs - Post Rusting

As expected, these have been well dyed whilst rusitng despite my vigillance with exposure to oxygen being unpredictable in the continuation of the process. Again, I find these interesting as objects but am unsure as to how these would fit in with our final collection - perhaps not sophisticated enough an outcome. The sample in the bottom image rather reminds me of a mushroom! In the flesh, it's texture is pleasing - the embossing effect having been successful. I had planned to remove the staples but seeing the samples as they are now, I fear that removing them would leave them a bit lack luster - the embedded metal adds interest to the softness of the puffs.  

Experimenting with Ribbon

These are experiments based on Nicola's initial ideas when collecting the first lot of materials:

And compositional experiments with lengths of ribbon,silver chain and paper clips:

Both ideas combined:

I like the simplicity of these samples and the idea that each piece can be added to/have sections taken away. The pink ribbon allows for me to experiment with the softer spectrum of our materials and achieve a pretty and wearable outcome. I actually really like the silver against the pink. Being cleaner and reflective, it is a nice contrast against the grittier rusted pieces, whilst still sitting well within our collection. Although I will make similiar pieces to rust too.

Repetition and Interrupted Patterns

This post is long overdue! A few images from my initial compositional experiments after receiving the first parcel. These should be ready soon - simple in their foundations for where I hope to move next.

Experimenting with length of links and weight.

After my initial experiments with the rusted paper clips, and the immediacy in creating my own chains, it seemed sensible to use the clips again as a base. I like the idea of building up layers, almost like chain mail and embedding the rescued fastenings within the links: 

It is an extremely rudimentary way of producing jewellery but I do find the process interesting - hopefully once I can partake in a workshop under Nicola's guidance I'll be more adept at construction with metal.

Interrupting the constant stream of the very identifiable form of the paper clips, I find very appealing visually, though I do look forward to seeing the finished product once the paper clips are fully rusted. The idea of having to study the piece before being aware of the interruption of the lovely hooks and eyes will, I hope, draw attention to the questions we are posing with this project. And if these chains react in the same way as in previous experiments, I hope to produce rusty rubbings (as suggested by Nicola in a previous comment - see post here) from the lengths of clips. I imagine this piece, when finished, will shed if worn. A nice nod back towards the ideas expressed in Nicola's final year project and a literal prompt to being conscious of value as the piece reacts with the wearer's day to day surroundings.

So as not to tamper too much with the state in which the hooks and eyes are currently, (they are beautiful, having rusted slowly in their own time), I intend to lace the majority of them into the paper clip chains after the paper clips emerge from their induced rusting. I like the idea of a contrast between the naturally affected and the immediacy of the induced samples.

I have also been experimenting with the idea of softer constructed pieces - creating loose concertinas and ruffles by stapling the ribbons Nicola sourced.

More soon.

"Re-worked"

"Re-worked will highlight the notion of preciousness in modern materials by examining the process of re-adapting vintage materials in making marks (permanent and impermanent) with precious and non-precious metals and destructive processes."

A collaboration between Sara Nevay & Nicola Reed, "Re-worked" will examine the process of reworked and reused vintage materials and how destructive processes can be used as organic "prints" can be used to highlight the idea of preciousness in modern materials. We aim to combine disciplines which will, as we adapt to working independently of University, arm us with further knowledge and skills as each of us plan to enlist techniques and materials traditionally associated with each other's specialism; we each touched upon this in our final year projects shown at the Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show 2010. We plan, too, to explore the process of working between two cities, Sara based in Dundee and Nicola, Inverness, strengthening the craft links Dundee has with its graduates. 

Our project aims to work constructively with the nature of our chosen materials and processes, allowing us to explore in depth the growth of our collaboration and chart our personal progress as new designers chronologically. 

The project will take place by posting designs, as well as swapping reworked materials at different stages to see how they can be incorporated effectively into designs and can be used for their mark-making potential. Posting will act as markers in time of the deconstructive process, allow for regular revision of our work and growth of our designs and ideas as they are realised, and test the strength of our reworked samples as they are exposed to our design processes.