Summer Catch Up...

Before I begin the next stage in my making career in the next week or two, here is what I've been up to since completing my final Degree show project...

First I exhibited my final collection at De Montfort's Art & Design Show alongside many other talented Design Craft makers, all working in a variety of materials including glass, metal, textiles, paper & ceramics.

Here are some of us at the Private view, celebrating getting through all the stress & late nights of making!

For my set up I focused on using a science theme to present my work, incorporating test tubes, glass jars & even this dead mouse (below) we unearthed while moving plinths!  

Thank you to everyone who came & visited our show - If you didn't get a chance to take a look at my Facebook page for more photos or read the lovely Karina's review of the show here.

Next it was on to New Designers, a showcase of Design graduates from across the country at the Business Design Centre in Islington. It was a fantastic week for everyone, with lots of sales, opportunities and exhibiting offers!

It was also a brilliant place to look for inspiration - look out for a future blog post on my favourite new graduates I saw there.

Thank you also to Kate from Look Like Love for the lovely write up about my collection on her blog!

And last but not least in a busy few months was Graduation day!

Soon I will be starting back at University as one of five Design Crafts Artists in Residence, so look out for some new work coming up! 

Finding Inspiration in London.

On Thursday me and Kerry travelled up to London in search of jewellery & display inspiration for our final collections... 

First we visited Studio Fusion Gallery in the Oxo Tower. Studio Fusion is "the first applied art gallery in the UK specialising in a contemporary approach to enamel, whilst also promoting non-traditional materials and techniques." Although only a small gallery it was really inspiring to see the variety of different techniques on display there, so if you are interested in enamelling I'd definitely recommend a visit!

After having a look around Chelsea (couldn't not visit Anthropologie while we were there!) we were lucky enough to have a look around the private view of Desire Jewellery & Silversmithing Fair in Chelsea Old Town Hall. 

 

It was brilliant to see all of the beautiful jewellery on display & to talk to some of the makers there. It definitely inspired me for the future! 

Here are some of my favourites...


Shelley Thomas

(photos from www.shelleythomas.co.uk)

I absolutely loved Shelley's pieces, she often works with found objects, casting them into precious metals or adding stones. It's this contrast which I'm especially interested in and something I'm hoping to replicate in my work! 


Almost Perfect - Rose Cecil

(photo from www.almostperfect.co.uk)

These patinated copper bangles were lovely, definitely one of my favourite colour combinations & I loved the usual texture of them.


Barbara Webster

(photo from Barbara's Twitter)

Barbara had some lovely quirky rings with tiny little sculptures on top, I loved the shape of them and they were very wearable! 

You can see all of the jewellers who exhibited here at www.desirefair.com  

New week. New Techniques - Part Two

[ P e w t e r . ]

This the first time I've ever worked with pewter and I absolutely loved it! The block of solid metal quickly melts under the heat of the blowtorch and can then be poured into a mold.

Not a great photo (its very dark in that corner of the workshop!) but here is the pewter just after being poured into clay. I had pressed the metal shape into the wet clay first to form the outline. As you can see the pewter is very free flowing so can easily spill, but the great thing is it can be melted down to be used again if it does go wrong! 

Above are my first experiments, the on the left was created using the same silicon mould I poured plaster into earlier in the week & it came out lovely and textured but did melt the mould a bit so I'll have to explore this with a different material next time.

Continuing on with the same domed shape I enlisted the help of my tutor Ed to help make a wooden press mould to press sheet metal into. This requires lots of precise calculations which is definitely not my strong point so I was very glad of the help!

This is still in the process of being made so I'll keep you posted on whether this worked in the end or not!

New week. New Techniques. - Part One

This week has been a week of experimentation & trying out new techniques which has been exciting & inspiring and given me lots of new possibilities to explore in my work!

For the first technique I worked with plaster and mould making. I was given some leftover silicon to play with and this is what happened..    

Below on the right is the object I used for casting, from my collection of rusty pieces. I'm not sure exactly where its from but I found the shape & texture really interesting, especially where there are folds and creases in the metal. Its also much more fragile in nature than the photo portrays, which is in contrast to the solid plaster version. 
When I first saw it, the shape reminded me of those brightly coloured flying saucer sweets! 

I'm excited to continue working with this shape and developing it in other materials.

// Hello //

Hi I'm Katy, a Design Crafts student at DMU in Leicester. I'm coming up to the end of my final year and this blog will document my final major project, the lead up to degree show and everything that inspires me along the way! And of course as I continue to make after graduating! 

I work mainly in metal & textiles but often include unexpected materials in my designs and at the moment I'm focusing on creating jewellery pieces. I love anything old and worn, particularly if its really rusty, as you will see from my current project! Neon colours, pom-poms and anything mint green are also a favourite.

I hope you'll enjoy following my journey as I develop my work and hopefully go on to become a designer/maker after university! If you blog too share your site below, I'd love to have a read! 

Katy x 

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