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! 

[ Weekend away ]

Last weekend I spent a few days in the Lake District with my family, mainly relaxing & not doing much, having a break from uni work. However I did get a chance to take a look around the house my parents are in the process of buying. Its on a area of land at the foot of the mountains with lots of open space. While the house itself is lovely I spent most of my time looking at the old outbuildings, many of which had rusty, worn features!

Rusty hooks & chains on the sides of the barn (which I've already checked out as a potential part time studio, I'd never run out of inspiration there!)

In the woodland behind the house there was also some brilliant fungus & lichen growing on the trees, including this bright orange piece which almost looked like delicate, folded fabric.

These photos remind me of the lovely ones I've seen from Elaine Bolt's Instagram feed before that have inspired me in the past.  

I also spent some time watching this little field mouse below stuff himself with nuts from the bird feeder & managed to capture this picture before he ran away!

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.

Look closer, everything is interesting.

On one of the only sunny afternoons last week I took my new camera out around Leicester looking for inspiration...

Weathered metal.

When you look closer there are many beautiful old buildings around the city & even those that aren't at first glance often have interesting and unexpected details. Above is a pillar from a car park - I love the peeling layers of weathered metal, the colours are something I would love to recreate in my own work.

Rusty post.

Worn nails.

Peeling paint.

What inspires you around where you live?

Rusty Finds.

Since coming back to university in January I've been collecting rusty objects for my current project. In my last project I used an old burnt out barrel my Dad found at the bottom of the garden as my main material and this has sparked a bit of an obsession with everything rust, as you will see! 

My friend Amy's parents have just moved into a new house in the countryside and in the woods at the back there was massive haul of old, rusty objects which Amy kindly managed to stuff in her car & bring back to Leicester for me! If you are interested in contemporary jewellery take a look at Amy's lovely work here.

My absolute favourite piece from this collection is this beautiful, falling apart bike, which had been there for so long it even had a tree growing through it!

As if this wasn't enough rust to be getting on with, me and fellow Design Crafter Alice (www.instagram.com/alicevictoria_textiles) took a trip to visit 'Rusty Rick' a man we found on Ebay who had a very interesting selection of rust covered items! See below for the pieces I chose.

Vintage mole traps, horse bits & pitch fork.

& this is part of the amazing horse bridle (more on this later) with the leather strap and buckle still intact.

I'll be keeping you updated on how I transform these objects so keep a look out! 

Let me know what you think about the rust, do you think its beautiful & interesting or belongs in the bin? I'd love to hear your opinions!