Chris Irick Workshop

Day one of the workshop was today. I learned a lot of really cool things, I'm very glad she was able to come present to us. She mentioned some books in her lecture that I want to check out. I've been inspired to make some rolling plates to texture silver and such. They're definitely a nice way to get texture without etching on that specific piece of metal. I'm really interested in creating a good body of work to sell at the student sale so maybe I'll design a few plexi molds to use for some production work. I love the technique she showed us to get a more frame like puffed shape. Also how we can use things like scrape book tools to get texture. Also, that you can do multi layer hydraulic die forms. Seems decently obvious now that i've heard it but I hadn't thought about it before. Cant wait to keep playing around with what I've learned.

O and don't forget to use tape as a handle when sanding small pieces! I also totally didn't think of this

Spoon progress

The casting of the stick went well, just have to clean it up and all that good stuff. The bird casting didn't work at all, and not only did it not work, the metal went MIA. I have no idea where it went. I don't understand how it disappears but apparently i guess thats what it managed to do this time. I guess i get to re-carve the birds. I'm really running out of time to do this, and I am at a 0% energy level left so I'm not sure when this is going to happen, but hopefully it will.

Pre-Casting Stage

Spoon elements ready to be invested:

A curvy stick that will end up becoming the handle of the spoon

Small Cartoon bird that will sit on the spoon handle

Starting to take shape!

Spoon progress so far:

I really like forging!

Spoon Project

I'm really excited to forge a spoon. I've learned so much about moving metal in metalsmithing this year. The cold forging techniques are really valuable to know and I find them really fun to do. (we'll see if I still say that after the project :P) My idea for the spoon is to have little cartoon-esque birds sitting on the handle. I want it to be more of a whimsical piece rather than realistic. I have this very cool piece of a stick that has a lot of movement that I want to cast for the handle and then attach my forged spoon ladle to it. Hopefully everything works out. I bought laquer to prepare the stick for casting and I'm currently working on carving the birds. So much to do, so little time!

Inget

I poured my first Inget!!!!!!!!! at first I was really scared. It seemed like it was so easy to mess up and I gotta admit  find molten metal a little scary. But after pouring it, I realized its so exhilarating. An added plus was that it came out successful! Here she is:

I honestly cant wait to pour more. It was really fun and challenging.

Now on to planishing!

The final Product

Picture coming soon

Pre-Crit

During pre-crit the main points brought up were to work on the transition from the chased piece to the bezel and to incorporate a more cohesive language between the chain and the rest of the piece. I was kinda bummed to realize that the chain doesn't correlate to the piece. In my thought process that was the main point of making the links triangular rather than circular or any other shape. I do see that there is a bit of disconnect. The disconnect may be due to te fact that the triangles in the piece are isosceles and my chain link triangles are equilateral. I set off to change the links but when I started making isosceles triangles, the links fall very linear which took away from their triangular shape. I'm not sure quite yet how to increase the cohesion. I'm thinking of bringing the texture from the piece into parts of the chain. I put a few isosceles triangles int he chain and maybe I will draw the attention to these links by

Progress

Here is the drawing I have decided to go with:


The chased piece near completion

 Soldered wire onto a thin piece of copper to act as the bezel. It soldered very successfully. I'm very happy with the craftsmanship of this part.

Eye-Wear

My inspiration for this project is eagles. Here are some of the photographs I have been looking at:

I am most interested in the very strong line of their brow. they look really fierce and intimidating. I want to capture those elements in my piece. I am learning toward a monocle. I was also toying with a mascarade mask and a more typical glasses shape but I keep coming back to the monocle.