Hey Every one,

So this is how the face project turned out. In photo land it looks pretty cool. However I'm still not completely happy with it. I've come to find that making jewelry is not my strongest attribute. Functional objects off the body seem to come easier to me. Something about wearable artwork has continued to stump me time and time again.
Knowing this I'm considering what to do for the next semester. Part of me wants to revisit this concept, and make an attempt at jewelry once again. However I just love making goblets. Perhaps I can some how join the two. I just don't know yet. Using silicone was really fun for me. It's a challenging material to work with due to it's transparency. Am I up for the challenge again? Absolutely, but to attempt jewelry or goblet is my concern.
This semester has turned up lots of new dirt for me to play with in the future. I learned some industrial processes, used heavy machinery, and worked with new materials. What did I learn... well I learned from my mistakes. But my biggest mistake this semester concerns my face project. I've found that making samples is very important when it comes to jewelry. From now on I challenge myself to work harder on samples, and therefore save time by not having to re-make projects when they turn out different from what I imagined. I'd have to agree with Sarah Holden's comments on sample making. It seem to be one of the most important steps at this point. Perhaps my imagination is to wild, but for some reason, the image I have in my head rarely looks the way I thought it would when all is said and done. This applies mostly to the making of jewelry, but should also be applied to any object. Samples and time management can should go hand and hand. Why bother wasting all the time, if they are ALL going to look bad in the end... Do it right the 5th or 6th time, but just do one at a time, then go on to the entire line. Practice makes perfect.

All in all this was a great semester. I enjoyed working on my projects and as usual I only wish I had time to do it all again. It went so fast.
But hey I'll see you next semester!

signing off for the winter!!! Happy holidays

Lucy

Spinning

Hello everyone,

Yep that's me spinning. Thanks for the photos Frankie!

Spinning isn't to hard really. I did a lot of annealing and I didn't loose one piece. Using 16 gage sheet was a good plan because the lips on each one still look really nice and didn't seem to thin out much, if at all. the 18gage goblets did seem to get a little thinner then I'd like them to be, but I'm going to correct that with a nice wire lip.

My plan...

6 goblets, each representing a person in my immediate family. Because the goblets are virtually identical (well 4 are the same and 2 have a different shape all together but are identical to each other) turning an individual stem will make each one have it's own personality.

the stems will then be connected to black latex tubing and connected in the middle with some new element. Something I'll most likely turn on the lath as well.

Issues: not sure how this connection should look. I see them hanging downward, so i'd like some kind of hook. However, a hub where all the tubes connect could keep thewhole piece weighted to a specific spot. But no matter what, it needs to be beautiful yet subtle. I don't want it to be distracting. Perhaps a heavy weighted object (half sphere?) with some sort of prongs for the tubing to rest on. it's just that it wouldnt hang very nicely then. Maybe I need to abandon the image I have of them dangeling.... but that's hard.

I don't know yet. Any ideas are welcomed.

Lucy

Whoa that's what i'm doing

Hey everyone,


Kinda funny how similar this is to my project huh? I didn't see much information on the link (http://www.theartescapeplan.com/2009/10/sneak-peek.html) but I believe that this was laser cut and or 3d printed. Don't they look like little marsh mellows!!!!
From what I hear this project was at SOFA, and they were transformed into brooches. I'm not certain if this is the display he had at SOFA, but I like the lay out of it.

At this time I'm still considering how to rig up my display. i like how there is an empty image of a hand left over when pieces are bought. However with a face it might not be as recognizable. perhaps the oval shape would look ok. But I think i need to figure out one more element. I've considered putting a picture of my face there, I have the image from my card already set to go. so perhaps that would work. However there would have to be slots cut into it for the rings to fit. I'm not sure how I like the thought of cutting slits into the face image.
And of course there is the issue of time. There's is not much left, so I would like to come up with something simple to make. And I hate to bring it up but money, I don't want to spend much more on supplies right now. This year is kind of breaking my bank between all the rubber, and my intentions to silver plate my next project... Yikes... I'd like to be even a little thrifty at this point.

If anyone has an idea let me know. Right now I'm leaning towards wood. Just solid board that has slits cut into it for the rings, painted black or a nice dark grey color. It would have to be lifted up a bit to leave space for the rings, but it might look neat to see all these circles underneath it.
I'll need to leave a gap between each facial piece in order to leave room for the ring. Some of the pieces are smaller then the ring itself, so there will be some where the gap of the ring will show behind the face piece. this means that each pieces will not be displayed butted to the adjacent face pieces. And that's good because it will give the viewer an opportunity to grab each piece.

Well I'll have to figure it out soon.

Adios

Machines to enlarge the Ears

http://noiseforairports.com/post/243891819/machines-to-enlarge-the-ears


Hey everyone,

Check out these awesome ear pieces. I'd like to try one on to see how well they work. This kind of makes me think about other instruments we could make to aid us in other activities. Machines to enlarge the... knuckles.

this is cool

Lucy

clasp necklace

Though I don't feel like this is terribly interesting in design, it does remind me of what everyone is doing the the Con Fab class. Using a unit repetitively, something perhaps overlooked, in order to make something to adorn the body. I think we can all agree that a clasp can sometimes be the most appealing thing about a piece. I know I enjoy mechanisms that have some kind of interactive quality whether it be a satisfying snap, or a perfect fit. So why not use that as focus of the piece in the first place?

Lucy

the shreader

OK As far as new tools out there goes, where they belong in this world, and their relevance? I introduce to you... the portable shredder.

In a world where people have to shred all their personal information, here is a shredder for a person on the go. Now you can shred any papers at any time! Convenience is an aspect of this project, which I think makes it relevant in today's society. Not only do we have to be so worried about our personal information in terms of identity theft, but we have to be certain that we are prepared for the worst at all times. Is this more important or necessary then, lets say a pocket knife?

he he, I think this is funny. Of course you could use it to cut fringes too... perfect for making streamers!!!!

-Lucy

Billboard Bugs

To promote their exhibition stand at the Franfurt Book Fair, Eichborn the publisher with the fly prepared 200 flies with an ultra light banner.

OK. I'm not for cruelty towards animals or any creatures, but this is pretty neat. I feel slightly guilty about it, but who am I to talk. I casted what were once live ants... so.

It doesn't appear that the flies are harmed at all during this, so hey maybe for our Object Jewelry Sale we could hire some roaches or something :)

I'm not sure how they did this, as the link i found was in German, but it must have been quite a project.

Lucy

Here is some more interesting jewelry. These are made by Sakurako Shimizu. This series titled "Waveform Series" are laser cut shapes of sounds. The first image is of a bell, and she has used other sounds such as giggles, yawns, sneezes, or couples saying he old "I do" This is a good example of another industrial process (laser cutting) applied to an individual series of work.

I really like the idea of capturing something in a piece of jewelry. Mainly a piece of a person because they are made by people, and worn by people. I guess this is why I also enjoy the bio jewelry. My jewelry sale project also relates to this, as I'm selling away pieces of my face. I like the idea of people some how being connected because they all have a piece of the same thing. It's almost like they are in the Lucy Club or something. "When our Powers Combine" maybe that should be the title.
At this point I'm having a hard time with the title.
But I'm anxious to get back to it... so adios.

"A radical evolution from the spit handshake or blood brothers ritual, Biojewlery uses lab grown human bone tissue as a design material. Their intention is to have nuptial rings created from the bone tissue of both people to be wed. Now that the Modern Primitives are growing up, this seems like their ideal wedding band."

Wow, I want one!!

The process begins with bone cell donors. Their cells were then seeded onto a bioactive scaffold. As the cells multiply, the form the shape of the scaffold, here a ring.

Check out more about this at www.biojewellery.com

I've always thought that using a diamond or gold to say "I love you" doesn't really make much sense, and is usually only a financial responsibility for one participant. But Bio jewelry literally gives your partner a piece of you. I think that is an amazing connection to have. Obviously these don't need to be taken into the context of the wedding ring, but I think it works well for that idea.

face mold - jewelry sale

Hello Everyone,

My jewelry sale project is starting to get sorted out. My plan is to

1. make a mold of my face 2. cut it into a grid of squares maybe 3/4 inch or so 3. make a mold of the squares 4. cast the squares in Silicone and 5. attach them to rings (maybe Brooches.... maybe, but I'm really feeling the rings.)

I made a mold of my face this weekend. It turned out pretty good, but I'm going to give it another try this evening after work. I used Algi-Safe (by Smooth On), Plaster bandages, and then duoMatrix Neo (also Smooth On) plaster mix to do the casting. When I try this tonight I'm planning on using brown wax to fill the mold. this way I can easily cut it into pieces with a jewelers saw. We'll see how that works. Hopefully I can get more then one cast out of it. The Algi-Safe was hard to save after the first cast. But, I'd like to have at least two faces. Because I'd like to make a cast of a solid face for the display.

The next step is to make another negative mold of my face that I can use to cast the Sorta Clear Silicone into. For this I Bought a less expensive silicone rubber to use. Silicon will not cure properly in a urethane mold.

I have most of the process mapped out at this point. I"m just considering how to adhere the eventual cubes of my face to the rings. Silicone doesn't adhere to metal, so I'm thinking that if I have a threaded cone shape or something that will prevent the metal from coming out. I can cast them right into the pieces, then screw them onto the ring posts using Thread Lock to keep them in place.

Each piece will eventually be a small cube of my face mold. I'm going to engrave or etch the location of each ring as it pertains to my face. Most likely 1a 2b 3c etc.

I'm really excited about this project.

Tipless

Hey Everyone,

To me this is a good example of what we are doing in class. Now servers might have a more pleasant time bringing you your beverages, knowing that they won't have as much of a chance to spill. Right? Pretty neat.
These are designed by Scott Dennison.

connecting this to my idea...
I'm attempting to make a goblet set that binds people together for the duration. My idea is that these goblets will be connected to each other some how, so that the users will have to stay together while they indulge in their beverage. I'm thinking of using silicone or other urethane rubber to give it an elastic stretch, however I'm not sure how to connect this rubber to the piece in a way that hides the connection. I don't want it to seem easy to disconnect these pieces. I would prefer it if there was not a way to disconnect them at all. the urethane rubber should adhere to it, but the silicone will not.
I'm having issues with the color of the rubber. Silicone comes in clear which is great, but it will not adhere to the metal. The urethane rubber comes in a fleshy color, so does rubber tubing that I was thinking about using as the extended connector. I'm just not sure how I think this color will look aesthetically. I'll have to show you all in class I guess.

Lucy

An Industrial Process

" These forms would be impossible to create by traditional manufacturing methods."
http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/


I thought this would be a good example of using an industrial process to make individual objects.

How these are made is very interesting, and I'm not sure if I totally understand what they are doing.
They created interactive software to morph, twist, and subdivide each design transforming a simple mesh to a complex patterned structure. The final designs are built up layer by layer in durable nylon plastic using Selective Laser Sintering, a kind of 3D printing. They also have forms coated in silver.

To me these are really inviting, and look like they would be squishy and fun to play with. I've always been interested in patterns that represent body systems, and so naturally I'm attracted to this series.

Inspiration

Renee Zettle-Sterling
Material/Immaterial (Orange/White)

In this body of work the wearer is given the opportunity to capture their breath, and see it take the form of on object. The balloon references childhood and the simple delights a children enjoy. She is suggesting a connection between relationship and experience, and our dependency on objects as simulators of memory.

There are a number of reasons that this study appeals to me. At first glance I was drawn to the colors and the framing of the balloons. Once the balloons are blown up they create these amazing organic shapes. Being the fidgety person that I am, I could really enjoy interacting with this necklace.
After further investigation of her series, I found that it is in fact the reference to childhood and playfulness that I am drawn to. These pieces make me smile. It seems like this delicate balloon is protected by these frames. Yet when they blow up, they expand far past the frames and become fragile and vulnerable. I really enjoy this dichotomy.

Who Am I?

Majoring in Art Education as well as Jewelry and metalsmithing has proven to be a challenge in the UW-Milwaukee curriculum. However, as I slowly round the final corners of my school career I've begun to realized how much I've grown since I started, what seems like ages ago.

Due to my enrollment in Art Education I've had the opportunity to dabble in many areas in the visual arts, such as Fibers, Sculpture, Ceramics, Figure Drawing, and of course Metals. Currently painting is my new challenge, and has been a class I've put off for long enough. After the first day I'm not as intimidated as I once was, and look forward to how this class develops.

The Metals program quickly swept me off my feet, I had originally decided to major in Art Education only, but after a couple classes in the metals lab I was hooked. Metal has become my medium of choice, with a strong interest in the process of forming. Currently I desire to investigate the vessel, both formally and conceptually. Introducing new materials to this investigation may be a way for me to find some interesting solutions to my questions. Let's see where this inquiry takes me.