A bit of spit and polish..

Well, it's getting there at any rate. I quite like the imperfections so am going to leave them but it needs the patination and wax finish sorted. Looking at notions of the vessel in contemporary ceramics and craft based disciplines eg metalwork, stone and woodcarving. Looking at the vessel in organic forms and the female body, and involving these ideas in my work. After attending the Ceramic Art London 2010 show at the RCA today, I have realised I do not want my work to have that overly polished and perfect look to it. I want it to retain an essence of 'rawness' (of material and assemblage), and for it to reveal the structures that build it. Layers, holes, dips and curves all compliment the form and give insight to the workings behind them.

Bronze casting update..

Bronze pour today - it is HOT! Felt like I was studying archaeology at some points - on a building site next to a volatile volcano the next. Amazing process. Loved helping with pouring the metal and hacking into the investment to release the 'placenta'. Tomorrow we're angle grinding off the airs and runners. Can't wait.

Large installation update..

In between casting the 'placenta' in bronze, working for an artist on a barge, and trying to source somewhere to slump my glass puddles, I have been (slowly) progressing with the installation I've been working on. The general layout is shown in the first photograph. I have cut into some of the stalagmites purposefully to show their fragility, as they are hollow and it reveals how thin they are. I have fired them low to create a crackle in the glaze which also makes them look fragile and delicate. The bottom photo shows them painted with bright gold lustre in an unfired state. I will be leaving some of the stalagmites plain and show them in a group together on the floor. Have been looking at artists that work with bone china, as this material is well known for its fragility and translucency, which are properties I am looking to incorporate in my work to realise my ideas.

Lustred Placentas..

The lustre enables me to draw out delicate details in the form. The 'veins' are creeping into the opening and give the impression that it is living.

Peer Project - A Mundane Week.

These are some of my drawings from the peer project we have been assigned. We decided as a group to base our exhibition around the mundane activities we do every day. I have incorporated my obsessive compulsive interests into my contribution to this group work. I arranged the hairs that fell out during my daily shower on the tiles in the bathroom, photographed them and drew them on small sections of watercolour paper. This involves my interest in turning something grotesque into something beautiful - or at least, more acceptable. There were 7 drawings altogether - one for each day of the week we were recording our mundane activities.

Bronze casting the placenta.

Signed up for the bronze casting workshop and used this as an opportunity to cast this piece, to address issues of craftsmanship and value and how this relates to my work. The piece won't be completed til mid-March. Does this put a higher value on the crafted object? Not just in a monetary sense, but in terms of labour, time, care and consideration put into the piece. This is the wax cast of the object before the investment process. It will go through a range of different processes before becoming the finished, polished, bronze piece. I will be producing a diary to document the process from the initial stages to the finished result. I have left the 'flute' at the top of the wax cast to make it more of a vessel shape. This differs from the slip cast ceramic versions I have made where I have purposely made a hole at the top of the piece to make it more cave-like.

Casting and slumping the placenta.

Carrying on with the 'placenta' piece. The idea is to cast two, but both slightly different. Will be using a lustre on-glaze to draw thin 'veins' over the thicker 'veins' that are part of the form itself. I am still making a 'feature' out of the pouring holes in my work to give the impression of a vessel or a cave. I like to work with the casts that dont come out as planned - if they break or slump over. The last two images show the piece that has been manipulated and worked into by engraving the back with a 1mm drill bit, which will be painted with a lustre in the thin grooves.

Ideas and progression on large installation piece.

Working with the idea of turning things inside out and upside down. Looking at bringing things from the inside (of the body) to the outside. Looking at caverns and caves and notions of space between the objects within a space. Been speaking to another institution about doing some slump glass for the puddles (image 2) that will sit underneath the cocooned wax 'hearts'. Also looking at ideas surrounding fine art and craftsmanship and how casting from moulds contradicts the ideas of creating a piece that is unique. Looking at the subtle differences between each individual piece which makes them different from each other. Have been 'engraving' each individual piece differently to help the viewer realise that they all have slight differences. Will show the progression concerning the engraved lines and the glazing throughout the process over the next week or so.

Snakey Lacey

A sample of 'freestyle' lace - basically lace without a pattern. Used a combination of 3 or 4 simple stitches and varied the distances between the pins to create a very loose piece of lace inspired by microorganisms. Need to do a series of them and figure out a way to display them. Still playing with the idea of displaying them pinned to small domes of sheet metal, but will have to see if time permits..

Studio at assessment

Assessment in January. Some images to show progress so far. Cocooned wax objects, crochet combined with second hand toys, and ceramic foetal forms.