Interesting...

A great thing about the internet is that it's a near never ending source of inspiration, even when it has nothing to do with what I'm currently working on.

Still came across a few interseting articles recently, including this one: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/when-germans-gave-up-their-gold-jewelry-to-battle-napoleon/

The old goth in me loves, loves, loves the matte black finish. And all that piercing! Definitely need to keep these for reference for later...

"Berlin Iron" Pin: Geiss, Johann Conrad, circa 1820. Victoria & Albert Museum. (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115039/pin-geiss-johann-conrad/)

"Berlin Iron" Brooch: Geiss, Johann Conrad, circa 1820. Victoria & Albert Museum. (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115036/brooch-geiss-johann-conrad/)

 

Slowly chugging along

I'm really looking forward to spring break, not because I'm going on vacation somewhere exotic but because I'll be able to get caught up, at least somewhat. I'm getting closer to getting my necklace done for the linkage project and now I'm getting started on the tiara project. Hopefully I get in some samples on the project of choice for the end of the semester, then again there's also a ton of smithery to get to, so who knows right now.

Small Grant Time!

I recently put in for a small grant through the Undergraduate Research Department to study including glowing pigments with vitreous enamels and I am glad to state that I got the grant! I will be doing test samples of the various powders for the rest of the semester and then will do an independent study over the summer where I work on one large glow piece that deals with memory loss. I just got my first set of glow powders in the mail, so very excited to play with these.

Various glow powders being charged under a bright light. The colors represented are, neutral blue, neutral dark blue, neutral green, neutral aqua, neutral white, pigmented red, pigmented orange, pigmented pink.

The same glow powders in darkness after being charged for at least 10 minutes under bright light. Note the colors aren't exactly perfect as I took this with my cell phone. I love the dark blue, it ends up looking more purple in person.

Work in progress...

Photograph references for potential theme.

William Mark, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bills_photomicrographs/

California Academy of Sciences Geology, http://www.flickr.com/photos/casgeology/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14643312@N02/

Potential theme, diatoms.

Diatoms, microscopic algae, while not visible to the naked eye have been extensively photographed through intense magnification and via electron microscopes. They create some fascinating structures and I've been looking at them as a source of abstraction. While they are primarily symmetrical in appearance but studying the images closely you can see small variations in the forms. This could potentially be a good theme, reference point for the semester.

Another potential theme or reference would be electron micrographs or just micrographs in general. I've always been a little fascinated and repelled by electron micrographs. The high magnification makes all items photographed look both soft and geometric, often oddly like they are covered in a thin layer of dust.

Time to do some more research! 

New semester, already getting stuck in with work...

Hello!

   And another semester is underway, this time around I'm taking metalsmithing, senior studio and introduction to wood design for my studio courses. The great thing about being in senior studio is that the last project is a project of my choosing, which is really exciting. We are encouraged to find a theme for the semester, so far I'm weighing my options. I think though if I choose a theme it will be a bit looser than what I chose last time. Perhaps something more based on forms than something conceptual, this might give me a bit more leeway in how I structure my work.