Preserved Moments in Time photo pieces

Domestic Paradise project

January/March 2011

I realised I was running out of projects to experiment with and I just had to base one on rocks and minerals. The structures fascinate me, its like random complex geometry...

I wanted to produce a piece that wasn't jewellery.

As the project title was domestic paradise.. I was thinking about my past. I produced a video tape with a tonne of very small photos stuck on the actual tape of the cassette. This then brought me on to looking at the photos and how I could make an interesting photo frame/holder.

This is a CAD (computer-aided design) render I produced from looking at minerals. I actually was about to make the back frame but just as I was about to make it I realised in this picture it was taking away from the photos, so I discarded that idea.

I made the photos into mineral shapes. They are amazing when held up in light, so instead of a wall piece they would be better hung up infront of a light.

I kept the shapes of the photos the same as in the CAD image. They were hung up on a wall in this photo of them. I took the photo from the side to show the 3D - mineral like quality.

They are meant to be angular and 'rough-cut'.

As you can see for what the piece is about, it is a really personal piece. I don't need to delve into why though as that is only important to me.

In future I want to come back to this project and see how I could make it into jewellery.

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Chape Pendant

Research Project

November/December 2010

This piece was based on a roman chape that I drew in Dundee McManus Gallery.

My design revolved around this piece of ebony wood that I carved and sanded. I liked the shape so much I wanted it to be the centre piece of my design. By keeping the chape form in mind, I created a case for the wood to sit in. Then made the chain and surprisingly I really enjoyed making the chain, there is a sense of achievement when it gets long enough.

The piece falls to your stomach. The pendant itself is between 40 - 50 mm in height.

This is one of my favourite pieces. Even my classmates and friends said it was "so me". It has a sharp elegance about it that I love. I am also fond of the silver/black contrast.

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Knife Crime and Computer Game Brooches

I'm going to revise my projects that I completed this past year.

To begin with:

Narrative project

September/October 2010

I'll admit my outcome did not do the knife crime concept any justice. I think because the subject was so big and strong I wasn't able to project a big and strong piece. I didn't want to glamorize knife crime. I could have made a very sharp bold piece of jewellery but I didn't feel it put across the fact that I was against knife crime.

I got a creative block halfway... then I brought in computer games as I enjoy them, yes even violent ones...

(table showing crime figure decreasing when games were released. I don't know where this was based though)

(This was what I asked friends regarding computer games)

Then I got lost and couldn't work out what I was trying to show. I ended up making to very obvious brooches.

I think I made them small as well because I wasn't completely confident with them.

However I did like how I put the brooches on display. I felt the titles "RESTART" and "RETHINK" put across what I was trying to show in these brooches as well as the separate write up:

"In a game you can begin again if something has not worked out for you. With real life you can not erase what you have done. While building up knife crime numbers, not only does violence cause physical pain for the victims, it causes emotional pain for others. "

After completing this project, I realised in the short space of time I was trying to tackle a very complex subject and was not able to research it enough.

In a jewellery sense, I also realised I was making too many brooches and not other types of jewellery and that I needed to make things with more confidence.

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