222 Grips for a Stone - Macrame (48-51)

#50 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#51 of 222 Grips for a Stone

I have been thinking about the definition of 'grip'. The term can have many meanings and associations.

grip ¹

n.

1.

a. A tight hold; a firm grasp: a drowning swimmer now safely in the grip of a lifeguard.

b. The pressure or strength of such a grasp: a wrestler with an unmatched grip.

c. A manner of grasping and holding: The crate afforded no comfortable grip.

2.

a. Intellectual hold; understanding: a good grip on French history.

b. Ability to function properly or well; competence: getting a grip on the new technique.

c. Mental or emotional composure: lost his grip after he was fired.

3.

a. A mechanical device that grasps and holds.

b. A part, such as a handle, that is designed to be grasped and held.

4.       A suitcase or valise.

5.        a. A stagehand who helps in shifting scenery.

b. A member of a film production crew who adjusts sets, lighting, and props and sometimes assists the cameraoperator.

#48 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#49 of 222 Grips for a Stone

End of Semester Summary

My first semester in the MFA program for studio was with Professor Gary Markle. Gary is the Head of the Fashion studio at NSCAD and he has extensive experience working in New York in fashion, film and sculpture. He was the ideal professor to work with given my interdisciplinary nature and desire to explore ideas across a range of materials.

Lichen was the launching point for a series of investigations and I represented shapes found within the lichen using paper, the lids of tins and enamel (a whole blog post was written about the enamel necklace here). The pieces also continue to reference my interest in pioneers and the isolation they experienced.

Continuing to explore my interest in women's domestic objects I made some thimbles and experimented combining porcelain with crochet and gold lustre.

Continuing to play with domestic kitchenware I was interested to see what happened when you filled the void with rocks, thinking about sense of place and your ties or attachments to a geographic location. 

Living in Canada enables me to objectively look at my Australian history and heritage. I am interested in how our ties to the past inform our present and I am exploring this through the imagery of cameos, chain and branches.

This final piece is still in the middle of being created. Originally a porcelain tea cup, it has been broken and pieced back together. All attached by a silver chain. Here I am interested in the notions of sentimentality and how we place such importance on fragile objects. 

All these ideas seem quite disparate at the moment although I am hoping to distill their essence in my next semester next year. Its going to be quite the journey! 

Lichen Brooch and Burdock Hair Pin

Along with learning enamelling, I have also been continuing to learn and improve my jewellery making abilities with Pam Ritchie. Pam is an amazing artist who often incorporates unusual materials in her work, such as plastic and found objects and she encourages her students to do the same.

Our first assignment was to make a pin back. Rather than just make a pin back, our class all decided to make an interesting pin back.

I had picked up a beautiful piece of lichen earlier in the week. Given my love of them and their relevance to my work, I thought I would include it in my pin back.

This is what I made:

Brooch with living lichen
3.3 x 6.3 cm

Pin back detail
before the lichen was attached

And our first major project was to create something that was inspired by an image that was chosen in class. The image I chose focused on communication, and also hair. So I decided to create a hair pin, in reference to Geisha. This was the final result:

Fine Silver Hairpins
containing burdock seed

Initially the pins were designed to be empty. But the wires seemed to loose definition when pinned in the hair. So it was decided that they needed to contain something.

Dried burdock seed hair pin

I stumbled across some burdock in a vacant block of land in the middle of the city, and thought that these weeds would be perfect. I see weeds as a metaphor for pioneers, or settlers.

Dried burdock detail

I was also amazed at just how sticky these seeds were. They stuck to my fingers and even plastic (just like velcro)

Green burdock hairpin

 The green seeds were less sticky.

Green burdock detail.

An exciting development with this discovery is that seeds contain so much information. So I see these hair pins containers for information or communication. Originally I was thinking about Victorian lockets and how they do this.....  Im really looking forward to exploring this concept further.

Enamelling: Collaborative Assignment Stage 4

We are up to the final stage where my original piece gets returned.....

I was so excited to get it back to see what changes had been made to it.

One side, the front with a green background and white pull through spots had remained untouched the entire time.

Sam has removed all the enamel on the reverse side and she had covered with a transparent lime green enamel. There were also bits of wire and copper attached using the original holes of the piece. Unfortunately I was too focused on making the final changes that I totally forgot to take a photo. Sam's additions reminded me a little of bark, and I contemplated incorporating some wood to the final piece. But I wasn't too sure that the transparent lime green worked with the deeper blue green of the other side.

So I undertook some more enamel experiments, looking to replicate lichen on the other side. I removed all the transparent line green and used stump grey as the base coat, and a light coat of oriental red over the top. The result was an amazing pull through that also highlighted the textured metal underneath.

Reverse side detail

I wasn't too sure how to finish the piece. Originally I was going to turn it into a brooch, but I felt that it restricted the viewer as to which side they observed (I really liked both sides in equal measures)

Reverse side

So I crocheted a form using the holes in the metal as a starting point. I really liked the void, so I left it a little open, and then crocheted some chain.

Front side detail of crochet

I made a point of making the chain long enough so that it was ambiguous as to how it could be worn.

Front side 

For example, it could be a necklace, wrapped around the wrist, or even inverted and worn on the head.... 

It was an exciting breakthrough for me and I am going to continue to explore this method of working.

Material Matters: Steel String + Wood

Continuing my exploration using wood as an alternative material to creating jewellery I found a stick covered with lichen. Its shape was delightful and I didn't want to cut it up like I had done with previous experiments. 

Wanting to keep the delicate lichen intact, I dipped the stick in resin which gave it a slightly shiny sheen. And looking to work with other metals, I chose to work with steel wire, string and slices of wood to assemble the necklace. 

Also continuing my work with sticks, at the eleventh hour I thought of this fun idea using sticks to create earrings. 

These earrings can be found on my online store. 

Material Matters : Paper Jewellery

I have been playing with paper, pushing boundaries and materials in an effort to discover new ways of working, and ultimately new ideas and concepts for creating jewellery.

Here are some of the experiments:

Stitching paper together using bookbinding techniques (coptic binding stitch)

Holding paper together using string

Dipping paper in resin

Riveting paper (left) and tie dying paper (right)

Constructing 3D forms with paper 

Wrapping with embroidery thread and held together with pins and coral

After many experiments I combined copper with paper and ended up with the following finished pieces:

Burnt rice paper held together with a copper rivet

Detail of burnt rice paper and copper rivet

Torn rice paper, riveted with copper tube, black patina

Torn rice paper, stitched with copper wire, green patina

Many of my experimental pieces would be fun to translate into metal...... all I need is the time *sigh*