Mood Boards

This week, we created mood boards based on what we could see/ find around the various workshops of the art department, taking photographs of certain objects that we found interesting and compiling a few that we had selected to draw. 

We then stretched a piece of A4 paper onto a board and proceeded to begin our first sketches of whatever various items that we had chosen to include on our mood board before adding colour. (Although we had the option to either begin with a coloured background or to add that in later.)

Once we felt our boards were filled to an appropriate extent and accurately recreated, we were given a variety of different choices in which to begin to add colour to our work, giving each board a unique look of their own.

One method was to use powdered ink paints, either mixed with water in a cup and manually painted on, creating thick brush strokes along the paper, or more interesting techniques such as spreading water over a certain area, then to lightly sprinkle the powdered ink on top of it, giving the ink space to spread itself out into interesting patterns on its own, or to sprinkle the ink on first, then dripping water carefully on top of it.

We then finished by writing annotations on the back of our pieces, consisting of what we could do to improve next time, techniques that we had used, equipment we had used, a step by step of how we had created our boards and what we liked about our pieces. 

Pencil Studies: Shoes

We were assigned to create a pencil study this week, based on a photograph that we must take of any pair of shoes from any angle, in any pose. 

For example; 

We then had to re create an image of our selected pair of shoes, but contrary to our last homework, this study must consist of only simple lines, perhaps few fine details, no shading;

Fine Metals: First Project

For our first project in Fine Metals (Jewelry), we created a series of personalized, small copper, silver and brass tiles.

We began by choosing from either copper, silver or brass, depending on the method of adding textures to each.

For example, when using silver it is easy to make a mistake, an expensive mistake. Therefore, we were advised to use copper when attempting to create a more intricate pattern, along with the fact that copper is more resilient and is almost impossible to melt which became useful information once we found that holding fire directly against our tiles within such a close proximity was a part of the routine.

Once the tiles had been held in cold water and returned to a safe temperature, we then selected our own texture (whether it be a leaf or heart patterned piece of material) and laid it upon our tile, and ran it through the rolling machine so that the texture successfully imprinted onto our tiles, clearly and successfully. 

Another method of impringting our own unique patterns/designs into the metals was by covering one side of the piece of metal with duct tape (to protect the plain side from corroding in the acid), then to paint the side of the tile not covered by duct tape with black paint specifically designed to create a layer between the metal and the acid it was about to be placed in. 

By using a scribe, we were able to personalize our tiles by inscribing them with patterns of our choice by using the scribe to scratch off the paint in certain areas, to form attractive looking, interesting patterns/details that made each one unique. 

-Bronte