Animalism Project

This project was based on animalism and how we can take inspiration from animals and make pieces of art from it. So my inspiration were bees & wasps, not exactly animals more insects but I was keen to be influenced by their habitat and what they look like visually. You can see from the patterns on my design that I was going for a honey comb effect which of course is associated with bees. I experimented with different materials and colours. I actually used bubble wrap to create this pattern, just shows how experimental you can be with limited resources.

After creating the honey comb patterns, I put these into laminating pouches were I always inserted wire which holds the shape and structure of the piece. I love wire!! After each pouch comes out of the laminator you can cut and fold each piece into what ever shape you want. I created these cone shapes or varies sizes, colours and I experimented with transparency. These were to represent the wings of bees and wasps and to show that they are very fragile. After creating one cone, I made lots and eventually it developed into creating this structure. I have used wire again to place each cone onto and wire holds the shape very well. As I have made individual cones, it allows the design to take hold of alternative shapes in which you can move all of the cones to show it is not a 'fixed' design.

I think I have been successful is creating a design that is very visually appealing with using the limited resources I choose to work with. Thank you to Flora for modelling and editing the photos for me! This project was one of many many project I have done this year in my first year at art school, I collect my results on Friday so wish me luck!

Kaela x

Tribal War

As mentioned we are also going to show some of our own artwork as well as our fave outfits! I have just finished 1st year at art school in Dundee and it has been one amazing year. I'm hoping Flora will also come to art school in Dundee next year to join me! This was my end of semester project 'Reconstruct and Deconstruct,' so I decided I wanted to work with wood as it was a material I have never experimented with before. As you can see this piece has been inspired by African Tribes, so wood was the perfect material, other materials include bamboo canes, leather cord, wire and this other material that feels like potato sack material haha. 

The circles were drilled out of planks of wood that I managed to get my hands on and this was very fun as I get to work with big machinery in the wood workshop. I felt like such a girl in there as its full of lads haha. I also made different shapes with the wood such as half circles, squares and made a few wooden beads of my own. I bought the bamboo canes at 3ft long which I then chopped up into different sizes and drilled 2mm holes into every SINGLE bit!!! I thought I was going to go insane. 

The structure of the piece is all down to the wire which holds the shape very well. I was able to disguise this as I felt wire was not an appropriate visual aesthetic for this project. The wire also allows flexibility in the pieces to allow you to move and play with other shapes. I had used potato sack material and leather cording to disguise the wire that also gave thickness to the structuring. I have used yellow, blue and orange beads to give the piece that pop of colour that it needs. I feel these colours were appropriate to represent African Tribal jewellery. After cutting, drilling and sanding each circle disc I felt that the shade of it was far too light so I used linseed oil that I rubbed into the wood to give it a far more vibrant colouring to it. You can also see that I covered some of the circle discs in potatoe sack material (sorry will find the proper name for it) to give varies surface textures. Weight was also another important factor I had to consider, and through the development process I was concerned this would be too heavy for the wearer but it turns out it was the perfect weight!

You can see that the piece are made up of varies part all varying in different sizes. I did this in order to be able to layer up the different pieces to create one big statement piece. So that's me finished the General Foundation course that you complete in first year and I'm hoping to specialise in Jewellery & Metalwork Design as my main discipline for 2nd year :) I feel that I have been successful in this project and fingers crossed for my assessment results in April!

Kaela x