3D- Week Two (two weeks): Metal, Glass and Clay

  Today, I worked in the 3D classroom creating a glass mosaic like hot air balloon, a silver hammered bowl, a pot out of terracotta clay and a ring using pewter. 

I decided to work with off-cut pieces of glass and the glass chips using the glass chips to create the stripes of the balloon and using the off-cuts to form the base of the balloon. I think that this was very successful because I achieved all of the curves with the stripes of the balloon and created a textured affect to the balloon part and I have reused the off-cuts from other people's mosaics to form the base of my hot air balloon to prevent waste. I think that the glass chips worked extremely well and formed the curves of the stripes and shape of the balloon itself really nicely however, if I was to do this again I would try to challenge myself more by cutting the glass in a curved shape in strips to form the stripes of the balloon. Only thing that didn't work as well was trying to find off-cuts of glass of a similar size and same colour e.g for the strings of the balloon I managed to find two of a similar width and colour but the one on the left is slightly longer than the one on the right and I didn't want to cut it to even them out because I liked the kind of niche appeal it brings to the piece. My practice could be improved upon by trying to challenge myself and make a mosaic using only off-cuts without knowing what I am making and just see what type of picture it will begin to form as the pieces join up. The only problem I experienced when creating this was when glueing the glass chips down the ones next to it would remain wet and would move slightly making it difficult to keep the shape using the chips without the chips sliding around.

                                         

After creating the hot air balloon with glass I began to make a hammered bowl using a silver plate, hitting it with the rounded end of the hammer. I started by hitting the edges of the metal plate against the metal stump and kept working round clockwise rotating the plate constantly and then making my way slowly down the bowl until I reached the centre of the bowl. I thoroughly enjoyed this process and realised it was a lot more simplistic than what it seemed. I think that the way I slowly rotated the bowl and made sure that no edges curved worked really well because I kept the bowl shape completely smooth without any creases to it, if I was to do this again I would try to hammer a different material such as copper, gold, or even the really strong steel that is normally hammered to make armour. 

                 

After making my hammered metal bowl I began to make a clay pot out of terracotta clay, to start making the pot I took the two strips of wood making sure that every time I roll out the clay evenly at the same thickness. I then use the template to cut out the side panels for each of the pot ensuring that i cut it at a 90 degree angle, once I have cut out the sides I skim along the edges of the left and right hand side at a 45 degree angle, I then scoured away cross-hatching the edges on each of the sides. When putting the edges together I laid the cross-hatched sides against each other and rolled sausages out the clay, then I laid the sausages over the joins between the panels of clay before smoothing out the sausages of clay to make sure it's all secure. I then worked my way round each side securing it all together, before securing the base to the four sides and adding extra sausages of clay to make it a lot more structured. 

After I had the main structure with all the sides I started to completely reshape the pot by remoulding the entire thing only using my hands, I reshaped this pot by smoothing out all of the cracks and edges as well as the rim at the top of the pot. Although this did cause a lot of problems when I was trying to reshape because where the panels joined and I started squishing and remoulding the pot it began to crack and split which meant I had to seal the cracks up using more clay making it a lot more sturdier and solve the problem. After I managed to seal up the cracks and make it stronger I managed to create the right shape and started to smooth all edge to even it all out, the shape I chose was peculiar and I wanted to make it unique and weird so that I could add to it and adapt it to being something weird and funky. I feel as though the shape and smoothness was very successful because I achieved my desired shape and managed to solve any problem that came along. 

                     

To decorate the outside of my pot I designed to add to the weirdness and hand sculpted individual eyeballs all around the pot, I created these eyeballs by rolling a small ball and squashing it down but keeping the outer part rounded. Then to stick the ball to the pot I cross-hatched the bottom of it and the area of the spot I am sticking it to as shown in the first photo, I then smoothed out the edges of the ball so that it's fully secure and is shaped to be more eye-like. Once I had the base done I then added sausages of clay to the top and bottom of the eyes to form an eyelid and give it more three dimensionality and make it seem more realistic. Then to add the detail of the pupil to the eye I created the pupil by making a smaller small and squashing it completely then sticking it central to the eyeball then to add an highlight I made an extremely small ball squished it and stuck it to the eye. I feel as though my technique approach to the eyes worked really well and was successful because they all look realistic and textured bringing the weird element to the piece. 

To finish off the pot I added texture around all edges of the pot using clay and a wooden spatula to smear it as though I was applying paint with a pallet knife. Once I had covered all of the pot I moved on to the lid where I sculpted an eye in the same way for the top of the handle and added texture to the entire lid using the spatula and wetter clay. If I was to recreate this piece I would change how I done the lid and possibly add multiple eyeballs flat against the lid in a circle shape, to add more detail to the lid. Overall I think this entire pot was successful because I achieved the detail of the eyeballs as well as the texture around the entire surface of the pot. 

The final process I learnt about was wax moulding with pewter, my chosen object to make was an angel wings ring in the shape of a heart. The first part I had to do was to mould the wings out of the wax, to mould the wings out of the wax I had to warm the wax in my hands until it became easier to move and shape. Then I flattened the wax and using a scalpel cut it into a heart shape as shown in the first photo, once I had reached that point I began to make little sausage like pieces out of the wax and laid them down on top of the base heart pressing them down slightly so that it is all blended out. After I made the longer strips of wax and laid them down on both sides I began to add smaller oval like pieces to the top to add more detail to the wings as shown in the third photo. 

After I reached the wings all laid down I used the scalpel and added sliced textures to give extra texture to the wings almost feather-like, then I moved on to add the band of the ring to the back of the wings making sure I sized it right so that it fits my finger as shown in the third photo. Now that I have fully moulded my ring I added a little square of clay to the band of the ring so that it would stand up inside of the paper cup, when the ring has been positioned carefully inside of the cup I poured plaster to submerge the ring then left it to dry. Once the plaster had dried I put it into the oven so that the wax would evaporate and melt out of the mould, leaving the wing shape inside of the plaster ready for the pewter to be poured inside. 

When the pewter has been poured inside it will look like the first photo, when I reached that point I took a flat head screwdriver and a wooden mallet and removed the ring from within the plaster. After all the plaster had been cleared away and the ring was revealed, I filed down the ring making it all completely smooth before using the polisher as shown in the second photo to shine up the entire surface of the ring and finish off the ring. One problem I faced when de-moulding the ring was that the band of the ring was squashed slightly meaning that I had to use a cone shaped piece of wood and hit it until the ring re-stretched making it wearable. 

If  I was to do this again I think that instead of making a statement prop like accessory ring I would make it smaller and a lot more delicate to completely approach it in the opposite way. Overall I think that this entire process was successful because I achieved all of the detail, smoothness and shine that I wanted to achieve when creating this ring.

                                                             Final Outcome Pewter Ring