Glass Workshops: Pate De Verre & Lampworking

This week I have taken part in two glass workshops: Pate De Verre and Lamp-working. I feel it is important to carry on with glass work alongside my final weeks of the practice unit as a way to continue to expand my knowledge of the material and learn a variety of techniques in order to decide upon which methods are going to give me the outcomes that I desire. 

Pate De Verre is the art of using crushed glass particles and paste in order to form desired shapes/ patterns, which are then placed in the kilns so that the pieces are able to fuse together. I found the process slow, and rather unenjoyable in comparison to my previous hot glass workshop: I felt it to be a lot less 'hands on'. With this said however, the fired products replicated my desired outcome well; I was able to manipulate the material in the way that I wanted, unlike hot glass which seemed to have a personality of it's own. 

Lamp-working was my next workshop. This process required the technique of heating glass rods and bending and manipulating the heated glass. I found this similar to the hot glass technique, therefore deemed enjoyable, however again it was difficult to produce the desired shapes before the glass cooled and re-hardened again. The common usage for lamp-working is to produce beads, therefore I felt a little resistant towards continuing with this technique, however after speaking to Kirsteen it appears that there are many lamp-workers that produce incredible sculpture pieces, therefore when I have time to experiment further with this technique, I shall be less narrow-minded and more open to the results I will be able to produce over time.  

Outward Facing Brief: Primary Europe Commission Pitch

This week I have participated in an outward facing live commission opportunity with financial company, Primary Europe. The proposal: to design art-work for their new offices, with no brief other than our work would need to feature a red number 1, alike to the one featured in the company logo.

In my first thoughts, I found it difficult to visualise my work in the context of 'space', unsure how I could adapt my ideas to the needs of their company. I wanted to adapt my current work into something that could be suitable for the companies' space, instead of creating a completely new concept. I pitched my commission as three separate wall hanging pieces: layers of my hand-drawn embroidery samples, incorporating the companies' logo in hand-stitch. I explained that the inspiration behind my pieces came from the calming notion experienced when creating the pieces, hoping to replicate this feeling in their busy working environment of Manchester's city centre.

I found the pitching experience very enjoyable; I can usually be quite nervous when speaking in unknown situations, especially as this was my first experience of pitching outside of the comforts of University walls, however now that I am participating in more externally speaking projects, I feel I am becoming much more confident. I have never created visualisations, worked with external clients or had to produce a budget before; learning this now has given me a better understanding of information that external clients need when proposing commission pieces. As well as this, the project has allowed my to realise I am able to adapt my work into a new context of space.

I have been accepted for this commission and am now looking forward to the making and installation processes of this experience.

Royal College of Art: Work in Progress Exhibition

Visiting the Royal College of Art's School of Material open day with a fellow student was a very enjoyable experience. I am interested in applying to the RCA for my masters degree in the near future after visiting lecturer Fiona Curran recently presented the possibilities of studying at the RCA in our weekly meeting. The Work in Progress exhibition featured work from a combination of faculties: textiles, ceramics, glass, fashion. It was enjoyable to see how the different faculties were able to fit together.

"Without the formality of the Graduate Show or the pressure to conform to the protocol of the catwalk, the Work-in-Progress Show offers a freedom to experiment with modes of display that challenge convention"

It was interesting to see the work of the textiles faculty, especially with the standards ultimately the next stage of education. I was attracted to the presentation of the work, a lot of the students opting for large scale mood boards pinned to the walls: allowing spectators to engage with the thought processes of the units. Being such a small course, I realised quite quickly that the mixed media textile world featured a lot of embroidery work, using similar machinery to those that I have been using over the duration of my own course. This really excited me as I could imagine myself fitting well into the course.

RCA Work in Progress Open Day Exhibition: own photography http://www.rca.ac.uk/

The glass piece (above left photograph) was my favourite piece in the exhibition. The scale of the piece, minuscule, using similar patterns to those that I have been creating in my drawings and that I am trying to replicate through my own glasswork. The technique used by this student I think, was lamp-working; I am going to ask in my glass tutorial next week to see whether I am able to produce these patterns in my own samples.

Glass Worshops: Hot Glass Induction

First day back to university and straight into my first hot glass induction with Kirsteen. Learning the skills and methods of glass blowing, sculpting, twisting and stretching, as well as the safety regulations for being in the workshop; it has been an extremely enjoyable day. Hot glass is a very interesting substance to work with: you have to be able to work quickly and use both of your hands/ arms simultaneously, something that I feel I was able to pick up quite quickly. I feel that glass blowing is not a technique that will suit my sampling process: I find the results to be too large scale and obscure, unable to control the shape that is being created. I am unsure at this stage how I would be able to adapt the process of glass blowing in order to recreate my small, delicate embellishments.

In reflection of this first session, I feel positive that glass is a material that I will be able to in time feature in my own practice portfolio, through experimentation with different techniques. Returning back from our Christmas break and only having three weeks in glass I understand that there is not a lot of time until our deadline date, however being given this opportunity to learn and ultimately attempt to incorporate a new material into my work is exciting, and something that I shall most definitely be continuing with after our practice deadline and during our unit x project.

Outward Facing Brief: New Design Britain Awards 2015

I have entered my beaded embroidery samples into the New Design Britain Award 2015, taking part in the category of 'surfaces'. The brief asked for an overall short evaluation into the inspirations, processes and possible context that could be explored through my sampling. With a very short application deadline, I enjoyed the fast pace of having to decide which of my photographs and parts of my written statements would suit this application best. Entering into different outward facing application processes allows me to think more broadly about the contexts that my work can be adapted to, in order to fit into an external setting.

http://www.maydesignseries.com/Content/New-Design-Britain-Awards-2015

Incorporating Embellisments & Placement Opportunity: Sarah Willard

Throughout my research stages of this unit there has been an obvious influence provided from haute couture embellishment and embroidery techniques. Similarly to my previous methods of working, beading is a laborious exercise that requires a lot of patience and a lot of time: to things that I do not have in the final weeks of this practice. This said, I have incorporated embellishments into my samples: the beading reflecting qualities of texture and movement into the pieces.

Reflecting on these samples, it is certain that they are created for a fashion context. Working with white-on-white materials, stitching and beadwork, it offered influence that my work could fit quite nicely into wedding design, an area that I had never really thought about, until producing these pieces. Taking this into account, I have recently contact couture wedding dress design, Sarah Willard, and been offered a work placement opportunity, in order to learn the basics of couture embroidery as well as the placement of embroidery onto garments. I feel that this opportunity will further allow me to investigate into the exactly direction that I would like to head into once graduating. 

Designer Research: Regine Ramseier

Regine Ramseier is a designer that I came across during last year's Unit X programme; I feel that her work is suitable for my current research also. Working with concepts of multiples and organic forms; I feel as though I can take inspiration from her pieces. I am primarily drawn to her Dandelion installation; thousands of flowers hung in a space, using only the elements of light and structural installation as a pathway to her work. An uncontrollable colour palette is produced, mostly off-whites and creams, however constantly changing by the light. In comparison with my recent beading samples, I also rely upon light catching the iridescent colours in my piece, in order to give the embellishments a little more interest. Secondly, the use of repetition can be found in my work also, throughout my portfolio- drawing, sampling, cut-work. Installation is a newly found interest in terms of the context of my work, therefore seeing a piece that holds the same colour, form and shape qualities is exciting.

Left: Regine Ramseier: http://www.regineramseier.ch/, Right: My Beadwork Sample