Trying Something New

So my boxes are just about done. Waiting for my big F to go away and my boyfriends pinched neck nerve to subside so we can put the last three backs on and I can paint them. Hopefully, we will get them done tonight.

Since my boxes are done I decided to try my hand at an idea for a ceramic anchor sculpture. I used a 20lb anchor and about 32lbs of plaster. It is the biggest heaviest thing I think I have ever made, and it was not 100% successful.

Turns out all the poking and prodding to remove the anchor from the plaster left huge gaps between the mold pieces. So I tried building the clay body like a slump mold and sticking it together with tons of slip and clay chunks. My Frankenmold is now drying. In a few days I will know if all of this back breaking work and money was worth it. I'm feeling like it probably wasn't, but at least I've tried. It has also made me realize that I physically cannot handle such large objects. So back to the drawing board with that idea. I think for now I will stick with my necklace boxes.

Next week is Thanksgiving and the last week of studio time for school for me. I've been busting my butt to get everything done for shipping, as well as, a few weeks time to rest my poor beat down body.

Seven Boxes in Five Months

The work I have been doing for the last six months is almost complete! At this rate I will have it done by my deadline of December 1st with corrections as well. The boxes were surprisingly difficult and time consuming. The backings look great but they each had to be tailored to the specific box it would be attached to. Overall, I'm really happy with the end result. There are many future possibilities for this series as well, but for now I need a break! So here it is, 7 boxes in 5 months...

The colored glass beads have writing on them, but the picture is too small to show that detail

flash so you can see the crushed velvet.

same box different lighting

crochet

cross-stitch

Quilt. I restitched with thicker white so you could see the quilting.

Land of the free.

Weave

Scrapbook flag has had a few reworks and it is at a stage where I'm going to start constructing and completing it.

Once The Paint Dries!

Well I'm surfacing for air finally! Papers are done and projects are coming to completion! So it's time to put some pictures up. I was planning on completing 5 of the boxes today, but my dog had a medical emergency that has taken my whole day. He should be back home tonight though and I can complete the 5 boxes tomorrow before seeing my mentor on Wednesday.

My third paper was about how the work of Rosemarie Trockel and Elaine Reichek use feminist art to create institutional critique. Studying these artists as well as some basics on semiotics helped me come up with the text in these pieces. Some of the writing is much more subtle, but every word was researched and decided upon very deliberately.

I may display the boxes on the floor in a similar manner. They all have holes to mount them on the wall as well.

The rebar is labeled, "honor, courage, commitment" 3 Navy Core Values

The centerpiece complete.

crochet stars (still needs to be ironed so the star centers show better)

Cross-stitched forget-me-nots and a common military phrase with loaded meanings

quilted star complete.

The centerpiece, a pillow with the medal and ribbon attached and iron on transfer.

close up. If you look closely "land of the free" is quilted into it.

Beads. See below for explanation...

 So I had a major meltdown with the ceramic bead box. Specifically, the beads. I fired them without thinking about the shrinkage rate of the stringing holes. Once fired the holes were too small to stilt again for the second glazed form. Fixing the problem would take too many man hours and I had already spent over 80 hours making the 2,140 beads. So I did research and chose Czech drop beads. They have a long history of disrupt due to wars, but continue to be made in Czechoslovakia despite the adversity Czech bead makers endured. Not only that, but they are the exact shape and size to match the ceramic beads I had initially created. 

That's all for now...