Artworking; August-September 2022
Jewellery making obsession meets shelfing making obsession
Come with me, gentle reader, as we scroll down the page tracking the creative barnstorming of August-September-October. I’ll tell you all about it…
MY new product idea: an home décor decorative object, an interior design accessory for putting on shelves & such. Various ideas around quatrefoils & ornaments
My blank, cut from 6mm MDF on my little scroll saw, coated with ber-jiggedy amounts of lacquer so its shiny.
Make a silicone mold
Made a decision to make these in Hydrostone, a ceramic like plaster. Such a pleasure to work with after all the resin I’ve been pouring for jewellery; it is non-toxic, water based, biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, absorbs carbon & eventually becomes carbon neutral. As hard or harder than ceramic without firing, so no kiln is required so energy is expended there. It air dries. Feels good
The surface comes out exactly like the blank, nice & shiny, these ones with gold leaf inclusions. My initial intention in casting these were for this gold leaf inclusion but it wasnt enough, they were lacking the thing. So I went on to make ber-jiggerdy amounts of casts & being me, applied too many ideas.
Boring
Wondering what the hell I had been thinking. But I’m too invested in time & materials so I go on, on…
Fabric! This is Etro silk
Making another mold for more decorative ornaments so I can make UNLIMITED ORNAMENTS
Lots
Then swerve over to first principles: gilding
Yeah. Good.
Tassels!
Yup, making them totally gilded is hard to beat, in my book, which this is
Reworking the textured piece, lovely oil paint & wax patina
But then again… gorgeous fabric!
Why thank you, I made it myself
Covered in Lady McElroy fabric. The quality of print & fabric base is so good
Think: sexy Tom-Ford-era-Gucci with the bamboo & tassels
Nice. Clean.
Expanding the enquiry, visiting the ‘pottery’ aesthetic, which is not really me but it’s a very popular look; most of the shelfings on Instagram are pottery (ceramics, but said in a judgy way) so I’ll have a look at it. Where the market goes, there I stumble toward
Hang on a minute…
I’ll Rosie it! Yes, this I can work
That mint green is pretty tasty
The back face is very pottery. I like it. Could even call it ceramic
Then I took some to my first market stall, to gauge market reaction. Findings: no one asked.
But everyone agreed that it was a slow day. The other regular stall holders said don’t worry, it was slow today for all of us. That was nice of them.
Vintage Murano glass pendant. So luxe
Beautiful little doggy. Name of Brian.
Getting shit together for first market. I had the styling well worked out so I knew exactly where to put things when setting up on the day. Crucial to have this arranging done prior to arriving at 7.30 on a Sunday morning
Probably the biggest lesson that came from this first market experience, is that I can talk to people. They don’t want a conversation too much, they just want to know a few sentences worth of information about the jewellery. And I could do that. The next market will be on the 13th November. I’m going on holiday for the next two weeks & I think a good portion of that time I can spend worrying about the next market. No, that’s not true. I wasn’t really scared, just anxious & stressed, it was a lot of work to set up & the prepping phase in the studio was intense. I was very organised & paid exhaustive attention to every detail. So many little things to organise & remember. I’m apprehensive to do it again because I know it now & can therefore be more factual in my anxiety. But talking with people was ok, which has surprised me. I think my love for the product is such that I’m only too happy to share it with people. Anyone. I just dont like it when they touch my stuff, then give me money & walk away. With my stuff.
I’ll just keep going on & moving forward with this, I’ll leave this image overload of a post here for now and bid you, dear reader, sayonara until next time.