Fitting the Arduino housing to the lilypad.
Posted: May 30, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
As precise as I have tried to be, it still wasn’t precise enough for the parts of the Arduino. I have dremeled the hole to just fit the heat sensor and allow it to sit flush with the base of the housing. This is because it was not powerful enough to feel the heat of the hand from above the hole. I am also working on the top of the housing and the medal too, to give them a snug fit.
Raku results.
Posted: May 29, 2014 Filed under: Context, Subject | Tags: arduino, arianrhod, art, cardiff school of art and design, celtic, ceramics, design, light, mabinogion, student Leave a comment
These are the beautiful results of the raku kiln I did today. I’ve used a white crackle tin glaze with a copper matt and a copper glossy glaze. The matt I had not used before, the results are better than I expected them to be. The colours could have been more vivid if the flames were fanned for longer, but I wanted to smoke them for the white crackle to develop. If I refired them I could improve the results, but as I have decided not to use them as the final piece I will not be doing that in the time I have left.
The copper gloss glaze has come out better than I could have hoped for. I wanted the purple and blue to be prominent as they are the colours associated with the celtic deity Arianrhod. I chose to put the copper on the bottom because it has texture that will be unexpected and cannot be thoroughly looked at because of the design. It keeps the mystery of the Celtic deities and reminds us of the unknown.
Finishing the lights.
Posted: May 29, 2014 Filed under: Subject, Uncategorized Leave a comment
To finish the lights I have decided to burn them again, this time using the forge. I have simply held the flame over the parts of the light I have worked into to remove the shine of the metal.
And repeat.
Posted: May 28, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, metal, student, welding Leave a comment
Some of the pictures from planning the second light. Although they are a pair I have decided that I want them to be slightly different as this will prompt the viewer to take a second look as their eyes attempt to work out the differences.
First Light.
Posted: May 27, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, metal, student, welding Leave a comment
This is the first finished light of the pair. All that is needed now are hooks to be fixed to the light in various places to enable it to be hung in different ways. I also want to burn the metal again where I have left the marks of making. I think this will give a better finish as it will make the piece darker, and the marks from welding and filing the metal will be gone.
I am happy with the result, I think the form works because there are less rods holding it together and the way they have been joined in an almost random fashion creates more interest as the onlooker will not notice all of the features at first glance.
Creating the first light.
Posted: May 23, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, student, welding Leave a comment
The first step was to put the light bulb holder into the  spring, I decided this was something I wanted to do after playing with the form of the lights. I have chosen not to pursue my original idea, because the form of the light was not working as an art piece, it was simply too bulky and messy when all the components were put together. I still want to incorporate the springs into the light because I think they add interest around the bulb, and the form of the spring is something that interests me. Choosing how to fit the spring bulb holder into the light was relatively easy, it depended how it fit better into the inner shade of the light.
Deciding where to cut the inner shade took a lot of commitment too, as I had to be sure of what I was creating before the first cut. I also had to remember where the pieces would join again. Although I am creating something quite figurative I am also working in quite a precise manner, which is a change from the beginnings of this artefact where it was all about playing around with the forms and simply doing what looked “good” and what didn’t work for the piece.
Visualisation.
Posted: May 22, 2014 Filed under: Ideas, Subject, Visual Studies | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, manipulation, metal, student, welding Leave a comment
Its hard to know how the light will look when it is created because there is a lot of material I am planning to cut out to make a less bulky design. I have found creating drawings in this way really useful to help me plan where to cut the shades and join them to one another. I have simply washed out the images and drawn over the pieces I plan to keep, although it is only two dimensional it is the closest thing to actually having the cut materials in front of me. I’m sure that these drawings will be useful too during the making of the lights as I can refer back to them to know how I have planned to reconstruct the artefacts.
Experimentation.
Posted: May 21, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, manipulation, metal, student Leave a comment
I’ve been experimenting with the forms hung up. This is definitely the direction I want to be going in. It also seems that having the lights suspended above one another is also more appealing than slotting them together. It doesn’t look as “thrown together” and it has more of a thought out look.
I feel that they are still too bulky. The lights work where the curves of one of the lampshades come out of the outer one, but they do not sit well inside. I now need to decide where to cut the lampshades to make them fit together more smoothly. I feel this will mean they are also less bulky.
Back to basics.
Posted: May 20, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, metal, student Leave a comment
I have taken away the springs, for now (and maybe forever) to give me a clearer view of the forms I am creating. I feel that these pieces work well as “halves,” so they have two of the lampshades, but they don’t work very well as a whole piece. Currently, I want them to be a pair that can fit together. I think these have potential, But it’s all about finding the right balance. They still look too “heavy.”
Adding Materials.
Posted: May 15, 2014 Filed under: Subject | Tags: art, cardiff school of art and design, design, light, metal, student Leave a comment
Developing the form. I have added two more lampshades to the concept, but first I have chosen to burn off the plastic coating because of the glue marks and I think it will be easier to work with if they are both more of a natural colour.
Alice's ArtVenture 
