Final Second Life

More from Second Life

I still have more to do, but here's my progress.

Doing this has made me think a lot about an actual display. There are some things that I did a certain way in Second Life because it works better that way or because I have limited building knowledge. In actuality, I think I would by cool cake stands that were plain but nice. Possibly alter them depending on what I find. But have those and like bowls and trays basically tiled with pieces. I like the idea of having a bright backdrop and then white and plain display pieces because my work is so colorful.
This weekend I stopped by the Godiva store to check out how they display candy. It's all these little white oblong bowls filled with candy. It's made me think about the kind of bowls I would want to use. They'd need to be interesting but also be enough of a backdrop.
I like the idea of having a bowl of candy to make it smell nice and be candy store like.
Also, has anyone been to Johnny Cupcakes? T-shirts with cupcakes on them. They have some stores that are like bakeries. I know this isn't the fisrt time this idea has been played up so I will really need to make it fit my style.

Second Life!

Here was my display in second life from Tuesday. I'm making a little bakery for my work.
I added a floor today in class which I think helps make in look more finished, not that it's finished at all. Not sure what I should do about a roof yet or if I should have one? On tghe displays, I have a few cakestands and plates. Next I need to color correct and format some photos and upload them. I might make some trays? I'm going to try and go to Godiva or something this weekend and look at their displays.Here's me sitting at my table!

Branding- Creative Competency

When I got to Ikea, I can get basically anything for my apartment. Little things, big things. I know before I go it will be fairly cheap and it will look cool. I go to Ikea because that's how they brand themselves.



Target is similar to Ikea in that it's a one stop kind of place but its broader. I can get my clothes there, food, etc. And with their "Design for All" logo, I know, from that but also experience, that it will be afforable and good.


I always buy Herbal Essence. It smells good. It will always smell good. Honestly, once they did the package redesign, I wanted to buy it even more.

Droog brands themselves as clever and dry. They are innovative. I know when I go to their website, I'll see things I haven't seen before and it keeps me interested.Josh Jakus is smart, simple, and clever. Mainly uses the gray felt but also he does the placemats with the napkin catch in rubber. His colors all fit together and everything feels like it belongs together.
Apple's brand is so cohesive it's ridiculous. You can always spot an Apple product and that's what they want.
It's my understanding that Chipotle doesn't spend money on advertising? The coloring of their store though is recognizable and they have a cohesive feel. It's also a brand I know I'm loyal too. I do not eat at Qdoba.
Absolut Vodka has a recognizable shape to their bottle. When it was designed in the 70's, it was considered very different. Their ads are good and recognizible. They change their ads only so much which is really smart. You know its them always but in a new way.

I love Simply Orange. When I see their bottle, I want to drink orange juice. I want to drink Simply Orange orange juice. I am so easily swayed by packaging. But really, they make a lot of different juices and their bottle has a good shape and it's clear, which works for them bcasue their juice looks delicious.

Jillian Moore

Jillian Moore is currently having a show at Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco. The piece above is wood and mixed media. The three below are fiberglass.
The color in this one is really nice.

Part of her artist statement: "Their forms are softly curving, bulbous, and juvenile in proportion˜vulnerable. All of them appear to be in stasis, either terminated in transition or seeking our bodies for shelter until a phase of their life has been completed. Their motives are sometimes suspect, but so are ours."
These next three are electroformed and painted.

Andrea Wagner

I really like Andrea Wagner's work. She has a lot of series. This one above is a part of a series of medals to reward yourself.
She works a lot in bone china and she forms and colors are really nice. Go to the website, there's a lot of pictures. She's interested in combining kitsch, beauty, and the disturbing. Cool!

Blogging

So yesterday I was trying to find this jewelry artist I had been telling Dillon about. I didn't remember her name but I did remember that it didn't sound like a really complicated name. I thought I might have blogged about her at some point, but of course, I had not. I spent a decent amount of time going back and forth and up and down lists of the side of blogs, following links until I found this. And then I thought to myself...if only I had blogged about this when I came across it. Jan, what can I say? When you're right, you're right.
Basically, I'm going to try and step it up.

Hey by the way...

So I meant to post t his a while ago....but I've been doing a weekly guest blog post on Annie's blog. It's usually every Friday, so check it out.
Anyways, I've been interning with her, also mostly on Fridays and its been really cool. I've learned a lot of business practices and a lot of smart ways of working. I did Crafty Bastards. I been practicing riveting. Fridays are good days.

Market Research

So I've been searching Etsy for rubber jewelry and I haven't really found much. Mainly I've seen chainmail that's been done with metal rings and rubber rings.

I also found
So this is pieces of bike tire. (click photos to get to etsy shop)

This is a rubber chain. She also goes rubber ties etc. She's my favorite of what I've found. Also really reminds me of Arthur Hash.
This is a resin bead with rubber loops.

Then of course there is Nervous System.
Their silicon rubber is cut by waterjet.

And here is Arthur Hash taking old rubber objects and turning them into jewelry.





I'm having even more trouble finding contemporary filigree work. Most filigree on etsy is vintage beads and findings. Everything not on etsy seems to be like really high end and fancy and for a different generation? I want my production line to be a really fun take on filigree.

AAR for Project Green Object

Sustains
I like my choice of materials. I also think I did well with the time constraints and mapping out my time management. I do like the idea of my project still. I also like the stitching that I did.
Improves
I over thought this project. It was supposed to be a quick thing and I spent too much time making something that wasn't stable enough and wasn't practical for production.
What Ifs
I wish I had made brooches like discussed in the crit. I want to. I could have had a bunch of quick brooches for the crit and I think those would have been really nice and better for production.

Thesis Sketches

These are my initial Honors Thesis sketches. Just met with Jan yesterday so a lot of this is rapidly changing, but this is what I have so far.

BlueHouse

Going to Bluehouse on the first day of Design and Production was really exciting. It was cool to see a company being so globally responsible and with really cool and innovative products. And it's so close by! These are some of the items I enjoyed the most.

How cool is this placemat? It's made from recylced rubber and theres a cutout in it that, utilizing popup technolgy, acts as a napkin ring, so you don't need to buy a separete product or worry about losing them.Bluehouse actually had quite a few felted items. I love the clean lines they all had. It's thicker felt than I have made and all of it had a really sturdy, clean, and modern feel to it. It makes me want to give felting another try.
I think bamboo is a really pretty material. Wood in general is lovely and this is a sustainable alternative that looks just as nice but h as it's own unique feel to it.
I really liked the bike chain products becasue they all felt so accesible to me. They chain segments were welded togheter to create a stationary functional product. It's jsut about finding the right material. So I found that really exciting.

Maya Kini

When at Velvet da Vinci, they gave me a catalog from the New West Coast Design: Jewelry + Metalwork. One of my favorite artist's that I've found from the catalog is Maya Kini.

This piece and the one below are from Kini's thesis show. I love this from her artist's statement: "Words that are the substance of our daily speech but when examined they contain an entire world. It is in this world that the drain resides." The one above is made of cast rubber and iron oxide. The one below is electroformed and enamel.


Above is assorted drains. They are made from gold, copper, and enamel. The one below is a gold drain in an industrial sink. I really love the feel all these objects have. She uses a lot of iron oxide drawings on walls too, in other works on her site. I like that a lot.