Dizzy Lizzy

Opening, website, etc!

2009-04-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

My website is now up and running! Check it out. More pictures needed to be added to the Gallery section. And eventually I'll have a blog on there and all that stuff. But its up!

The opening reception for my, Karen's and Jo's thesis show is Saturday May 2 6-10. That's this Saturday. It's in the Towson Commons Gallery, by the movie theater. If you're in the area, please stop by. I can't believe it's almost here and I can't believe it's almost over.

Secret Poem!

2009-04-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have a cousin named Helen and she is awesome. She is one of my favorite people um, ever. She's in her freshman year at college and is an amazing writer. And she has a poem about secrets!!! Since she's awesome and like my favorite, she's letting me post it on my blog!

Secrets, Secrets

Cady has a secret, and she keeps it in her pocket
Or sometimes tucked behind her ear or safely in her locket
She often puts it in her palm, it glows and glitters there,
And the oftener she looks at it the more she wants to share.
So one day on the playground, Cady sneaks behind a tree
She breaks her secret into two, then breaks it into three.
She passes pieces to her friends, they oooh in admiration
But Cady soon forgets her fleeting feelings of elation.
She somehow hates her secret now, and doesn’t want it more
When taken out, it fails to shine and sparkle like before.
And so she stuffs it out of sight and tries hard to forget
The fragments scattered through the class
One face, lined with regret.
Time passes, and she can’t recall quite how it used to glisten
She has no secrets any more. No one wants her to listen.

She has a bunch more great ones on her blog.

Creative Caffeine

2009-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

These are my tomatoes. all wrapped in gauze, bandaids, and thorns!

Good Websites

2009-02-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

Biba Schutz's site has easy navigation. The website is clear, and the design looks nice.

Lynette Andreasen has a blog at blogger. I think she does a good job of making it her own. She work is the first thing you see when you go to her blog and it's a good picture and it makes me want to see more.

Margaux Lange's site is visually pleasing and easy to navigate. I think easy naviagtion is really important. The different sections are clearly listed nad she also has a large photo of her work so you know right away if you want to see more. You don't have to search just to get an idea.

Kate Cusack has a very clean site. Once again, easy to navigate. Clean, clear, effective.

I go to Design*Sponge a lot. There's a lot of caetgories on the side, mak ing it easy to navigate through past entries. The overall design is reminecent of an office desk. I like to think its representative of her actual desk.

This is one of the alumni's, Eliza Mundy, website. There are three links at the top, all of which navigate away from the site. I think its good that she has this front page to connect her different links. It showcases her work well and the overall design is very cohesive and matches her work. I think its a really good front page.

Diem Chau's website is very clear. All the links are at the top. There is an image to focus on. You know what you're getting form the first page.

Melissa Huff

2009-02-16T07:04:00.001-08:00

I think Melissa Huff uses elctroforming in a neat way. She eletroforms in a way to create recesses in the form, and then enamels flush with the high area to create a champleve surface. Neat idea, and cool piece.

Sarah Obrecht

2009-02-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

I found Sarah Obrecht in Maria Phillips section in the Pendland Book of Jewelry. Very lovely work. I don't know that all of the images here are of electroformed peices, but I picked ones taht might be and that I like either way. The above image is electroformed.

She uses a lot of polymer clay to provide color to her work.

I think the one above mioght be electroforme,d but its not listed as such. The detail shot below makes me think it is.

Electroformed Work

2009-02-03T07:14:00.000-08:00

This is a piece by Valerie Mitchell that is electroformed and enameled.
This is a electroformed peice by Shana Kroiz, who teaches over at MICA.

I actually had trouble finding electroformed work from artists oevr than the ones Jan mentioned. But here's a few of the artists taht she mentioned that I really liked.

The next two pieces are June Schwarcz. I can see exactly what Jan was talking about with the nodules, but I think she uses them in a really interesting raw looking way.

This is a piece by Dennis Nahabetian. He creates form out of copper mesh and electroforms it for stability. They're beautiful.

Maria Phillips' electroformed and enameled pieces. So cool.

Thesis Work

2009-02-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend Karen and I pulled out the light box, and with the help of Nick, we took some preliminary photos. The light box is awesome. It was really neat to see how even the light came out and try it out. These pieces weren't quite done, but it's nice to have these progress shots. I'm really happy with these.

Trying out the light box turned out to be good for another reason. The ridiculousness that is this light box continues because one of the light fixtures is in European voltage. It's uh...being handled.

Micheal Glancy

2009-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

Micheal Glancy was originally trained in glass and then took a metals course where he learned about electroforming. Since then, he's been combining materials and electroforming over top of his galss sculptures. I couldn't find much of a web presence for him, but here's his wikipedia page

Final Second Life

2008-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

More from Second Life

2008-12-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-29T11:52:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-10-28T09:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Silvia Walz

2008-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

I like Silvia Walz's peices for their lacelike quality. The piercings were done while studying plants and I like the effect that it has. The enamel is heavy to create a covered in snow effect.

Julia Turner

2008-08-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Also saw Julia Turner at Velvet da Vinci, but I know I've seen her before. Her work is absolutely lovely.
I love her use of wood in her work. The wood looks really beautiful with the metal. I think she uses the materials in really complimentary ways.

I love the African blackwood that she uses in the peice above and the two below. It's so strinking with the gold in the one above.

This one above I think is really unique. Its made of wood, 18k gold, and glass head pins. I like that she carves the wood to resemble a faceted stone, but that the facets aren't pefect and the stone maintains a lot of character. The glass head pins are placed un-uniformly and reminds me of pearls, like on an older brooch where some have been lost.

Turner uses Italian marble in some of her pieces. All the ones pictured on her website are in rings and I think the seetings are unique and interesting.

Katy Hackney

2008-08-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

So I just got bakc from California, which was really awesome. I went to Velvet da Vinci and saw a lot of really great stuff. I liked Katy Hackney's work. It's a lot of stylized graphic branches and fun patterns and colors.

This is a brooch by her with the stylized branch I mentioned. Many of her peices at Velvet da Vinci had that branch shape.

This brooch is made from vintage formica, plywood and silver. Many of her peices on her website use vintage formica and I think that it makes each piece really fun. I think that is an good way to get color and pattern in jewelry and I really like the way the silver looks with the formica background.

This is really long.

2008-07-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

I know I said I was going to kept posting over the summer...So two months into it, here's a post!

This summer has been semi hectic, becasue my family is selling our house. Unfortunately, my camera cord is packed away somewhere unknown, so I can't share the quite colorful before and quite bland after picture of my room. But once I can get to that, I'll post it!

I meant to post about Peter's Valley as soon as I got back, while I was still on a Peter's Valley high, but I got back like 2 weeks ago, though I'm still very fond of the place. I made Damascus steel! It was so cool! Once again, I wish I could post pictures! I worked in the blacksmithing studio and it was like the coolest thing ever. It was just such a completely different experience than I've ever had. At first I was disappointed that I wasn't doing a fine metals workshop, but I'm really glad I got placed where I did. The blacksmithing studio was a really great environment, and everyone there was just so helpful and welcoming. I was definitely nervous going in, especially becasue I had no previous blacksmithing experience, but the people were just so great, and I recommend Peter's Valley completely to any of you guys.

My instructor, Neil Kessler, was fantastic. Go to his gallery link for examples of really cool Damascus steel. I did a five day workshop, and it was so fun and rewarding. Man, I have never been that tired and sore in all parts of me before, but it was so worth it.

Right now I just have bars on Damascus steel. I want to make jewelry out of them, but I'm not exactly sure how to approach this, especially because most of the studio tools are not to be used on steel. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I'm also working on how to work some of it in to my honors thesis. I have some ideas for that and I've done some development of it, but not enough to be ready to share.

In August I'll be up in Towson again, working till 5 on weekdays and then spending my evenings in the studio, making production work for club sales and developing my thesis. But before that, I'm going to California for 2 weeks starting Saturday!! I'll mainly be in the bay area, but I'll be going a little South of there. I'm going to go see Velvet da Vinci while I'm there, so hopefully, when I find my camera cord, I will just have so many pictures to post on here.

This post got ridiculously long. I apologize.

Miranda Meilleur

2008-05-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

I was reading the ICFF show coverage by DesignSponge and saw these by Miranda Meilluer. All the delicate peircings are really beutiful. Seriously, I really love her stuff.

I wish that I could find a more complete picture of this bracelte, but I really like what I can see of it!
That spoon is awesome.

Brand Yourself

2008-05-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

This was a fun one. I think branding and marketing is so interesting, b/c we all know how there's so much marketing and commercials out there, but seriously. There are so many little things that are done through marketing that it's hard to notice them all in this consumer culture. Ads, brands, logos. There are everywhere. They're all over campus on the sidewalk in chalk. And I think it's often easy to disregard things like GO TO CAMPUSVIXEN.COM as just another college student, an innocent plug, but people really get paid to do those sorts of things.
OK back to the article. I pretty much just agree with it. But I think it's a hard thing to do, to brand yourself and figure out who/what your market is. At least it would be for me, but I don't like categorizing what kind of music I listen to--makes me a little uncomfortable? I feel like I constantly redefine what I think of myself as, and well, having to commit to a brand for me to tell people publicly on at least a semi-large scale? What if it changes really soon? I'll need to get new business cards. And clients.

What is Product Design?

2008-05-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

I liked this one a lot. I liked the timeline-it was helpful to get that visual. This article talked a lot of about different periods in design, which coincided nicely with my History of Modern Design class this semester. It was cool to read about that in another context, and I'm sure that that will happen again. The reading asked a lot of good questions. Some of which I feel like I'm already trying to figure out. I liked that. This reading had a lot of good quotes. So I'm going to list them?
"Product life cycles shorten as fashion and technological improvements affect our product selection criteria. How can we create in more innovative and challenging ways to embrace new social trends?" Haha what a great question. The answer is harder.
"Is it a designer's responsibility to be designing for our future and to find new and effective ways of producing what people what?" I wouldn't say that it's a designer's responsibility to figure out what people will want in the future; however I think they might want to make it their responsibility if they want to be successful and come up with the idea first.
"An object becomes a desirable product when it gives the appearance of having improved functionality; additional cultural meanings or additional processes in design or production create an increased demand for a product. Demand requires improved production methods to enable adequate supply."
"The quest for individuality and mass appeal will always be the designer's focus, with an everlasting note to self-keep an eye on the present, understand the past, and look towards the future." That's a little daunting, but makes sense.
I really like the disposable mobile phones! I had never heard of that before. The things people come up with...How cool!

Skin

2008-05-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Skin was an interesting read. I liked that they defined the differences between 3-d modeling software. It helped me understand Rhino better. "[Cartesian] is based on locators for every point, line, plane, or curve in the Cartesian X, Y, and Z coordinate system. In contrast, programs based on NURB [what Rhino is] splines and curves use algorithmic formulas to allow lines and surfaces to be adjusted and recalculated continuously." Helpful!

The Marcel Wanders Airborne Snotty Vases are really cool. I think I'm partially drawn to that b/c I sneeze kind of a lot. But I'm interested in the form that that would create. How interesting. And he like scanned the sneeze with a 3-d scanner, which is really neat after seeing 3-d scanners at Direct Dimensions. "Digital tools have allowed Wanders not only to work with form that is beyond the grasp of human vision, but to work with forms of an extreme complexity from the design phase to production."

I'll leave this post with a line I really enjoyed at the end of the article. "What results is a strange fetishism of the consumer object, an emphasis on the intimate interface between technology and the living body."

Blogging on Articles

2008-05-16T08:18:00.001-07:00

For some reason, I really have a hard time making myself blog about assigned readings. Not that I'm great at general blogging, but if I find something I like and have given it some thought, I don't mind posting. I really don't like blogging on the assigned readings though. I think it stems from really not liking to take notes/being not so good at note taking. Which works out ok b/c I tend to remember what was said or can take ques from a couple word description. But basically, I feel like its note taking that I'm showing to people.
I do the readings but I put off blogging about them. But I know that if I don't I will really regret it in the next couple weeks when I receive my grades.....

TED

2008-05-15T07:11:00.001-07:00

So I stopped by Conceptual Metalsmithing for the first time in a while today, and I saw this post about TED.com and decided to check it out. It looks really cool. TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design. TED brings people from these fields together annually to give 18 minute talks. The website archives the speeches, and looking though the list of speakers was impressive. There was actually a theme of talks entitled Design Like You Give a Damn. There was also a speech given by the creative director of IDEA, the editor of Wired, and the cofounders of Google.

I'm going to make TED a summer thing.

Ethical metalsmiths

2008-05-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, I was looking over project sheets and realized that, while I had actually done readings, I didn't seem to have blogged about them? I need to get better at this.

So I just reviewed the Price of Gold. It once again astounded me that everything just seemed to get worse and worse as the article went on. No matter how bad, it got worse. I felt similar to Jo--where have I been? How did I not know? The mercury particularly struck me, but I think hat's cause I read an article when I was a child about kids who like ate Mercury and I've been freaked out ever since. But, I mean, for good reason. Mercury is bad for you. Unfortunately, it seems prevalent in San Fransisco, which is where I want to live someday. The stuff about riverine trailing disposal--how awful.

The end about gold consumption was a really good point to have. I mean really, things are only worth what we make them out to be worth. We (the consumer culture) are the ones demanding things and ultimately raising the prices etc. Same thing.

Crit tomorrow!Bed!

Arthur Hash

2008-04-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

I think by now, we're all pretty much aware of Arthur Hash, especially if you're in Doug's class. But still, he's definitely worth mentioning.

He uses a lot of different materials to make a variety of products. He seems to really be employing laser cutter to make things like his coffee stain and milk jug brooches. I really love milk and I would really love to have that brooch.

He also has been doing things though with the bottom of shoes and focusing in on specific parts of the shoe sole.

I think the ring below clearly shows that he maintains humor in his work. A lot of it is really fun and quirky.

I think it's really exciting that he's coming in the Fall.

Hella Jongerius

2008-04-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

So I first saw these plates on Liz's blog and knew that Hella Jongerius needed to be checked out. I mean, I was going to anyways, b/c Jan said to....but seeing these plates made it a priority. I like them a lot.

These vases are sold at Ikea. I want them bad.

Anyways, Hella Jongerius has a wide range of products. I'm posting a lot of plates and vases, but she has a lot of furniture too.

"Designer Hella Jongerius (1963) has become known for the special way she fuses industry and craft, high and low tech, tradition and the contemporary."

All her design are really nice, and I read on Liz's blog that she is really into design more than making and really focuses on that. She also has a wide range of production styles. Limited edition, mass production, one offs, unlimited editions.

Pegs and banjos

2008-04-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

So all of these are probably a little to small to see the actual pegs on, but the banjos are all nice anyways.

Secrets secrets are no fun...?

2008-04-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't recently checks out Karen's blog, you should. There is a KAREN magazine. And it's amazing and I want it. "In KAREN magazine fashion is a T-shirt about the emotional world of the potato and beauty is goose pimples on the beach." Seriously. It's just ordinary things. It has a recipe for roadkill peacocks? Yes, it's just that cool.

I found it so randomly it was amazing. I was on a blog that linked to another blog. And that blog had shopping links on it. And then on one of the shopping sites off to the side there was a link that said KAREN. And I just had to know. And so I found it. And then five minutes later someone called to make a tour reservation and they lived on Karen Lane. It was just a Karen kind of day.

Anyways, I love little ordinary things and taking notice of them. Turning something uninteresting into something interesting just by noticing it. Little moments that everyone has. That no one else knows about, because why would they? We all do things or think about things and have since childhood that it doesn't even register that they actually happen or that we should take notice because they seem so normal to us. And so we don't tell anyone. It doesn't even occur to us to tell anyone. And then we have a little tiny secret. Not because it needs to be a secret or because we want it to be a secret but only because no one knows that it happened. I love little tiny secrets. When I realize a little tiny secret that I have, I try and tell someone about it. Usually the boyfriend, b/c why would anyone else care (does he?) . I just think it's interesting because as much as you might try to share your life with someone, it's impossible to fully.

So in honor of noticing the ordinary and all that is KAREN magazine (roadkill peacock dinners included), I'm going to share a little tiny secret I had yesterday. There's this part of Garden State where Natalie Portman like freaks out in one spot and does an original moment that no one else has ever done right there. I do that all the time except in much more parred down terms. I like to think about if anyone has ever stood in the exact same spot that I'm standing in. Maybe it's been similar but was it exactly the same? Or were their feet slightly closer together? And even if the feet where in the same exact spot, were their hips tilted to the side? And maybe, just maybe there was one time when there feet were in the same spot and they stood straight up, but that was the time their arms were crossed. The best part is that I'll never know.

Could this be worth exploring in a jewelry format and what would that look like are the questions I'm now asking.

Bibliography for Blood Diamonds

2008-04-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

Stop Blood Diamonds Organization, Stop Blood Diamonds. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Stop Blood Diamonds Web site: http://stopblooddiamonds.org

Walt, V. (2006, December 7). Diamonds aren't forever. Fortune Magazine.

Koinange, J. (2006, December 12). Blood Diamonds: Miners risk lives for chance at riches. CNN.

Vereckey, B. (2006, December 8). More shoppers asking if diamond caused human suffering. Associated Press.

Jones, V.E. (2006, December 4). 'Blood Diamond' stokes fear of gem backlash. Boston Globe.

Global Witness, Blood Diamond Action. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from Blood Diamond Action Web site: http://blooddiamondaction.org

World Diamond Council, DiamondFacts.org. Retrieved February 15, 2008, from DiamondFacts.org Web site: http://diamondfacts.org

Regeneration

2008-04-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7165

A 3D printer that can print copies of itself making 3D printers affordable??? Maybe soon? How cool and like kind of freaky would that be? It would reduce the cost from $25000 to $500. They're not there yet, but it is being developed, so that's really cool.

New Goal!

2008-03-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I will blog about a new artist/awesome jewelry AT LEAST once a week. I will also try and do updates on projects more often, but my main goal is the artist once a week thing. And I know, I know, "but Lizzy, there's less than half a semester left! That's not that many new artists..." Calm yourselves. I'm going to try and keep it up over the summer.

Aran Galligan

2008-03-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I can't get any pictures off of Aran Galligan's very lovely website, so you'll all just have to visit it yourself. Personally I really liked the silhouette collection and the open work collection. I just thought they all are really beautiful and interesting. And I think little nice touches. In the openwork section, this one piece is very simple yet decorative (oxymoron?) but then on the back is this very nice pierced out tree. It's all about the details. And I love View From My Window in the Silhouette collection. Layers of pierced out branches. And then there is this:

"There is an interesting line between disgust and intrigue.... My work is the merging of a beautiful object and an uncomfortable thought."

I love it.

2008-03-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

Um ok, can I just say that these pieces by Melanie Bilenker are awesome? Cause they are. And I really love the hand drawn quality that they have to them and her style. Except wait. Its hair. So its just like that much cooler. And her artist statement is so perfect. "I secure my memories...I do not reproduce events, but quiet minutes...." I just feel like that is something that I can really connect to, because I like to think about how everyone has their own personal moments all the time that no one could know about. And they don't even have to be like SOMETHING. They can be so tiny but they're still there. The bottom one where she's buttoning her shirt says it all.

Adam Smith

2008-03-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

I saw Adam Smith at Acc. He had a bunch of larger, sculptural pieces that I really enjoyed. These pictures are some of his newer work that I found on his website. I love that he has something on the back on the second one, and I just like the overall look of both pieces. I like the faded text in the top piece a lot. Also, check out those nice pin stems.

Christy Klug

2008-03-23T18:53:00.001-07:00

I've seen Christy Klug at a couple craft shows and I really like the piercing out that she does. I like the negative spaces that she creates. I also like the scribbling pattern she does on the middle piece. I realize more and more how much I like pierced work and I don't really do it that much..? I should more.

Miel-Margarita Paredes

2008-03-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

I saw Miel-Margarita Paredes at Acc in Searchlight. Her work has to do with mounting animals on walls as trophies and the idea of breding animals for certain things. I really like the work, and I find the ideas behind it really interesting. Read her artist statement.

India: Historical Research

2008-03-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

These are pages from the book on India that I got from the library.

These are brides. This page is from the section on Marriage jewelry. Nose rings are typical, thoguh certainly not the only piece of jewelry worn for the ceromony.

These two pages contain enameling work. Often, the enamel work is either foral or figure based. These images are foral based b/c that's what I wanted to include in my project.

I'm making a nosering based on my research. It is a piece of marriage jewelry. I want the front of the piece to be fairly traditional. I chased and repoussed shapes to be stones on the front. I enameld them to look like coral, topaz, and an emerald, all of which were common in India. I also enemeld a foral pattern in between the stones. Currently I'm working on some actually sotne settings for the front. The back is etched with an abstracted pattern of a couple symbols. I find it really interesting that the dowry is the only thing that the bride is legally allowed to own once married, and am trying to play off that idea.

Sorry if the pictures are hard to see. It's the best I could do.

Inventory of Skills

2008-02-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

Pop-up Technology
Piercing
Sweat-solder
Joint-solder
Filing
Sanding
Satin Finish
Scratch Finish
Dapping
Rivets
Chains
Roll mill
Solder inlay
Lamination inlay
Etching
HAmmer Texture
Scribe Texture
Chasing and Repousse
Flanges
Scoring and Bending
Fabrication
Enameling

Stencil
Sgraffito
Basse Taille
Champleve
Graphite Pencil

Electroforming
Welding 2D and 3D
Hard wax carving
Sheet wax fabrication
Felting
Knitting
Crocheting
Stained Glass

Creative Process

2008-02-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

I feel like right now, I'm really still learning what I do to generate ideas. In the past I have made lists of words and that has helped. The word maps do to. Both really help me to get waht I'm thinking about out and in front of me. I tend to try and store tons of information in my head, which is good for some things, but not usually for this. Just writing them helps me to organize my thoughts on the subject.
I also find that I really need to be focused on what I'm thinking baout. I need to set aside time to just sit and think about it and relax and that's when I'll start to generate ideas. When I force myself to. Sometimes it'll be when I'm in bed trying to go to sleep, but I can't because there's a lot on my mind, or sometimes I'll be in the shower. It's just whenever I can make myself focus.

Design 21

2008-02-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

http://www.design21sdn.com/

This is a social design network. Looks pretty cool. They have a ring taht you can buy where 19% of the proceeds go to the charity of your choice. And 2% goes to children in post-conflict countries.

Blood diamonds

2008-02-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

Really the lack of knowledge I had on this topic was appalling. I really didn't know much about this at all. So I started with the websites on the project sheet.
Everything I've learned about it has been so awful. As jewelers, we will play an interesting role. I have no idea if I'll work with stones much, but if I do, it's really important to be aware of this issue. I can't believe that people are supporting blood diamonds by working with them. I understand that b/c comsumers aren't aware or don't care, this isn't a demand to change. But I don't understnad how established people in the business could not be aware. If they would stop supporting this, it could be stopped. At some level, it needs to be stopped. And there are more consumers than jewelers, so it seems potentailly easiler to make then aware and get them to stop. But if people are aware and are buying them anyways, then I just don't know what can be done.
I really don't know what direction I'm going to take this project. I feel like there's just so much to learn about it still. I got the Hollywood movie and will watch it soon and I'm excited to see the documentary on Thursday. I really just want to find out more and wrap my head around it a little bit more.

Bibliography

2007-12-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Malia, Joe. "Public Private." Joe Malia Design. Joe Malia. 01 Dec 2007 http://www.joemalia.com/archive/publicprivate/page.html.

Dery, Mark. "Pod Complex." IDOnline. June 2007. ID Magazine. 01 Dec 2007 http://www.idonline.com/features/feature.asp?id=1591.
Article in ID about apple prodcuts that has a unification reference at the beggining.

Flanagan, Barbara. "Your Friendly Neighborhood Mosque." IDOnline. Apr 2006. ID Magazine. 02 Dec 2007 http://www.idonline.com/features/feature.asp?id=1540.
This came up in a search for both reilgion and privacy. Two birds.

Khemsurov, Monica. "Private First Class." IDOnline. Nov 1006. ID Magazine. 02 Dec 2007 http://www.idonline.com/features/feature.asp?id=1561.

I'm still having trouble getting into Metropolis archives, but I've been trying periodocially.

Better Color

2007-11-05T15:21:00.001-08:00

Materialise Again

2007-11-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

So I figured out their website (thanks for the tips guys!). Pictures! Research!

I'm really drawn to the Private Collection. Some of the products focus on kind of a biological defination while others on an emotional.

This one is more biological. It's called Detail.mgx. It's a fingerprint lampshade, which I'm feeling particularily fond of after phalanges. It's made by Dan Yeffet and it's about the privacy you give up by sharing your fingerprint.

This is Downlod.mgx. It's by ross Lovegrove. The pen is based on the negative shape his hand makes.

This is Silver_Shaman.mgx by Arik Levy. This addresses an emotional side of priivacy. It's a vessel to carry momentoes in. I think it's just lovely.

This is Especially_For_You.mgx by Amanda Levete. It forms a bowl that says "this is designed especially by me for you with love" .

I really like the idea of the Private collection. It htink that for my project I'll proabably use this idea as m y base. I haven't decided if I want to go an emotional or biological route thoguh, b/c I find both sides interesting. I might try to include both but I don't want it to get too busy. I'll explore it in my thumbnails.

Podcasts!

2007-11-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

Dubai-
I don't know anything about Dubai so I found this interesting. Basically they really want to be good at design and haven't found their way yet. It was supposed to be a lot like Las Vegas, except that they didn't make fun of themselves. They took this sense of design a little too seriously for how cheesy it was. They were borrowing a lot of ideas and even slogans from the Western world. It sounds like they have different copyright laws, but I'm curious as to how that transfers over seas? The clothes that the people of Dubai wore were very elegantly simple and made for the hot weather. The designers thought that they should learn from the design of their clothes and use these ideas more. I found it interesting that it is almost shameful to be a designer there and want to know more about that.

Rapid Prototyping-
I do kn ow a little about this but I learned a little more about it. Basically, rapid prototyping is a 3D printer.. You get your design on a computer using 3D modeling software and can actually print out a tangible form. You can do this with a range of materials, really anything stackable I believe? The machines are still very expensive. They could someday be used for production instead of prototyping.

Color

2007-10-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

So my camera...not so good. None of my color came out very nice. I took pictures of nice color, but you can't really tell that well. I played around w/ the flash but that seemed to help pretty minimally.

My really really green coat.

I liked the browns and creams in this teabag

This apple is actually very pretty shades of red and green.

A purple vase?
I like the subtle greenish brownish yellowish thing going on.
Orange and light blue, but it looks white.
Creams and browns?
Yellows and oranges
Really bright blue and green. See Karen's shoes for futher detail.
I really like bright colors.

This wood looked much much richer

That's supposed to be really red.

Materialise!

2007-10-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Ok so I went to material-mgx.com today and they had some pretty cool stuff. Unfortunaetly, I'm having trouble with their website. Ther's no option to copy or save their images? Is anyone esle having trouble with that?

So even though I don't have pictures, I really like the lamps and necklace by Arik Levy. It says it's made from epoxy and there's all these holes for the light to come through.

I also like the lamps by Strand and Hvass made from nylon. They''re called chaos and they remind me of twigs.

There's also a foral wall lamp by Lionel Theodore Dean that's beautiful. It's foral and plays with shodow on the wall and made from nylon.

I was also having trouble with getting information out of their webpage. I cliekd on designer information and it was blank. Is there a trick I'm missing?

I'll google them later see what I can find. Sorry about the lack of pictures. Much less interesting this way.

AAR for Droog

2007-10-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sustains:
-I think the Droog mentality was there. It interacted with the user (interchangeable buttons). It was also decorative but functional.
-I incorporated the new techniques (solder inlay, etching, roll printing, lamination inlay)
-I made schedules for myself and followed them fairly well.

Improves:
-I felt like my craftsmanship in some areas could have been better (getting off the solder behind the hooks better; the loop was not fully soldered by the first day of crit).
-Some of the mechanisms were a little crude.
-The lamination was not soldered on one part, which became apparent after dapping.

What Ifs:
-I would have tried to get my idea thought up sooner to have more time to work.
-If I had more time to work, I would have focused more on the little things with craftsmanship because they really do make the difference.

10 Favorite Words

2007-10-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Henceforth
Foibles
Fickle
Frugal
Fantastic
Phalanges
Cacophony
Cornucopia
Canker
Persnickety

Not all of these are really my top favorites, and I know I'm missing some, but I feel like these words are cool enough to at least be listed. I'll add the others as I think of them.
Also, by making this list, I discovered that I really like words that begin w/ F I guess? Good to know...

Pretty rings

2007-09-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

These rings at simplywoodrings.com are so beautiful. They're all made of different kinds of wood and are really nicely done. I have a soft spot for the Tree Grows in Brooklyn ring (below) because it's pretty much my favorite book of all time.

There's a bunch of different ones, some that include stones, some metal, etc. I saw it at 2modern.

DIY Calendar!

2007-09-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

This calendar totally reminded me of the "Do" collection at Droog. It seems to be sold out at Etsy unfortunately. I found it at Poppytalk.

2007-09-19T21:15:00.001-07:00

So here are the sketches I keep promising. Basically, it's a brooch that will hold down a co llar through oversized, interchangeable buttons. The oval shape is the loop to hold down the button. I wanted it to look kind of stitched.

I think I want to make three buttons and really use the techniques we've been learning.

The scan isn't too good, but the top one would be lamination inlay of a bullseye shape and kind of seeing how it would come out. The bottom left is a twisty scroll design I thought I could etch. The bottom right is solder inlay.

Droog Project

2007-09-19T09:08:00.001-07:00

So I know I said I would scan in pictures of my design and post them, but I keep forgetting...I will though tonight. I was thinking that I could make a couple different buttons and they could be switched out. So right now I'm trying to really firm up button designs. My goal is to have those sketched out by tonight and upload those tonight too.
In fibers on Monday, we did a very public display of knitting. It's pretty awesome. I don't have a picture, but I will?Once I get in the habit of carrying my camera around.
I'm getting really excited about my Droog idea, but I don't really have any feedback on it...Also, I think the pictures will make the idea clearer. But if anyone has any thoughts on it, that would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

2007-09-17T07:25:00.001-07:00

I wanted to start posting things that I like, but it's so hard becasue I like so many things! I've been looking at desingsponge.blogspot.com ever sense Megan assigned it to the fibers class and I love it. I love everything on there. Here are some favorites: These come in other bright colors and different styles! They're so bright! They're by http://www.christinemisiak.co.uk/
These are laser cut paper panels by Emily Morris, who is a recent graduate. I think it's really interting becasue it's all lattice work of insects.

This is a rug by indib. There's no link to a website, so I'm assuming they don't have one yet. But they're beautiful.

This is by dunford wood. They have a lot of really pretty maemade wallpaper, all avaible in different color schemes. I love having color options. Designsponge has a lot fo cool wallpaper on their blog.

AlsoI've been checking out the alumni stuff and I really really like http://imogene.org/shop/index.php

I think this is my favorite of her peices, but really they're all pretty tight. And the other designers in the shop are great too. But that's my favorite.

First Project

2007-09-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

So I've kind of changed everything I was thinking about for the Droog project. I had liked the bracelet under the shirt idea, but I don't think the textures are going to show up well enough through the shirt. So I was thinking about the brooch over the collar idea, and came up w/ something new. So collared shirts usually have buttons under the collar to keep the collar down. I would make a kind of large button that would be decorated. Possibly with rolling mill texture, though I'm thinking w/ solder inlay, depending on how I construct the button. There would be a pin fastening on the back, which I don't know how to make but I guess I'll find out, and then a piece of metal coming out from it and going over the collar of the shirt. It would have a loop on it that the button would go through, thus keeping the collar down. I was thinking the loop would be textured somehow to look like a buttonhole.
That probably didn't make tons of sense, but later tonight, when I'm not at work, I'm going to scan in some drawings to make it clearer. It's kind of weird, but that's not really a measurement of good or bad. So basically, if anyone reading this have any opinions or ideas, those would be very much appreciated.

Designers/Artists in Training

2007-09-17T06:29:00.000-07:00

I thought that this had a lot of good points in it. I've never been particularly good at keeping up w/ my sketchbook. Keeping a record of things is something I always want to do but never end up doing successfully. I understand the benefit of it though and like the idea of it. It's something I want to get better at. I never really thought of it as figuring out what your interested in, but after hearing it, it makes sense. That really makes me want to keep up w/ it more, because I feel like I like a lot of things. It would be good to kind of hone in on some specifics.
I get the idea of keeping up with information in the craft world. I feel like over the past semester or so, I've come to understand the importance of doing these things and also just the importance of keeping a blog of your work. It seems like everyone has one. I think it's a great way to get your stuff out there and also adds more interest to an audience or buyer to be able to go back and read about the life of the piece that you made.

Droog Revisited

2007-09-05T20:43:00.001-07:00

So I really enjoy this one a lot. The description says it's to teach the birds some etiquette. It's really a simple design but it's also really clever. I checked out blogs from other students today and saw that Droog translates into dry, which didn't occur to me to do. And it's awesome. And makes me appreciate the designs even more.
This is from the whole "Do" challenge. I like that it's so interactive and you can just put it up anywhere.
Once again, all I can say is clever.
This is handy. It sticks. To I guess anything? So you can have light anywhere. I'm not sure how bright it'd be, but I guess then that's all the more reason to buy several.

Obviously the thing that seems to compel me the most about these objects is the cleverness. I'm still trying to sift through and see specifically what compels me and I guess go from there?

Target

2007-09-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Target's slogan is "Design for all". I never noticed that before, but its all over their website. It makes sense, because they really do bring affordable good design to everybody. Wal-mart and Target are considered the same kind of store, but shopping at each deliver completely different experiences.
Target has many designers. Isaac Mizrahi is a fashion designer who's won awards for his work. He does clothing and home furnishing at Target. Thomas O'Brien designs pieces for home decor. He's a designer from SoHo. Rachel Ashwell creates a lot of bedding. She designs things to be cozy and lived in. Sean Conway designs for outside decor. He is really inspired by nature. Micheal Graves is an architect who designs for the kitchen, cleaning, and home decor departments. Victoria Hagan is an interior designer "blending classic and modern". Liz Lange is a deisgner who really started the idea of "maternity chic". She has an exclusive line at Target. These are only some of the designers. Others include Amy Coe, designer for baby things, and Sonia Kashuk, mek-up artist and designer.
As an art student, or a designer-in-training, studying design is obviously important. The designers featured at Target are made so accessible to us. It's something to take advantage of. Besides that, it's about being aware of design around us and noticing where is comes from and why. All these designers have done amazing things and who knows what kinds of opportunities will be available in the future. Pay attention!

Droog

2007-09-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

I thought the Droog website was really interesting. It's a design company from Amsterdam. I thought this line from their homepage really encapsulated them well: "Creating innovative concepts that change perspective".
The glasses are advertised to create cool shadows once water is poured in. The tablecloth has silhouettes of dinnerware to look like a dinner party was just there. What I think is most interesting is that the silhouettes are set up to tell a story, not just to look like a regular place setting.