Zara's project

Zara's project had a Japanese inspired theme.  She learned to saw, solder, sand and polish sterling silver as well as making a smaller setting using art clay silver.  She then embedded her original drawings in resin setting them into the pieces she had constructed.  In the second picture she is carefully bringing small bubbles out of the resin.  The pieces in the box are are charm, pendant and brooch taped in so that she could take them home safely.  During the design development process she had also cut out one of the drawings in copper sheet and done some enamelling.  It has been lovely to watch her confidence grow as she has learned.

A book of glorious hands

I have had a very exciting day my book is ready!  I got the phone call at lunchtime and rushed off into Whitby to collect it and I think it is really beautiful, just right for my project.  The book was created by Brian Cole at www.thecastlebindery.co.uk.  I was so excited I went straight up to the museum to show anyone I could find and found visitors...... so have actually started to collect the glorious hands.  I am asking people visiting the museum while I am there whether they would draw around their own hand and write inside the outline to say what is their favourite thing in or about the museum.  Entirely without my prompting some of the participants decorated their drawings so what I have started with are some very lovely colourful hands to cut out and stick into my book.

Birds and feathers

I spent Tuesday afternoon looking more closely at the bird collection in Whitby Museum.  I did various sketches  particularly of the interesting patterns of the feathers forming irregular triangles and ripples and waves.  There were many beautiful forms and colours and I took quite a few photographs that will help me later on in my project.  I then went around looking at representations of birds in other parts of the collection and found interesting bird patterns of inlay in a gunstock, ceramic birds, prints in the pages of a Japanese book and of course all the birds in the Noah's ark.  I came away really inspired but with a head full of feathers....... all ideas that need to be sorted out.