J3-It's all in the Guts

Prepare for blog spam this weekend, I am working 24/7 in the studio both home and school and will keep you up to date on the latest developments in the projects.

I received my very lovely package from Midway USA of fresh hog gut, fibrous gut, and collagen casting.

Some initial thoughts upon opening the packaging:
 - The Collagen Casings have potential, they are very rigid and paper-like but still very thin
- the Fibrous Casing is very rigid but comes in very large sheets
- the hog gut has a horrid smell and comes in small tangled strands that have to be manually untangled

Then following some suggestions from my boyfriend who makes sausages and from some previous Towson Students who shared some knowledge, I soaked the gut in hot water. From Matt, I got the recommendation to soak it in hot water for an hour and then change the water to remove the salt base, rinse, and soak again for about 20 minutes. The large tied casing is the Fibrous, the semi see-through mass is the Collagen, and the white dark strand is the natural hog gut.

Some thoughts after the first hour of Soak:
1. Hog gut is very thing and see through, very flexible and seems easy to work with
2. Collagen remains semi stiff but the more it soaks the softer it gets, this product recommends either boiling in water prior to use or soaking for 24 hours or a combination there of so I will follow that recommendation prior to working with it
3. Fibrous is very stiff even after an hour of soaking, they recommend soaking for 24 hours changing water often as well as boiling if still remains stiff

I will stretch these one at a time over a prepared metal dome and fasten down with pins. I will then rivet through those holes made by the pins to see the potential ways to produced a more finished look. I will update you as the project continues.

Week 5 - Design and Production/J3

I have found myself merging the two classes a bit, while they both have very different motivations and ideals they have developed a common imagery and tone. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bag thing, I just know that I really enjoy making them.  Design and Production has moved into a smaller scale modular work. They are simple organic forms that come together to form different pieces. J3 has gone about the same route with the theme of being a memorial piece, but has changed in scope. It is no longer a single pendant, but movable around the body to nearly any location that will fit it. I am really excited to see how both turn out and I really think both will become something I can stand behind and begin to form the foundation of my metals portfolio.


Jewelry 3-

All I have to say is I'm amazingly excited. I got a working prototype of the design. Thing is not the final design because in metal I can get more details working, but it is getting close. The die-form will be segmented like what you see in the bottom image and it will be hinged with small flaps closing each form and making each form it's own shape. The thin plastic represents the gut that will be used to contain and cover the different forms.

Design and Production

Steadily working along with making my wax forms. I have been moving away from the idea of containment to these small, simplified natural forms. I am thinking of making a collection of them in sterling silver and in an abs plastic that is modeled in rhino.

 These are the successful ones, I will go back into the more failure-sided ones later and see if something can't be done with them. I really wish I had some images of them, my skill has increased some much from those first few it is crazy!