On Friday last week, I started the rotation into metals from glass and so Marcus has become my tutor for this module for the next four weeks I think. I showed him my sketchbook and in this module I have been trying to bring graffiti, stencils and silhouettes into my glass work. I am trying to realise my idea in the form of a table lamp. I want something decorative as well as functional, and glass lends itself very well with light.
We decided that to hold the glass lamp shade, which is a straight-edged cylinder, it would be best to show skill in a different form and using metal which interests me. The base needed to be a step up from something basic which would be done at school but not too much that it detracted from the glass shade which is the main focal point. I looked through my image research and as I thought at the beginning of the year about street dance versus ballet, this could be shown in the lamp. The image on the glass could be of a ballet dancer in a pose and the silhouettes holding it up (part of the multiples theme), would be a street dancer in a pose.
I am going to produce six identical (as close as possible considering they are produced individually by hand) silhouettes out of sheet brass using a piercing saw. I enjoy this process to a point and got on well during an adult learning course in Bedford working with sheet silver to make jewellery. I have become quite good at it and I have patience with it.
I had cut out one silhouette during the session and drawn out the second onto another piece of sheet brass. As I have a metal work vice at home (in my uni hall), I asked the technicians in the wood workshop if they would make me a type of bench hook so that I could continue to pierce the metal in my own time over the weekend. I have up until today cut out two and a half of the six pieces and brought the rest of the sheet back to continue. I hope to have completed four by Friday so that I can get the remaining brass to finish with the last two. I hope then I can focus on the assembly of the piece and the electrics and logistics of holding and powering a bulb.
It is nice to have a change of activity and change of scene every so often and I am making the most of the opportunity. I am really enjoying this module and cannot wait to see how this product will come together.