Just a quick post to say..... I won!
- the Bioscience Competition - well, I was one of the three selected winners, but I don't know out of how many just that it was open to students of:
De Montfort University – Leicester
Lincoln School of Art and Design
Nottingham Trent University
Loughborough University
University of Derby
University of Leicester
University of Northampton
University of Nottingham
- so not lightweight competition!
(Quick link to original blog post: click here)
That silly grin hasn't gone away yet!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Feeling proud!!
Just a quick post, my son has come back from his music lesson this morning with the wonderful news that he passed his GRADE 3 music exam!
I am SO proud of him!
I am SO proud of him!
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Phew, I finally did it!
The last couple of pots I have mentioned a competition I am entering. The competition itself is being sponsored by local (East Midlands) healthcare and bioscience organisations, and the winning entries will be displayed in Biocity in Nottingham (a bioscience incubation centre). Oh, and a cash prize and plaque ;-)
It was for a piece of 2D art work relating to the theme of innovations in healthcare and bioscience.
So, here's what I have entered - I am not sure it translates so well in to photographs,
The week extension did nothing for me in the end, apart from allowing me to enjoy the Easter break a bit more - I was still faffing on Friday morning - didn't help when my son noticed the cat paw prints when I was photographing the piece - about half an hour before we were due to take it to Nottingham! Darned cats - understatement.....
It was for a piece of 2D art work relating to the theme of innovations in healthcare and bioscience.
So, here's what I have entered - I am not sure it translates so well in to photographs,
The week extension did nothing for me in the end, apart from allowing me to enjoy the Easter break a bit more - I was still faffing on Friday morning - didn't help when my son noticed the cat paw prints when I was photographing the piece - about half an hour before we were due to take it to Nottingham! Darned cats - understatement.....
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Nearly there......
Last week I posted how I was entering a competition, and that the deadline had been extended by a week - questioning whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing.
Well, the deadline is tomorrow, and guess what? Yup, still not finished. Yes, my brother WAS right, he scoffed that I would still be working on it the day before... am I THAT predictable?
I am nearly there - I have spent probably far too long painting the frame, I have to remind myself that sometimes, perfect isn't, well, the perfect choice. And trying to save time, I attempted to cover the back board with black card, rather than painting it several times - a good idea in theory, except I forget what a disaster I can be with glue, and managed to mark my beautiful smooth base. So, cleverly (or so I thought) I devised a way of recovering it; by this time, it has nine little wooden blocks glued to it to make the tiles stand off, so I could not just paste a new piece of card on, it was more fiddly. And what did I do? Managed to get something on my NEW piece of clean card...... I better not write what my reaction was, but suffice to say my son has now forgiven me and said it was quite understandable after all my work.
With 24 hours to go, and tiles still to be glued on, and the back fixed to the frame, I got the paint out. Why, oh why, didn't I just do that in the first place? Would have been so much simpler (And, if I manage to cock up even more when I place the tiles on, I can just touch it up).
Wow, what a wordy post - I usually like to include a picture, but I don't think I have anything new to show.
Meanwhile, aside from working a little each day on my frame, I have also been following more people on twitter, and following more blogs. Honestly, I don't really know where I think I will find the time to keep up to date with all the blogs I now follow, I don't have time to keep up with my own!!
Mind you, Frit Happens is going to be really REALLY quiet this weekend - it seems almost every member of the forum is going to Flame Off! - I am not going, partly time, partly money, partly because its mainly a lampworking event - I don't lampwork (not yet, just watch me) - but I would almost certainly come back with a torch and kit, and a car full of glass if I did go - and I haven't got time for fusing, never mind a new hobby right now!
Anyway, I still need to go buy some foam board, and to finish writing my description of the piece. And it still hasn't got a title, other than.......Untitled.
Well, the deadline is tomorrow, and guess what? Yup, still not finished. Yes, my brother WAS right, he scoffed that I would still be working on it the day before... am I THAT predictable?
I am nearly there - I have spent probably far too long painting the frame, I have to remind myself that sometimes, perfect isn't, well, the perfect choice. And trying to save time, I attempted to cover the back board with black card, rather than painting it several times - a good idea in theory, except I forget what a disaster I can be with glue, and managed to mark my beautiful smooth base. So, cleverly (or so I thought) I devised a way of recovering it; by this time, it has nine little wooden blocks glued to it to make the tiles stand off, so I could not just paste a new piece of card on, it was more fiddly. And what did I do? Managed to get something on my NEW piece of clean card...... I better not write what my reaction was, but suffice to say my son has now forgiven me and said it was quite understandable after all my work.
With 24 hours to go, and tiles still to be glued on, and the back fixed to the frame, I got the paint out. Why, oh why, didn't I just do that in the first place? Would have been so much simpler (And, if I manage to cock up even more when I place the tiles on, I can just touch it up).
Wow, what a wordy post - I usually like to include a picture, but I don't think I have anything new to show.
Meanwhile, aside from working a little each day on my frame, I have also been following more people on twitter, and following more blogs. Honestly, I don't really know where I think I will find the time to keep up to date with all the blogs I now follow, I don't have time to keep up with my own!!
Mind you, Frit Happens is going to be really REALLY quiet this weekend - it seems almost every member of the forum is going to Flame Off! - I am not going, partly time, partly money, partly because its mainly a lampworking event - I don't lampwork (not yet, just watch me) - but I would almost certainly come back with a torch and kit, and a car full of glass if I did go - and I haven't got time for fusing, never mind a new hobby right now!
Anyway, I still need to go buy some foam board, and to finish writing my description of the piece. And it still hasn't got a title, other than.......Untitled.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Competition Time
I'm still working on the main, double module at Uni, "Studio Practice" - the glass bubble I posted a few weeks ago was an early part of that, the project has been about applying the same surface decoration and techniques to both ceramics and glass - this has taken the form of test tiles, and I have decided to stick with that as a theme.
I have been concentrating on the ceramics side of this for a couple of weeks as I am entering a competition. Here's a sneak preview of one of the tiles:
Click for larger image.
It doesn't show so well, but this has a real metallic look (and feel and sound) to it - that's probably because it contains manganese and copper.... It was a thick black sludge when it went in the kiln, and came out looking bronze like - alchemy!
I have probably made and fired around 200 tiles in different designs and surface treatments, some glazed, some in a standard electric kiln, and some in gas reduction (now that has produced interesting results!).
I have worked my "socks" off to get these done, and the reason for making so many is that I didn't have time to do testing before making the final pieces - I had to make multiples of everything so I could apply the different techniques and still have enough of each to assemble a piece of work. It is going to be wall art, I have been (attempting) to make frames too; woodwork probably isn't my strong point, and I now have much admiration for, and an appreciation of the prices charged by, a frame maker!
So, all this hard work was because the deadline was supposed to be Good Friday, but they e-mailed out this morning have extended it by a week -
Wooop woop I thought!! Closely followed by; actually I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. Because of the nature of how the tiles are made, they are not meant to be perfect, or uniform - they are, after all, tests. But a part of me now wants to re-make enough tiles, just a bit neater, because I have this extra week..... although it is, of course, the Easter break, my son is off school and I do actually have a mountain of other work to do (which has been neglected in favour of this competition).
When it is finally assembled, I will take a photo of the piece and you can keep your fingers crossed for me.
Oh, and I also have to supply description, for presentation. The work and/or the description has to demonstrate a clear link to the theme (which is innovations in healthcare and bioscience) - I might need that extra week to come up with that!
I have been concentrating on the ceramics side of this for a couple of weeks as I am entering a competition. Here's a sneak preview of one of the tiles:
Click for larger image.It doesn't show so well, but this has a real metallic look (and feel and sound) to it - that's probably because it contains manganese and copper.... It was a thick black sludge when it went in the kiln, and came out looking bronze like - alchemy!
I have probably made and fired around 200 tiles in different designs and surface treatments, some glazed, some in a standard electric kiln, and some in gas reduction (now that has produced interesting results!).
I have worked my "socks" off to get these done, and the reason for making so many is that I didn't have time to do testing before making the final pieces - I had to make multiples of everything so I could apply the different techniques and still have enough of each to assemble a piece of work. It is going to be wall art, I have been (attempting) to make frames too; woodwork probably isn't my strong point, and I now have much admiration for, and an appreciation of the prices charged by, a frame maker!
So, all this hard work was because the deadline was supposed to be Good Friday, but they e-mailed out this morning have extended it by a week -
Wooop woop I thought!! Closely followed by; actually I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing. Because of the nature of how the tiles are made, they are not meant to be perfect, or uniform - they are, after all, tests. But a part of me now wants to re-make enough tiles, just a bit neater, because I have this extra week..... although it is, of course, the Easter break, my son is off school and I do actually have a mountain of other work to do (which has been neglected in favour of this competition).
When it is finally assembled, I will take a photo of the piece and you can keep your fingers crossed for me.
Oh, and I also have to supply description, for presentation. The work and/or the description has to demonstrate a clear link to the theme (which is innovations in healthcare and bioscience) - I might need that extra week to come up with that!
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