Progress, Resistance, Chicken Troubles and Back to Some Kind of Normal

Well, the Open Studios thing has finally come to an end. On balance I don't really think it was worth the work and expense.It was nice to have people (not many though) come and see our work and make approving noises. And it was nice that I sold a few pieces. I suppose we have put ourselves on the map somewhat but the whole thing did take up too much of my time and head space really. . .

On the poly clay spike front, I have been trying them out as earrings with integral ear wires. Getting a  shape that I like and that I feel goes with the general design has been tricky.

Not something I've done before and as a non pierced eared male I have limited experience of the practical issues involved. I posted on FB for advice and received some useful feedback.

I adapted the ear wires as a consequence. And I also ordered some niobium for alternative ear wires as copper turns some people's earlobes green. It looks pretty much like oxidised copper, I have tried hammering it gently and found that it distresses nicely (in my view anyway). Not too much or the grey of the metal shows through the coating a bit too much. So it's all good.

The other area of progress has been the rustic, industrial, gothic, ancient modern/whatever pieces I have been making lately, using grungy wire mesh and/or recycled poly clay beads/upcycled electronic components. I was having the same issues/doubts over suitable ear wires for them as with the spikes, except for the choice of metal. I use titanium as it is hypo allergenic and a suitable grey colour. So far I have been concentrating on the wire + poly clay ones without added electronic bits, but I am getting my head round those too. I do seem to have been leaning towards black and white beads too, but there are colour ones in the offing too;-)

In both cases I have gone for a relatively standard ear wire shape, (much as I want to be original and oh so different. .) often with some sort of detail on the shank, such as a bead or a bit of wire wrap, as that seems to balance out the piece. I guess ear wires have evolved that way for a reason. I am still taking inspiration from the work of others so I imagine my designs will develop. We'll see.

Incidentally, the first pic in this post is of an experiment using earring posts instead of wires, looks promising too. Stay tuned. . . ;-)

I am going to try selling the integral ear wire spikes and the industrial/ancient earrings but am hitting quite a bit of internal resistance. Not sure why. I don't think it's fear that nobody will buy them, as I am ok with that. Maybe it's a feeling that I am making myself vulnerable by exposing my work to more knowledgable and potentially critical view ;-) But that is all about me rather than about real life. Maybe it's the step I am taking further down the road towards making jewellery rather than supplies that is intimidating me. And the fact that I will want to charge a decent amount for the grungy wire stuff as it is original and takes a fair bit of time to make.

Of course the other issue is that I am quite fond of them. I like referring to what I have made before when wrestling with something new.
When things sell, they are out of your life. Some things I have made and listed sold so quick I feel I hardly knew them ;-)
I shall try a FB group or two with them sometime soon though, internal resistance or no.

The smaller of our two chickens got broody again, so I shut her out of the chicken coop to attempt to dissuade her from sitting in there 24/7 getting progressively less healthy. Unfortunately, I forgot to open it up again before I went to bed. This has happened before with no ill effects but this time, come the morning there were no chickens and a small pile of discarded feathers in a corner of the orchard. Fox I reckon. Well, couldn't be anything else really. So I feel guilty ;-(
But life goes on. I will get couple of new chickens once we come back from holiday in July, and take better care of them I hope.
Oh well, onwards and upwards ;-)
Jon x

Open Studios, Artist Statements and Letting Them Eat Cake. . .

Well, it's been a hectic few weeks. . . The Norfolk Open Studios weekend we had signed up for all those months ago finally came round, and it was pretty full on getting ready for it. I had to sift through, and choose various designs to print, work out which designs to make into tiles, make the tiles, get some not too expensive frames for the prints, work out which pieces of jewellery and which beads to put on display, how to display them and how the various strands of my work would fit together. . . Interesting but just a bit too much like flippin' hard work. (And I had a gig on the Sunday that I had to find time to rehearse for. . . It went well, apart from the rain, it being an outside event - we huddled under a gazebo thing until it stopped after about half an hour, but It's all left me feeling somewhat wiped out)

The jewellery and prints bit. . . with various props

The tiles and prints bit, with old red velvet curtain

I also felt I needed to write a kind of artists statement explaining a bit about the intention behind my work and how it came to be created etc.

So what I will do for this blog post is show you some pics of the final display and regurgitate the artists statement for your delight. . . ;-) Actually it does quite succinctly pin down a few things, I think. You may find it interesting. . .

If not, just look at the pics ;-)

Prints, Tiles and Coasters

My work and practice involves making unique, digitally constructed images (derived from my explorations into the mathematics of pattern – in nature and in decorative and other arts) into physical objects by transferring said images onto paper (as prints), and onto tiles and other surfaces.

My tiles lie, in category, between prints and ceramics, being essentially prints onto a ceramic surface. Framing them serves to emphasise their function as art objects.

In my work, unlike most artisan print processes, the actual production of the physical object is not where much of the skill and expertise lies. In my case that skill and expertise is largely to be found in the mastery of the software I use to create the images, and the vision to see that it could be used for such a purpose in the first place, (a purpose it was never intended to be used for).

I have a deep interest in the so called ‘mathematics of nature’ and how computer software can be used to impersonate natural patterns and surfaces by using that mathematics. Leading on from that, I have found in my explorations that patterns can be produced (especially when symmetrically reflected) that resemble patterns produced by entirely human means. I find echoes of African art, Art Nouveau and Deco etc. This leads me to speculate on the reasons the human brain and the human mind find certain shapes particularly pleasing. It could be that these fractal forms echo the fractal nature of the brain and it’s workings, that there are some forms that are somehow universal. . . They also look beautiful, both old and modern at the same time.

Which is also a feature of

My Bead and Jewellery Work.

My chosen medium is polymer clay, technically a modern, plastic modelling medium with many clay like properties. It is malleable until baked (at domestic oven temperatures), whereupon it becomes hard and tough. It can be painted, sculpted, glued and distressed in various ways. It is also cheap and no specialist equipment is required which makes it less intimidating to experiment with.

It is an interesting material in that it has little identity of it’s own, possibly due to it’s newness as a medium. This lack of clear identity, its transparency if you like, means it is can be made to impersonate other materials, but produce forms that those materials might not be able to.

I discovered that many artists use polymer clay to make beads, which led me to explore beads as cultural phenomena and as art objects in their own right. And to realise how very ancient beads are in the history of human creative endeavor. Personal adornment has a long history. This was all new to me, and I found it fascinating.

My work involves utilising textures and images, transferred or impressed into polymer clay, to make unique and unusual beads and jewellery. Exploration, experimentation and following the fascination are the guiding principles of my practice. I use many techniques in my work, such as image transfer, texture making, faux ceramic, crackle glaze effect, turned effect, and directly distressing the surface. I have also developed surface treatments to make my beads seem to be ancient, although actually being entirely modern. An apparent contradiction I also find fascinating.

Tiles and Coasters - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JonBurgess

Beads and Jewellery - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JBDRusticOrganic

Tiles. Sold a few ;-)

More tiles, sets of 4 and unframed ones

Some prints. Digital abstract stuff

More prints. brighter ones in black frames

So the first weekend was a bit slow as far as sales went, but a couple of couples of old friends dropped by, having seen the brochure thingy and not yet having seen our new home. That was very nice.

I might juuuust break even if I sell couple more things, but really, it does feel like the work and money spent wasn't quite worth the return. Still, it maybe puts us on the map, so to speak, and could lead to future sales and suchlike. Not sure we will do it again though.

Who's eating cake? well, apart from us that is. The ducklings are! The five ducklings that hatched by our pond about three weeks ago were down to four pretty quickly, but are still four, which is great, as it means they are probably going to make it. Their mum is very protective and has the cats properly intimidated. We seem to have an endless supply of stale cake lurking in the bread bin, so these lucky ducklings have been getting the Marie Antoinette treatment. . . No decent pics I'm sorry to say.

Oh well, back to normal poly clay mutterings next time,

cheers,

Jon x