Taking Bigfoot Golfing, Retro Image Thingies and other Potential Oddities

Taking Bigfoot Golfing

Well, having been through a mini frenzy of making odd, not really jewellery - not really anything else, type things involving model railway figures etc, I have stopped to take a breath and have a think about what and where it is all going, and if indeed it has to 'go' anywhere anyway. . .

Blue Bear says 'Hi'

As you probably noticed, the background images I have been using are rather wonderful, out of register, retro graphics of the cheap, far eastern variety. These ones date from around the nineteen sixties and are taken from some Japanese made water transfer sets I acquired from an Ebay source. I think they are beautiful in their unpretentious simplicity and depiction of various, often western (some are of cowboys, so the word Western is apt) cultural artifacts as seen through the lens of another culture and Art tradition etc. I don't imagine that they were ever intended to be admired as artworks as such, and probably you think I am nuts to love them so much ;-) Yeah, well. . .

A Bad Guy brooch

I've been trying to see how they want to be used. I tried putting them together with electronic components and upcycled wire grids and the like, which worked OK, but it felt like I was doing the same old thing that I do with my digital abstract images, without getting a feel for how these new images work with other materials. 

They are nice on their own as simple brooches or buttons, or just as image tile drops with a single hole at the top, but I can't help feeling there is something else I can do with them. I'll get there, I just need to give it time and space to emerge. . .

More Bad Guys

Godzilla or somesuch

TrainDeer

Pairing them with little plastic animals from the same source has some promise, as does using the little animals on their own with other bits and pieces. Sort of surreal dioramas or scenes can be constructed with their own weird stories or non-stories. . . hmmm. . .

I'll continue to mull this over, meanwhile making various beads and such. I'll let you know how I get on. .

cheers, 

Jon x

Fun with Biscuits etc. Not a Tutorial. A Journey Down My Creative Process, Such As It Is. . .

Start off by having a silly idea while trying to get to sleep.

Wake up in the morning and think "Why not? What have I got to lose?" etc etc and wander into the workshop. After all it is still Lockdown pretty much and you are going slightly nuts like everyone else. . .

In line with the aforementioned silly idea, take some of these. . .

'These' being what are known as 'biscuits', which shouldn't be confused with what are normally thought of as biscuits round here as they are distinctly inedible, even if dunked in really hot tea.
They are in fact small pieces of plywood used to accurately join two sheets of wood, as in a worktop. Useful things, only I didn't get on with them particularly, even with the proper biscuit jointer power tool thingy. I have plenty of them lying around though, and have previously used them every now and then in bead related projects. (I have no idea if Americans call them 'cookies' or not. . . Quite probably. Whatever. . . )

Now take some of this stuff, which is 2mm diameter approx blue plastic 'wire' from the large reel of it to be found in the shed, left by our house's previous owner. I assume it is strimmer wire but I can't be certain, and am not that bothered what it is. I am just aware of it sitting there awaiting some sort of use. (My strimmer uses those little plastic things rather than plastic wire, which though a bit pricey, is so much better. The wire ones are a complete and utter total pain.)

Lay the biscuits on a thin sheet of polymer clay and cut round them. Bake and then glue the resulting poly clay pieces onto the biscuits. Tidy up the edges.

Drill 2mm holes in patterns or at random intervals in the poly clay fronted biscuits.

Cut some short, roughly the same size, lengths of the plastic wire and poke them into the holes in the biscuits. Try different length bits on each biscuit. Look at the results and go "Hmmm.. ."

Decide to paint the biscuits with bright colours that will set off the blue of the plastic bits nicely.

Decide you quite like the results and glue the bits in place.

Think "Now what?"

Sleep on it. Not literally, obviously as that would be a bit spiky.

Next day, decide to see what one of the simpler ones would look like as a pendant. OK, a bit obvious maybe, but worth keeping. Looks like a little scrubbing brush, but in a good way I hope ;-)

Try one out as a brooch. Kind of funky, but as the plastic bits on this one are quite long the whole thing kind of hangs down instead of sitting nicely on the chest or lapel or whatever.
Try to stabilise it with some upcycled wire grid. That works pretty well. Another keeper.

Now, get distracted by the model railway figures you just bought, and ones you had around anyway. For fun, put the two retro, cute kids on the more minimal biscuit as though standing by a fence or somesuch. Nice. But how to use this as a pendant as it's flat and horizontal, not vertical. Maybe a tallish wire loop would do the job and allow the piece to be hung on a chain or something. That could work. I like. . .

For more fun, put the milk churn carrying man in amongst some shorter plastic bits, like he's walking through grass. How about a wire grid to maybe allow the piece to be strung somehow? The grid obviously needs some electronic components and an image transfer abstract tile to finish it off. The electronic bits also go with his shirt.

I like this 3D effect. The figures have a sort of environment to exist in.

Box carrying man can also get in on the 3D act, with a grid and another image transfer abstract tile above him as he heaves his box through the rather small opening in the 'fence'.

The question "Why?" doesn't need to be asked unless the answer "Because" is sufficient for you, because that's all the reply you will get ;-)

These can be weird pendants or equally weird small ornaments for the mantlepiece.

Just what you've always wanted ;-)

Now call it a day and wait for the next silly idea. . .

Jon x

Stringing things up, Issues with. Advice gratefully received. . .

Well, having created and constructed a good few interesting pendant focal pieces, in my view anyway, I have been mulling over and wrestling with the problem of how to present them as finished necklaces, if that's not too loose a term.

Wire wrapped copper links and jump rings

Simple chain. . .

I can make pendant things that look great on their own, and that are recognisably my work, but as soon as I try to put them on a string/chain/other, they look kind of wrong and somewhat amateurish in a worrying sort of way. It is occurring to me that the choice of stringing/hanging material is a lot more important than I had previously thought. It might just be that am not used to seeing my work in this way, and that I just need to get used to it, but I don't think it's that simple.

Upcycled wire links and industrial style heavy washers

Simple suede cord, titanium clasp - I think this one might actually work

A necklace is a construction in it's own right, I know that, and admire the work of the many necklace constructors whose work I see online etc, but it's hard to echo what they do in my work. By that I mean that the take away I get from others' work is that the combination of beads/items and string/chain/whatever just looks 'right'. It suits their creative identity/aesthetic. The choice of carrier suits the thing carried if you get me drift. I find it hard to find and nail down that relationship in my work. Sometimes sticking something on a chain might work, sometimes something more complex and visually demanding might work too. The issue is working out, or feeling instinctively which approach suits which pendant/bead/etc.

I have made some small progress I think, in that often my work is quite bold and somewhat eccentric, with industrial overtones ;-). Therefore, the choice of 'string' should echo that. To that end I have made chain links out of bits of the wire grid i like to use, from copper wire, and from upcycled steel wire, basically a short length of wire with a loop at each end, which can join onto one or more others. These work OK, but aren't suitable to go round the back of the neck, for comfort and possible allergic reasons. Therefore a piece of chain, suede cord or suchlike needs to be added. This never seems to look quite right to me.

I think I need to accumulate a larger and wider stock of possible stringing material and try things until something 'works' and is identifiably my creative choice and belongs to my aesthetic.

OK, I could spare myself the grief and just sell the pendants themselves, should anyone want them, (and I have done that quite often) but I see my dilemma as a challenge, something I should be able to surmount. Then of course I will have the issue of actually trying to sell the resulting jewellery, but that is something to be addressed when the time comes ;-)

Having a Bit of a Turn, Going For The Throat, Getting it in the Neck, Hanging by a Thread, etc etc. . .

In a moment of inspiration, I actually thought of something for my wife to get me for Christmas just passed. I find that just one of the many downsides of being all grown up (technically at least) is that you struggle to find anything you actually want for Christmas. Anything within a reasonable price bracket anyway. Grown ups are so boring. . .

Talking of which, I actually asked my kids to get me some slippers this year, sheesh, what happened to me??

But contrary to expectation, this festive season found me prepared.
"I'll have one of those cheap Chinese micro-lathes" I said. "Please."
And that's what I got ;-)

I've only had a bit of a play with it so far, but it's pretty good. All I want to do with it is cut groovy grooves in polymer clay, or wooden beads, which is relatively undemanding. I tried it on some wooden beads I picked up in a charity shop a while ago, and once I had stopped the bead from slipping too much it worked OK. (I need something called a 'drive centre', I'm looking into it but for now I am using a countersink from my power drill which works up to a point. .)

I seem to have gone all vibrant, colour wise. . . hmmm. .

I made some experimental, randomly grooved beads, which I then painted with alcohol inks and varnished. I like how they came out even though they soaked up the varnish somewhat. I will make some plain poly clay tube beads to experiment on next. As well as scouring the charity shops for more wooden beads to mess up of course.

A double grid, ancient lino, plastic sleeving and early JBD experimental poly clay claws. Kind of Industrial Gothic

The other thing I have been slowly venturing towards is making actual necklaces using my eccentric grid based pendant focal things. Rather than selling them on for other people to have all the the fun, I have been considering how I would hang them myself, in a way that is a bit more arty and considered than just sticking them on a bit of chain.

Modelled by Ethel, the dummy retrieved from the local dump for £2 a year or two ago.The last of the big spenders, me. .

Well, that said, I have actually stuck one or two on some simple chain, but chain that consists of large, artily crude, home made (by me) links that suit the vibe of the piece. Using plain copper or upcycled garden wire hammered flat(ish) for strength and because I like how it looks.

A large image transfer poly clay square with some double sided through drilled squares that matched the colour

 I am encouraged by the results and am considering trying to sell some pieces. I admit to feeling somewhat intimidated by this prospect, as the subject of price rears it's contentious head. . .

Ethel again, showing you how it should be worn

Also, I am not entirely sure where to sell. I need to research some Facebook groups I think and ask around for some feedback and advice. Any thoughts you may have on the matter would be gratefully received ;-)

So here are some more things I have been working on. . .

Enjoy. .. and see you next time,

Jon x

Electronic components, a poly clay im trans square and a plastic railway figure

A bit long maybe?

Two fuses and a big electronic whatsit in a nice shade of blue

Copper links this time

Tripping Over Afterthoughts, Teetering On The Brink of 'Art Jewellery', and the Dilemma of When Components are Complete in Themselves . . .

Back to what passes for normal round here, after the the somewhat frantic goings on of the last few weeks. Still managed to be late with this blog post though. But never mind, the only person nagging me is me, and I never listen to me anyway. . .

As you can see, I got inspired by the electronic components I indirectly inherited, and by various other bits and pieces, and made some interesting things. . . 

But more on that, later in the programme, there is the small matter of chronological precedence vis a vis the blogging process to discuss. 

As you are possibly aware, I like to blog every ten days or so. Over those ten days I will have likely explored two or three different ideas at least, some successfully, some not. Each idea worthy of being documented on this blog. The trouble is that come blog writing day, the most recent idea, my day ten obsession, if you like, is going to be the one my head is full of and the one I most want to share. Which leaves the previous good ideas as mere blogging afterthoughts if they get a mention at all. Not sure what I can do about this. I don't want to blog more frequently so I think I shall just have to live with it and go with what is is uppermost in my mind at the time.

Which is - My messings around with electronic components and other bits and pieces.

Repurposed beads plus electronic bits and wire mesh stuff - 2" by 1-1/2"

A combination of events has led me down this interesting route. Firstly, inheriting these electronic components from my late Father in Law. Secondly, deciding to break up some old necklaces that I had hanging around, which never sold. I still quite liked them but have come to realise that they just weren't up to the mark. It's quite liberating to actually admit that things don't work and to reclaim the bits that are worth repurposing. And thirdly, there being bits of garden related wire and mesh and suchlike lurking in and behind the shed. These things had caught my eye and been stored in the 'Possibilities Pending' file in my head. These three things and a good dose of 'Why not?' when following spontaneous creative ideas led me in this hopefully fruitful direction.

More repurposed beads etc - 3-1/2" by 3"

I even ventured into larger pieces, using resistors (I think) as decorative elements alongside some old dremel carved poly clay beads I made many moons ago and couldn't find a good use for. 

And again - 4" by 3"

This stuff does start to look like something you might see in some kind of gallery. (I did say 'might see'. . . ) It has a certain confidence in what it is, if that makes sense. 

And again. . . 3-1/2" by 3" - image trans bead plus big hollow organic pod thing 

I feel more free to explore composition and balance. And to enjoy the juxtaposition of unlikely partners, neither of which were intended to be combined but can co-exist successfully once the right balance is found.

Interesting though this process is, it does leave me with my biggest dilemma. A lot of the more complex components I make, and quite a few of the simpler ones have a certain completeness as objects in themselves. Adding an ear wire, or attaching them to some kind of chain/string/thong seems like an afterthought. Which of course, it is. 

The type and shape of ear wire and the length and thickness etc of the string is very important, and I worry that I haven't left room for additions to my design.

It's something I need to work on, think about and explore. Not being a jewellery maker is a disadvantage at present. I want to have some finished pieces to show at our upcoming open studios thing at the end of May.

Nothing like a deadline to get the mind working. . .

OK - Afterthoughts. . .

1 - I followed up my experiments in combining image transfer and turned look beads, and made a bunch of immensely cool spike things. Big buggers too, about three inches long.

2 - I also made some small turned look beads for more delicate projects, around 1" long. That intense blue when varnished looks almost like glass. I love that blue!

There is probably other stuff I could show you, but as I don't want to write, and you don't want to read a flipping novel, I shall stop.
See you next time,
Jon x

Big Beads, Serious Sanding and The Sad Absurdity of Stuffed Animals. . .

Well, I've been keeping half an eye out, in the local charity shops I frequent on a fairly regular basis, for cheap wooden necklaces that I could deconstruct and repurpose the components of. I found a couple of good ones the other week, big wooden beads, some round, some oval, and a bunch of smaller beads for good measure.

So I tried covering them with a layer of polymer clay, then texturing the heck out of them using one of my own design and own manufacture texture sheets. I baked them and unfortunately went a bit nuts with the alcohol inks. Too nuts, even for my high nut tolerance. . . Frankly, they were a mess.

So after a couple of moments reflection I took the JBD nuclear option and sanded the bejazus out of them, turning them back to white, leaving only the deeper grooves to provide a darker relief pattern. They actually came out rather nice. Which goes to show that knowing when to keep going is as important as knowing when to stop ;-)
See? Polymer Clay has important life lessons to impart. .

For the next set of beads I just went with the texture/paint/sand madly process from the get go. They turned out OK too. One to store in the mental technique library.

I also revisited the Kato Clear Liquid Polymer Clay as varnish technique on some simple bicones. There is a cool, simple trick to get a distressed looking surface such as that seen on the beads above, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. . .

I can tell you about the brown ones however, I mixed a small amount of sepia acrylic ink in with the varnish. They didn't come out quite how I wanted but they came out well enough for me to do some more experiments with colouring varnish.

Faux ceramic 'Candlestick' beads. Variation on my 'Pot' beads. . .

Talking of varnish, it makes all the difference to the faux ceramic effect as seen in the so called 'candlestick' beads above. They remind me also of chess pieces. Ooh, polymer clay chess pieces! Must have been done surely. . hmm. . .

Anyway, outside of claying and diy activities, we have been exploring a few bits of our local city, Norwich. 

The Castle Museum is fascinating, and is already providing food for my instagram feed, (see what I did there?) 

Amongst it's treasures is a room or two of stuffed animals.

I find these collections of stuffed animals and birds fascinating. It's an appalled fascination, brought on by the tragic absurdity of these long dead shells of animals, and by the strange thing that happens when you photograph them. Because a photograph freezes motion, and a stuffed animal has been presented in its own eternal frozen moment, a photograph of a stuffed animal has a certain ambiguity to it. In a strange way the photo is more alive than the object, the animal gets given a kind of life by being no different in a photograph than it's living brethren. It is kind of elevated to the same plane somehow, if that makes sense. . . which is where the absurdity comes in, and the surreal humour and tragedy also. . . I could go on, but I don't have time to construct a proper explanation of what I mean but I hope you get the drift ;-)

An empty tiger no longer burning bright. .

This Marmoset (probably) has a kind of decayed vitality, if there is such a thing

Oh yeah, we are down to just one duckling ;-( 

Also, of the three goslings hatched a day or three ago, we have just one, that was with four geese to guard it. . . sigh. . . 

Oh well, I hope they are still around for the next blog post.

Jon x