Course Reflection
Personally, my favorite assignment would have to be assignment four, the polymer clay earrings. I really enjoyed making these earrings because the material is easy to form, and I have softer hands. I found it to be a lot less difficult and stressful than assignments such as the metal pendant, that required stronger hands and physical coordination. I often struggle to be able to shape harder material, as my hands are relatively weak. The metal pendant project required a lot of sawing, sanding, and buffing, which led to me experiencing a lot of stress and anger over my inability to quickly work. The polymer clay was easily molded in that the material was extremely soft, and just seemed to bend underneath my fingertips. I also really enjoyed the randomness in the results of the polymer clay, as you couldn't really predict the exact design of the final product. Additionally, I actually liked the way the end result of the clay earrings looked. I made blue and yellow stars, that I think are very well put together. I feel as if my metal pendant is not very appealing in design, in that the edges are jagged and it is not fully buffed. Of course, this would be due to my lack of arm strength. Overall, I think I’m just better at and enjoy to a greater extent projects that require less arm and hand strength.
Heishi Bracelets
These are the heishi bracelets! In my opinion, the most interesting thing about the heishi bracelets would be that you can customize the letters and pendants!! The biggest challenge for me during the process was coming up for a consistent theme for the bracelets, but I eventually decided on something simple and easy and went with it. The color scheme i chose takes primary colors and incorporates them as pastels, I thought that it looked pretty. More importantly, these colors had a light and laid-back vibe to theme, which I wanted to make the recurring theme of my bracelets. My second bracelet, the blue/teal one with gold hearts, adds to the summery feel of the first. The monochrome color scheme is supposed to remind the viewer of the ocean in summer. The third bracelet, the yellow and orange one, is also meant to have an upbeat and happy vibe, incorporating warm colors and smiley face pendants.
Stone Wire Pendant The goal of this project was to design a stone wire pendant for my friend, Lia. Many things about this pendant are meant to represent Lia. The brown colors of the rock suggest the warm and caring personality of my friend, and the pearl at the bottom works to symbolize the fashionable and intelligent aspects of her character. I also specifically used bronze wire to match the color scheme and add on to the themes of the pearl. The most interesting thing about stone wire jewelry for me would definitely be how difficult it is. I'm impressed that some people are able to do it professionally, as I have found that it requires incredible hand strength as well as extreme precision. The biggest challenge for me during the process of making this pendant was definitely figuring out how to create the loop at the top and ensure that said loop was tight and secure. I overcame this challenge by practicing forming the loop repeatedly, using small utensils such as pencils and sharpies. Eventually, I started to become better at wrapping, and began to use my thumb more to achieve a tighter swirl. I'm happy with the end result, because it holds together and is pretty to look at.
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Polymer Clay Practice
One thing that I found out about polymer clay, from the Polymer clay practice to the right, would be that it blends well and bakes flat (not very glossy). To the left would be my polymer clay plate, which taught me about the value of having a shape in mind before crafting your final product.
Polymer Clay Earrings
By utilizing the skills I gained through my previous clay
practices, I was able to make these clay earrings. I chose star
shapes and a blue, yellow, and gold color scheme to
represent space and the night. The greatest challenge
I faced during the process was definitely fixing the gold
leaf into the clay; I overcame this problem by asking for
help and having patience. Overall, I found the process
to be very enjoyable; polymer clay interests me because
of how versatile it is.
practices, I was able to make these clay earrings. I chose star
shapes and a blue, yellow, and gold color scheme to
represent space and the night. The greatest challenge
I faced during the process was definitely fixing the gold
leaf into the clay; I overcame this problem by asking for
help and having patience. Overall, I found the process
to be very enjoyable; polymer clay interests me because
of how versatile it is.
Jump Ring Jewelry
The goal of this project was to create earrings using jump rings. The big idea of this project was to be able to use pliers precisely to open and close jump rings, in order to create beautiful jewelry. I researched using keywords such as "jump rings" and "earrings". While I was practicing opening the jump ring with pliers, I learned that beads only fit on certain rings. I had to get new rings to be able to fit all the beads on correctly. While I was sketching brainstorming ideas, I learned that the rings build on each other, like a chain. My anticipated challenge for this project was creating a complex design - I overcame this challenge by making trial earrings and receiving feedback - I decided to layer the rings. This design displays the principle of unity through repetition of ring amounts to create a pattern. To me, the most successful part of the piece would be that it incorporates colors that I like - such as purple and red. The workmanship of the rings could definitely be improved upon. They are not all fully closed.
Metal Pendant Necklace
My pendant is meant to look like a butterfly! Some of the pros of metal is that it is easy to saw and does not break easily. A huge con of metal is that it scratches easily - you have to be very gentle with it so that it doesn't get beat up. My biggest challenge during creating this pendant was sawing correctly - I either sawed too hard, or at an incorrect angle. I resolved this problem by asking people for help and then attempting to saw correctly using their advice. In my opinion, I'm most happy with how the cutting went. The design certainly is not perfectly cut out, but it looks better than I expected it to, and overall went less poorly than the buffing/sanding. The buffing could definitely use some improvement, as the pendant is not perfectly shiny, but I believe that as it is now is satisfactory.
Leather Earrings
My earrings represent shark creatures of some sort. One pro of leather as a material is that it is highly durable, and won't cause your jewelry to break if you simply drop it. One con of leather as a material would be that it is not very sustainable (not good for the environment). The biggest challenge I experienced during the process was getting the earrings clasps but together fully. I overcame this challenge by really pressing with my pliers and trying over and over again. The most successful part of my project would be the design in my opinion. I really like how it turned out and I think it's a unique and cool design overall. I suppose the jump rings could be a little tighter for holding the earrings together.