Calendar: March 2011

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‘Earring for Giovanna’ in situ

Today I popped into Mailbox 141 to install my beautiful lady and the earring I have made for her.

The space had low lighting, which my camera doesn’t respond to well … but that’s okay, for it still allows a little mystery as to the detail of the work … which I will reveal in a post on Tuesday (the opening day of the ‘Lend Me Your Ears‘ exhibition).

Mailbox 141 - exhibition space

Mailbox 141 - exhibition space

Earring for Giovanna; in situ (and deliberately mysteriously out of focus!); photograph not to be reproduced without permission

I was pleasantly surprised at how lovely she looked in the honey-coloured light. I’m so excited to see all the other pieces in the boxes and how they all may relate to each other …

In progress still…

Some more progress photographs of my piece for ‘Lend me your ears‘ exhibition; it is now titled ‘Earring for Giovanna‘.

step 4 - weaving

step 5 - blacken and redden

I will be assembling this earring ready for installation on Sunday … exhibition details coming soon!

… last post on this project here …

RMIT Year 1, Semester 2, Silversmithing #2

First year, second semester, Silversmithing, project #2: ‘*Colander / Strainer / Sieve‘

This is one of the few pieces that I’ve made that isn’t with me … I gave it to my mum and dad as a gift.

The remit of the project was to “design and make a functional or non-functional object that will allow liquid to pass through whilst withholding another matter“.

I did a lot of reading of the Japanese tea ceremony for this project – it did help that the Japanese culture has always been fascinating for me, especially their beautiful textiles. I sketched a number of ideas and after a few days briefly sketched the three layers of a traditional temple; and as it was such a simple line drawing, my imagination saw something else that ended up with the idea of three nesting pieces for a tea strainer.

from visual diary at the time; not to be reproduced without permission

In creating the piercing that would create the function of a strainer I found the design in the flowers of a cheery blossom tree.

working out the saw piercing; from visual diary at the time; not to be reproduced without permission

The silver pieces were raised from copper, saw-pierced and plated; the green pieces are aluminium discs that were formed in a flypress, drilled and anodised a beautiful jade green.

tea strainer; original image by Mark Kral; not to be reproduced without permission

tea strainer; original image by Mark Kral; not to be reproduced without permission

… last post in this series: RMIT Year 1, Semester 2, Silversmithing #1 …