Week 10: November 8th, 2021

This week, I have made a sketch of the sculpture I would like to create for my luminary project and I have found 3 inspiration pictures.

I came up with the concept of my sculpture by using the lyrics of a song I have composed.

“There was a time we were afraide of the dark,

We thought it was caused by the monsters.

But the truth is not that easy to find,

Since we were scared of the unknown.”

I wanted to represent the shapes that I used to make out in the dark when I was little. I would see a pile of clothes as a monster. I amd putting this idea together with the fear I have now, my futur.

This sketch shows what my sculpture will look like in the light. It is a monster hiding under covers to simulate what I would see when I was little. I will be making it hollow and out of clay. I chose to make the monster exagerated and childish and I will be using bright colours to show how what once was scary is now unrealistic.

This sketch is what my sculpture will look like in the dark and illuminated. When sculpting the monster, I will make the flower detailing as slits so that the scource of the light from the inside can shine through. The flowers are supposed to represent how I am still learning and blooming as I am growing up. The swirly branches represent all the different paths and options I have. I take the scary parts of the monster and make them into something inviting. For example, the teeth turn into large leaves coming out of the bottom of the flower.

My Inspiration :

I chose these three pictures from the website : https://sass3journey.com/2016/12/18/create-your-own-starlight-chamber-through-the-beauty-of-luminary-pottery/

I chose this picture because I like the use of different simple shapes to make other shapes, like swirls. It is also using the same light source as my design.

I chose this picture because of the different size holes it used as well as the wave shape it created. I am going for something similar with the flower shapes I am making and this gives me a good idea of what it could look like visually.

I chose this picture because of the beautiful light the sculptures cast onto the wall. I now want to try and see if my sculpture will project the flower lighting that I will be making.

My goal for this week is to plan what three prototypes I will be making and to start on one of them.

Week 11: November 15th, 2021

This week, I have started on the clay prototype for my luminary project, prestented my art movement presentation, and I have made small creations for other art movement presentations.

I made this small pot to make the design on for my clay prototype. I used the pottery wheel, after not using it for 5 years, and I had to learn how to operate it again. It was challenging, since centering it was hard and the clay would fall off when I would try to shape the pot. I might make another pot after tying to carve this one, because I want the product to be more even.

The two images show a part of a mandala I made on clear plastic and a geometric shoe I made to recreate a real one. These were fun mini projects to do, since I got to challenge mysekf to draw on different materials and to draw in different art styles.

I almost met my goals for last week, because I started on my clay prototype, but I still need to plan another prototype. I decided to make my paper prototype with the cricut machine.

My goal for this week is to carve my pot and to start on the cricut design. A bonus would be to make another pot.

Week 12: November 22nd, 2021

This week, I have made a new pot, carved both my clay prototypes for my luminary project, designed my cricut mandala, and I have made a new small creation for art movement presentations.

I carved my first pot after leaving it for a weekend and a few days. It was dried up so everytime I made holes in it, other parts would fall off. After seeing most of my design fall off, I decided to make a new pot. I made it using the back of a measuring cup as a mold. I then decided to carve it on the same day, so that the clay would still be soft. I am not sure if the light will project the way I want it to, since the angles of the holes are different, and the clay would clog up the holes from the inside.

This abstract painting is made by using different colours of paint and marbles moved around in a cardboard box. I made it in a group of 5 people and we each took turns to swirl around the marble and paint. This resulted in the abstract pattern shown.

The design of my cricut is a mandala, resembling a flower, so that it is related to my final project’s theme. I need to make adjustments, since the lines are touching each other. This makes it impossible to execute the design the same because each pattern would fall off.

I met all of my goals, including the bonus one last week. I carved my first pot and made a new one, which is carved much better than the other, and I started on my cricut design.

My goal for this week is to paint my pot, to fix the cricut design, and to start on my recycable prototype.

Week 13: November 29th, 2021

This week, I have painted and glazed my pot, almost finished my recycable prototype, fixed my cricut mandala design, and I have made small creations for art movement presentations.

I tried painting my pot with underglaze in a way that would make it resemble a flower more. I also tried following the pattern of the holes. The challenge with glazing it was unclogging the holes, since the design I made got covered with the thick glaze.

The first picture is a sculpture made from plastic balls. Our goal was to turn the items into a new creation, so our group decided to hot glue the balls into a Christmas tree. The second picture is made from pieces of paper thrown onto the paper base and glued down in their exact position. This was to use the randomness of the drop of the papers to create something interesting. The third picture is a drawing of a vending machine. Our task was to recreate the picture of the vending machine as realisticaly as possible in the short time we were given. The last picture was using geometric straight lines, shapes, and different colours to create an interesting design.

I fixed my cricut design by adding spaces in between the lines so that they were no longer connected. This was important since the design used to be impossile to cut out in one piece. I am still not sure if the design will be cut out the way it was drawn by cricut, which means there might be more adjustements to make.

I started off my recycable prototype by re-painting a black box as the base. I then glued gold paper to the bottom and top sides of the inside of the box to be used as a reflective surface. Afterwards, I taped fairylights along the inside of the box and I made origami stars. I added in the stars by making garlands with a needle and thread and sewing them in to the sides. There are still some garlands left to make since it is the most time consuming part of this project.

After almost having finshed the pot, and working with luminary concepts, I have realized that I do not like my original  final luminary project design. It will be impossible to have complicated designs since the clay will just fall off and the light will not be disperesed evenly.

I met all of my goals, since I painted and glazed my pot, fixed the cricut design, and almost finished my recycable prototype.

My goal for this week is to finish my pot, and to work on re-making my final luminary project design.

Week 14: December 7th, 2021

This week, I have finished my pot and I have made a new design for my final luminary project.

I was not the expecting the colors to be bright red and blue in the end result, since the underglaze looked different before being put in the kilm. The light —. This prototype helped me realize that the final project’s original design will not work as well as I thought it would, because of the limit in adding details and the dispersion of the light.

My new idea for the luminary project is to have a closet with an illusion of having different things inside every time the doors open. I will achieve this by using sliding doors and a divider in the middle. The divider will be covered with mirrored paper, making the inside seem spacious and giving the illusion of both sides being open. I will still used the lyrics of my song and have the same concept of monsters in the dark and the blooming flower. One side will have monsters made of clay and the other will have a cricut design covering light. The cricut design will let the light out only through its holes, making the flower glow and the other side dark.

I met all of my goals, since I finished the pot and I redesigned my final luminary project.

My goal for this week is to finish my recycable prototype and to start using the cricut.

Week 15: December 17th, 2021

This week, I have finished my recycable prototype and I have worked on the cricut.

I finished the recycable protoype by adding in the last rows of stars and by taking pictures of it in the dark. This prototype was a great experience to make since I got to be creative and put together an art form I already know, origami, and materials I have not used before in an art project, like gold paper and fairylights.

I used the circut machine to draw out my mandala design on cardstock, leaving one side left to the lantern. I am planning on using folding this paper in three, to have the design be visible all around and to have one side with light shining through clearly. I desided to cut my design in half because it inlarged all the little details that would have been lost if they were drawn smaller.

I met all of my goals, since I finished the recycable prototype and I have used the cricut machine to draw out my design.

My goal for the week after the break is to finish the lantern and to start on the monster side of the final luminary project.

Week 16: January 17th, 2022

This week, I have finished the lantern and I have sculpted the closet’s monster side.

The first step to finishing the lantern prototype was by choosing a simple design I wanted to cut out of vinyl. I had decided with the librarians that making a simple silhouette of a flower in one piece would not be possible without it looking to dark and plain, which lead us to change the plan to apply vinyl to baking paper and to use it to hold everything together. After cutting out the vinyl, I had to use tools to seperate the unwanted parts and I had to transfer the design using transfer paper. This lead us to a new problem where the vinyl would not stick to the backing paper. In the end, I stuck it to tracing paper and glued it to hold the folded stock paper sides together aswell.

For the monster design, I decided to sculpt a sculpture that does not resemble a specific shape. It is meant to show how our fears blend and mix together to create nightmares and monsters. The most significant part of the sculpture is the eyes, since it resembles the peering monsters we would see in our closets as children. The sculpture has been put in the kiln ad is now ready for underglaze and glaze.

I met all of my goals, since I finished making the lantern and I have made the monster sculpture.

My goal for the last week of this semester is to completely finish the luminary project and to work on my bonus project in the remaining time I have left.