Birnam walk in the woods

Mold making and silicone rubber..

So I tried my best at hot rubber mold-making again, this time casting a material I'd never used before - silicone rubber. I imagined it would be a rubbery yet smooth texture. However I'm actually really not keen on the feeling of it! If this is the way it always turns out, including translucent silicone which I would have to buy myself....I don't think I'll be using this in the future! It's is something I've tried and tested though, so it's a learning curve. I might have a few more goes at it- one adding bubbles to it to create a more organic effect, and one go putting the liquid silicone in a vacuum to take all the bubbles out. Oh well, I hope I have a better making day tomorrow!

'sciencey' things...

Off to the woods we gooo...took a wander up round the castle estate to find some mushrooms, squishy things, lycan, etc. Thought i'd slice some fungi up and take a look at it under the microscope. As you can see from the picture, this is a VERY old microscope! My dad's, originally my great grandpa's. You have to have a torch/lamp placed where the mirror is and adjust it so that the light shines up towards the slides, there's no fancy internal light within this thing! It's really cool that it's a piece of family history.
I wiped the dust off it and the slide that i last used years ago was STILL sitting on the plinth, must have been looking at spores because an orange dust-pattern was stuck to the glass slide.

Anywho! I got the best photos that i could out of this. Last time i tried looking down the lens, then drawing what i saw..quite tricky. So i focused my camera down the lens.


The light isn't too great but i didn't think i'd even be able to get pictures in the first place so i'm quite pleased! And i like that the photos are the lens and black background :)

The coven of witches..

A funny mossy collection of lumps which is sitting up a hill near the Maltlands on the Castle Estate in Inveraray..I've walked passed them so many times and thought they looked like a group of witches huddling together or whispering! I'm sort of waiting for them to pop out of the undergrowth one day..

Hmmm...silicone eh..

Whoopie cakes! (or pies)

Decided to make these today, having never tried these wee treats, or made them before...

...leading up to the ultimate question: Are they better than the good old cupcake?!

I can't decide myself, was a good excuse to try them all the same!

A lot have been munched already due to my brother and his pal diving into them.

Orkney

The end of term

I haven't posted for quite a long time, about two months. Finally the semester is over, we've all passed and are heading towards scary 4th year! It will be all worth it to see our shiny degree show though :)
However I can't help but think that this year was a little bit of a downer on the course for me, I enjoyed it so so so much in 2nd year, 3rd year I felt was a bit of a flop. The excitement had gone from the previous term, getting stuck into something I'm interested in, I think maybe what held me back apart from unfortunate circumstances, is that it wasn't 2nd year anymore, 3rd year seemed so much more serious that I shrivelled up a little bit, I wasn't quite as free as I wanted to be. I'd experiment with lots of different materials but nothing ever came to a 'spectacular ending' like I'd planned in my head. They came out more like samples.
For 4th year I'm aiming to bring the excitement back, not hold back and be brave, but at the same time I want to create something that looks more like a finished piece, well executed and with great skill. In order to do that I think I'm going to have to think about the way I work more, and learn about the materials I want to use really well.
I'm hoping for a better year next year, one where I feel much more comfortable in college and just get stuck in. Apart from aiming to get most of my dissertation done over the summer, and having to earn lots of money...I aim to have a good break! :)

Sake, should have posted this up aaaages ago..

My Domestic Paradise project finished!

Everything is beginning to thaw....

Hopefully to much brighter times :)

Spoons and knives :)

So for our Domestic Paradise project I have so far made a giant rubber spoon, and an acrylic knife (which im not sure what im going to do with yet) for my collection of unusable tableware objects. Next I would LOVE to make a giant porcelain cracked egg, soft looking and brilliant white and then flock the inside, AND a large copper bowl with texturized details at the bottom. Who knows when im going to make them though...onward to Munich this week..!

'Domestic Paradise'

Hmmmm.....spooooons...

Just some rings :)

Two rings I made in the workshop this week, for myself, while I had the time!

That's a SWEET piece of jewellery you're wearing

Baking, baking, baking and a little bit of cooking is mostly what I've been doing in the holidays, which is what I love doing to relax and it keeps me making things outside of college too when there's no access to a workshop.
In 2nd year when I wasn't quite so confident about doing some crazy ideas, I considered making edible jewellery..now this of course could be modelled on a kind of food and made out of plastics/different materials etc, or completely edible..or both.
I like the idea of bringing something like cake-decorating off the cake and transfering it onto the body to make a wearable sweet sculpture!
Jewellery which lasts can be beautiful and is treasured by the owner obviously for a long time, but just for a bit of fun, some edible jewellery which can be enjoyed for a short time and also offer a tasty treat- how can you refuse? :P

Ana Crisan's Sugar Creation "Art is there to be consumed, so please start nibbling as so as it's out in the open!"