This is a sort of top view of the wee models I made to show an idea in 3D form. The wire terminations are not how I would have them in forged bar, but I could forge or hammer the wire, so the just end as a cut off...
These should be able to stand on there own if they were forged, and the elastic bands are only there to keep them joined. In the forge I would weld, pin or rivet them together and then wrap over the top.











This one is a bit closer and you can just about see some detail on the left hand side. This shows how the three bars would fit together and they splay off in different directions. Again this isn't exactly how it would look if it was forged, but you get the general idea of what I would do.














Here is another photograph of the same models, but I thought I should take a close up just in case it's any clearer in showing what I want to do. Again the elestic bands really stand out, and I wish I didn't have to use them, but it was what I had to hand...

This one shows the seperate elements of a 'thing' that I plan on making. Essentially it is comprised of five seperately forges elements which are joined together by a series of hidden rivets and spacers. There is a side view and then I have deconstructed the image into the five pieces. I tried to make it last week, but really wasn't feeling up to it, however this week I will give it another go if I have the time.

Sketch

Here is a sketch taken from my main sketchbook of an idea I have been working on recently.

This one shows one of the shapes I have been drawing from the music I listen to, and is starting to appear in a number of my sketches. At the bottom there is a simple sketch of how I would connect three bars using the middle one to wrap around the other two. I think I would need to either weld or pin the bars first and the wrap would simply be a decoration. This is one of the samples I'm going to try and make this week...

End of Week 6...

So...my progress has been glacial, however I have managed to speed things up a bit and am altogether a bit more confident and dare I say happy with what I am doing. The past few weeks of negativity and sloth are gone, so there is no point in wishing I could go back and do more work. The time is lost but what I can do is try my best to sort things out, carry on and make a good attempt to produce some quality work.

My back is healing a bit more, but I think my physiotherapist is a bit too brutal...He told me that basically it's all my own fault for letting my back get to this stage and that because I didn't take care of it before now I may have caused permanent damage. I can do a lot to help get some mobility in it without causing pain, but it is going to take a lot of time and effort. If things go well I will be fine for a long while, but eventually it will get worse and there won't be anything I can do to make it better. What I can do is make sure I help it now so I have the longest possible pain-free time.

Anyway, on the work front I haven't got a lot but I'm getting there. Right now I'm focusing on one idea I had from a really short excerpt of music. Basically I love the way the music goes up steeply, then flicks back down and up slightly as an unfinished cadence. I found some more music that I can work from. I believe it is by the BBC Orchestra and the pieces are written by George Fenton and the music features in the documentary series 'The Blue Planet'. The first section of the first track is absolutly fantastic and very dramatic (as all music should be!)

This week I plan on making a few samples that I'm happy with so I have something good to show at the formative assessment...not exactly looking forwards to it, but it might prove useful to get different opinions about my work. My problem is that I'm not so good at taking critisism or compliments, but I'm working on it...

Hopefully following should be some photographs of my work/models that I did this weekend.

Go Do

Right, update since the last post...
I did a bit more sketchbook work and I think I'm feeling a lot better in my head than last week, so that's helping. I talked about my work with 'B' today and as far as I can tell the ideas I presented are of interest and apparently understood. I'm setting up a meeting system so that I can work on my weekly goals a bit better and it also means that I have to go into college, otherwise (and I hate to admit this) I wouldn't go in.
Some days it's so hard just to get up in the morning, but I'm getting better at telling myself I need to. I'm on a degree course and there is no 'free time' to waste.

Today has been good so far. I know what I'm going to do at the forge and this relieves a lot of the anxiety I have just before I have to go in. I think the worst thing for me is uncertainty. It constantly holds me back so I just need to find a way around it.
I am going to work on connection samples when I go in so that I can figure out how I will layer the material and indeed what kind of section I like. At the moment it looks like flat bar from my sketches, but I think a mix of lots of different sections would be interesting and could relate to the different sounds/phrases/instruments that I hear when I listen to music.

As for my research I am feeling a lot better about it. Research doesn't necessarily need to be visual. I just need to document and justify my findings and decisions. For example- I only work to very specific music. Why is that? What makes it different to anything else? What is it about that music which makes me feel the way I do and enable me to draw it? Are there other artists who also use music as their inspiration? What do they listen to and what shapes do they draw from it?
Look into synaesthesia studies as a form of research. Start to compile a research folder. It doesn't have to contain visuals, just a collection of information which informs what you do. This could be anything.

I think that I might try and add some excerpts of music to this blog (or link the pages) so that I can post some sketch/design work and show how it relates to the music. Maybe it would be more understandable?
I found a website the other day of an amazing glass sculptor, and his gallery of work can be viewed with music playing in the background. The same kind of music that I listen to, and I noticed that some of his work has the same curves that I am trying to work into my designs.
http://www.christopherries.com/selected_works.htm
I am going to write to him explaining why I'm interested in his work and ask if music has anything to do with his work-if not, why has he added a 'soundtrack' to his gallery?

I now have a good idea of what I will be doing today and will worry about dissertation studies tomorrow...

Whenever I need to listen to something which will keep my happy mood going, I listen to a song by 'Jonsi' called 'Go Do'. I haven't tried to work from this music yet because I'm not sure if it is the right thing for my designs, but it might be a good idea to try...
http://jonsi.com/go
It's not for everyone, but I think it's impossible to be sad when listening to this track.