Over these past four weeks, I have had a meeting with my mentor and have continued to work on jewelry making using different gauges (thicknesses) of wire. The smaller the number, the thicker the wire. Throughout experimentation, I have found that that higher gauges/thinner wire is a lot easier and more flexible to work with but is also weaker and more breakable. Using wires and pliers, I made a snake ring, moon ring, heart ring, and cactus ring (all pictured below). The snake ring was the most difficult and time-consuming to make, as it required two different gauges of wire and to attach a stone in the head of the snake and hide the ends of the wire.
Concepts in recent sessions with mentor:
- Materials
- Creation Process
- Analysis
- Experimentation
- Jewelry making styles
Action alternatives my mentor has offered me throughout this project include using different techniques when it comes to jewelry making. For example, she showed me a wooden necklace that was created using wood bending. She talked about how to bend materials. The equipment can be quite expensive to purchase so looking at other alternatives are a better option. An alternative would be heating up material by boiling water in order to bent materials easier without spending lots of money. She has mentioned finding creative ways to substitute for equipment I do not have. I applied this when I needed to bend metal to make a ring. A ring bender would have made the process easier, but I found a round metal object and a hammer to use instead.
A perception alternative my mentor has offered me is in order to progress, look for aspects to improve when analyzing your creations, rather than just focusing on the bad and the good. Then, figure out possible ways to improve the jewelry and put that into action.
An alternative another mentor may have offered me is finding alternative resources to further my learning. Because of different perceptions and ways of looking at situations, another mentor would have had alternative judgements and actions.
For my learning center, I plan on creating a gallery-style PowerPoint with pictures of my favourite jewelry pieces I have created with a short explanation regarding each one, and maybe show a before and after if I made the piece multiple times. I may also create a short video tutorial on how to make a spoon ring or a wire ring. I am thinking that it would be just around a minute because on In-Depth night, there are many learning centers to visit, and people will not have an extended amount of time to look at each one. The aspects that I will be focusing on are mostly the creation process and results. Although there are many details of In-Depth, I could talk about like figuring out what I want to create, finding alternative ways without expensive equipment, the research side of jewelry making, and experimentation, I think the creation process and final results will be best to showcase. Knowing that I cannot share everything I have learned, I want to present the pieces I am proud of and the process it took to get there. I hope the audience will take away how trying a new skill can be a lot of fun and there are many people and resources you can find to teach you along the way. I also hope they can learn that the first attempt is not going to turn out exactly how you want it to, but practice makes progress. Through experimentation and multiple attempts, you will definitely see improvement. To make this learning center interactive, I will most likely create a video tutorial. This creates engagement, rather than just having a static presentation of just words. Additionally, everyone will be able to add comments and questions to the learning centers which I will be replying to.
Until In-Depth Night!