Ann Demeulemeester

http://www.anndemeulemeester.be/

She is making fantastic crazy fashion, crossing the lines of clothing and jewelry. It's inspiring because if you look back at her history and see all the things she's created over the last two decades, you can see a progression and you can tell there's going to be even more fantastic designs in the future... Love it all over the face.

SOFA

I went to SOFA on Saturday, and needless to say on top of the fact that I was bummed I couldn't take pictures, there were only a few artists that I felt were actually making good work and in hindsight I wish I would've written down their names. I listened to a couple artist's talk about their work and how making is going for them, but I felt like the majority of artist's were in a lull. I feel like as much as I was actually impressed by I was still disappointed in seeing what I might eventually be part of... I don't know what our field needs, but it needs more excitement.

Progress: Bespoke Object II

Progress: Bespoke Object

Model

Door knob model.

A mechanism that fits my needs...

To diagram what a door handle is like.... figure out the mechanism....
Thinking about a door handle in terms of both the rotary dial phone and an object used to open doors...

Flower buds came to mind, as far as form goes... Something that represents a future...

And going off tradition...

Finding form...

And color...
These sketches ensued...
I think I've decided that I'm going to make a "flower bud" inspired door knob, and in that will be my finger holes for my much needed function. I want to try and make the form hollow so that the negative space in the middle is visible... I am also making it in wood.
The material was throwing me a little bit, because I don't want to make the knob out of metal. I decided wood to go along the lines of communication and the properties of it... being non-conductive of electricity, the wood would challenge the ideas of what a door does and what a phone does. For my project I'm summing those functions down to the idea of a relationship, and advancing relationships, through communication and "opening doors.''

Vicki Ambery-Smith

These are so amazing to me. I've helped friends build a couple architectural models in my day, but nothing out of metal, talk about tiny and tedious! I think this work is great, it really makes me appreciate her work, knowing how hard it is to work that small, and detailed.

"The Art of Deception" by Natalie Angier

SO, I look at National Geographic a lot, mainly because of the amazing photography inside. I like this article in particular because of all the natural beauty, texture and color that is occurring in most of these photographs. I also really enjoy visual puzzles.

Here's the link to the article: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/08/mimicry/angier-text
Click on "Photo gallery" to see more photos

Visual Research: Sugar Series

"Statement pieces" if you will, runway fashion jewelry... In terms of form, the more the merrier seems to be a trend with the individual element, but over all the shape of everything is rather streamlined and simple. I like the organic shapes a lot more than the geometric, I also seem to be more drawn to the ones with subtle shift in color.

^

I like these solely because of the bulk of material. Also the idea that it's something other than a big gaudy set stone.

^

The transparency, slight gradients due to layers, softness... I love it.

^
The awareness of this necklace is nice, i like how it's simple but very dynamic at the same time, because of it's size and color.

^
I really like the colors in this one, it looks like she just walked out of the ocean and has sea plants stuck to her neck.

^
More interesting structures... I think I'm seeing a trend in the size of these pieces... they're not shy.

Alright, I'm thinking neon colors and the illusion of sparkle. Shiny and Seductive.

Sugar Sculpture 1

Pulled sugar

Once the sugar has been cooked, the now-liquid sugar is poured onto a silicone rubber mat (e.g., Silpat). Any coloring is now added. The sugar is then folded repeatedly into itself, until the sugar is, while still flexible, cool enough to handle. The sugar is then stretched out and then folded on itself repeatedly. This process incorporates air into the sugar, and gives it a bright lustery sheen. The sugar can then be sculpted by hand into various shapes, made into ribbons, or blown.

Blown sugar

In blown sugar, a portion of pulled sugar is placed on a rubber pump which is tipped with either wood or metal. Pumps are most commonly hand pumps. While being blown, the sugar can be shaped, often into animals or flowers. Blown sugar cannot be quickly cooled by dipping it in water, so chefs must use fans to cool the sugar, all the while rotating it, so that it does not come out of shape.

Cast sugar

In this technique, sugar is poured into molds. This technique produces more sturdy pieces than pulled and blown sugar, and is almost always used for the base and structural elements of showpieces.

Pastillage

A thick sugar paste, similar to gum paste, is molded into shapes. When dried, it is hard and brittle. Made with gelatin, water and confectioner's sugar, it hardens quickly and can be shaped for a short while by hand, and after hardening, with electric grinders, cutters, sandpaper and assorted files.

Pressed Sugar

Granulated sugar is mixed with a minimum amount of water, and is put under pressure. It hardens into a solid piece. Though this is used for showpiece bases, it is less often used because of the time required to produce it, and its lesser aesthetic value.

Rock Sugar

The liquid sugar is blended with a small amount of royal icing. The heat from the sugar causes the air incorporated in the icing to rapidly expand, causing the mixture to grow to several times its original volume. The mixture is quickly poured into a lined dish, and placed into a blast chiller to set. This process produces a sugar mass with the texture of volcanic pumice, the color of which is determined by the color of the sugar syrup.

Spun Sugar

Sugar syrup is made into long extremely thin strands which can be shaped to make things like birds nests. The sugar is gathered on a fork or a special tool designed for spinning sugar and is flicked in long strokes over succeeding pipes.

-Wikipedia

A little Wikipedia search gave me the different types of sugar sculpture. I'm assuming for this project I'm going to attempt to pull, cast, pastille and perhaps spin to get different textures and shapes in my pieces. I just have to figure out how to make a silicone mold......

Mctega

In pursuit of finding information on candy jewelry, (who's doing it and what's been done) I stumbled across Mctega. This work doesn't consist of anything that is actually made out of sugar or, anything edible for that matter, but the style is definitely something that I could attain in my persuit of candy coating jewelry. I really like the color studies that are happening in the majority of the pieces that are on the website. Here's a little hint at what the stuff looks like:
Link to Mctega: http://www.mctega.com/

"Door Furnature" By Philip Watt Design

Found this today on some random google search and thought to myself "Hey, that's not what I'm looking for, but it applies to the idea of Bespoke!" So, I'm sharing. I looked a little bit at Philip Watt's website, very cool stuff especially the sinks...

10 things that are inspiring...

To start simple: The color purple.

Nike of Samothrace

Sleeping... Dreaming...

Alexander McQueen's 2010 line.

Knowing that there is only so much time before I go crazy.

People who live life simple.

Unexpected findings... like these shiny fungus cup thingies.

Music duo, Boards of Canada. Textures, so many textures...

Humbling experiences that put you in your place and make you think.

Fractal Patterns, especially the naturally occurring ones...