The Aquarium, Art Openings, and Studio Days…
November 12-25:
It’s been full speed ahead working on finals. I feel like I am living in the studio so it’s nice to reflect on my past couple of weeks and see that I’ve done other things as well.
I’ve been really focused on my pearl necklace assignment. We had to come up with a story on who this necklace is for and make a piece that reflect that story. I wrote a story about a little girl sitting in a chair at the front of a crowded room, swinging her feet and fiddling with the pearl necklace her father gave her. Her mom tugged her arm to let her know it was her turn to go up and say goodbye to her father for the last time. She was so nervous that she dropped the necklace and the pearls scattered everywhere. I wanted to try to capture the feeling of the swinging feet and the fiddling of the pearls in the movement of the necklace. I spent a lot of time making sure I cut out all of the pieces the same and sanding the surfaces to be identical to one another. It’s very tedious work, but I enjoy it a lot. I’ve been enjoying listening to podcasts and music while working. Now, I’ve gotten all the elements of my necklace to the point where I just have to put everything together!
I’ve also been spending a lot of time on my bead assignment for my casting class. I’m making as many beads as I can out of wax and then casting them in bronze and silver to make a really long necklace. I’m trying to recreate the experience of beading with my grandma when I was younger as a way to grieve and meditate. So far I’ve made around 400 beads and I’m aiming for 600 or so.
Last weekend I went to The New England Aquarium with Sophia in Boston. It was a good break from being in the studio. There were lots of penguins, stingrays, sea turtles, and sharks! So many beautiful creatures. Afterward, we grabbed some dinner at an Irish pub and listened to live music before going back to Sophia’s studio. We worked on figuring out the logistics for some of the pieces she wants to make and doing some size calculations. Her MIT Grad studio is such a cool space to work in with so much equipment to work with!
In History of Adornment, I’ve been working on my final presentation on what I consider to be adornment. It’s actually been a lot harder to articulate than I originally thought it would be because every time I think I’ve found an answer I find an exception to it. As a part of my presentation, I taught myself how to blowpipe solder. It’s one of the very first jewelry techniques, using very low-tech methods. Its done by using a denatured alcohol lamp, a small tube that is curved and slightly crimped at the end, and controlled breath work. You use the blowpipe to direct the flame from the lamp to where you are trying to solder. It’s pretty finicky because you can’t use too much oxygen where you blow out the flame, but still enough where the flame is directed towards the piece. I was so excited to get it to work on my second try!
On Thursday Morning I grabbed coffee with Millie and we sat and caught up for a while on what’s been going on. We then went to check out the new wallpaper exhibit at the RISD Museum. There were so many gorgeous wallpapers to look at! In another life, I would be a wallpaper designer.
Later in the evening I went with Livia to the Textiles Triennial opening. She had one of her pieces selected to be in it! It was so cool to see what everyone in textiles as been up to!
We had a little roommate bonding night and made dinner together and just talked and listened to music. It’s so nice to make time to spend quality time with friends amidst all the craziness of finals.
Only three more days until I head back home for a quick trip to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Looking forward to a little break and hopefully coming back well-rested!
Have a good week!
Love, Sophia
