cybik: (Default)
Since I said I'd try to get them up, here are some pictures of what I've been doing lately.

I posted pictures of the same bowl and spoon not long ago, but they are, however, closer to being finished. That's not, as you will have no doubt noted, the same thing as finished. Shame, but I ran out of time. It's not like I didn't put any effort in. Overall I'm quite pleased.

There are also pictures of three pages from my sketchbook - two with drawings and one with a machine embroidery. I'd write more about them but I desperately need to sleep, so I'll just leave you with the pictures (click to enlarge..).

various pictures )
cybik: (Default)
Would anyone like to go to the Victoria and Albert museum to see this Modernism exhibition? It runs from the 6th of April to the 23rd of July and costs £9 full price or £7 for a concession.

From September to January there's an exhibition at the V and A about Leonardo da Vinci as an inventor and engineer. I plan to go to see that as well, but that's a bit further away and this mention is mostly so I remember it!

I'm also tempted by this, which is "Americans in Paris 1860-1900" at the National Gallery. It's £9/£4.50 and finishes on the 21st of May.


My life is still being run by my course. I've been in the workshop five days every week for the past three or four weeks, which has led to seeing hammers and fire when I close my eyes, as well as my arms aching constantly..

My current project is due to be handed in tomorrow morning before 10am, and I've been frantically trying to do all the paperwork I need for it (all the design work you're supposed to do before hand. I like to do it afterwards). Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish the spoon that I've been making, which is irritating me a lot. Various technical problems thwarted me at the last minute. I've still got to clean it up (after heating the surface is covered in oxides and needs to be put into an acid solution and then sanded or polished or however you want to finish it), but that shouldn't take too long.

I'll try to get some photos of my most recent stuff up, though when that'll happen depends entirely on the whims of my digital camera. You might even get pictures of non-metalwork things!

My parents dropped off my sewing machine a couple of days ago, which was a joyful occasion. I have missed having it with me and have already got loads of ideas for things I want to make, including about three complete outfits (for Infest), at least three corsets (a girl can never have too many) and a variety of small bags. Having just done some rough machine embroidery/drawing with stitches/whatever I should call it of stylised spines for my project, I think I might make a couple of bags with things like that appliqued. I'll see what happens, anyway.



Oh, and I'm going to be free for a week or so (not Saturdays during the daytime, but I can get into London by about 7.30pm) in the Easter holidays. The dates are the 15th to the 23rd, so if anyone (preferably in the South, since I can't afford to go far) would like to do something in that time, send me a message. :)
cybik: (infest2005)
Metalwork stuff

For our most recent project, we had to decide whether to do scoring or raising. Scoring is as you would with paper; making a line to help form folds. Raising is a process that uses hammers and stakes to gradually shape objects - usally vessels of some sort (bowls, jugs, vases etc.).

photos for your viewing pleasure )

The shapes are based on the human skeleton, but they are slightly more abstracted than in my last project. In this project we were told to make something functional. I had an idea for a vase based on the pelvis and backbone, but that will have to wait for another time.

I'm enjoying this project a lot. Raising is tiring work, but it's less frustrating (for me) than sawing out tiny pieces for jewellery or anodising aluminium over and over. It's quite a slow process to use (not least because you have to stop and anneal the metal quite often in order for it to be soft enough to work), but it hasn't bored me.

Stuff other than metalwork

Lately I've been trying to read a bit more. I have recently finished The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills, The Three Muskateers (I'd not read it before, which seems bizarre) and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Next I think I shall read Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I'm looking forward to seeing V for Vendetta, even though I'm sure I shall come out of the cinema raging. There are many films I seem to have missed, unfortunately - Brokeback Mountain and The constant Gardner to name just two. I'll just have to get them out on DVD (or wait until a friend buys them and then borrow them!).

I have been baking lots in the last few days. I have made buns and biscuits, and here are the recipes. )

I have also been a bit stressed about money, but hopefully eBay will help with that. I have things I no longer wear which I will collect from home in April and then put up for auction.

I recently went to the college library and found a copy of Corsets and Crinolines by Norah Waugh. It has patterns for various historical corsets (and crinolines, who'd have thought?), a couple of which I have photocopied and enlarged. At some point I plan to make an Edwardian corset for myself as well as a lovely 1860s pattern one (from a pattern not in the book) which is actually the right sort of size for me. Making them may have to wait until I have the money to buy the busks (solid front piece which, one later corsets, opens) and until I have a sewing machine again. I would like to make one of them, at least, out of some beautiful silk I have at home. I think I still have a piece of shot black and blue grey dupioni somewhere.

I'm sure I've forgotten various things, but, as this is turning into a bit of a monster update, it can wait.
cybik: (Default)
Lately I've been very busy at uni, but unfortunately I had a cold/cough/random illness last week that meant I didn't spend as much time in the workshop as I would have liked.

a new thing and three old things )

Other than uni I've not been up to an awful lot. I did go to London at the weekend to see the ever lovely Sarah and boyfriend. Other than that, I've mostly been sitting around doing not very much.

I have hardly read a word in six weeks. This is Bad and Wrong and will hopefully be rectified by me going on a reading spree. I have several books lined up already but please feel free to recommend books you think I must read at all costs. Currently I'm halfway through "Sophie's World", a book I've been meaning to read for something like eight years.

Life is good. It'd be better if I saw more people more often. I have not that much money (bah) and I work Saturdays (also bah) but seeing people is quite high on my list of priorities.

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