Scattered points make a pattern.

Happy Monday Everybody,
I thought I'd use this weeks blog to work out an idea I have for some future work. Bear with me as I give the background information - it's all a part of the process.

Currently, I am starting on a line of rings, bracelets and necklaces made from square brass tubing. I'm having fun exploring the concept, materials, and processes involved, but I would have to admit that this line is what it is because it fits the perimeters of the assignment. I'm happy enough with the designs, but... I am really starting to feel like this line just isn't very me yet - even though the concept is. In it's simplest form - the line is about the link and comparable sameness of male and female. It's about how only the tiniest of differences really show - and that we are all really barely gendered beings. Sometimes it takes embellishments (jewelry, for instance) to advertise how we would like our gender to be perceived. It is also about this presentation of gender through appearance and behaviors. Boys do this and look like this, girls do that and look like that... the concept I am trying to portray is the blending of gender through appearance and behavior. Not girl or boy, but both and neither.

I have also recently begun work on our Bespoke object. I am building a jewelry sander, and in the process, learning quite a bit about mechanics. It was exceptionally exciting for me to discover how gears work, and how different shapes and mechanical configurations can create different forms of movement. Slight adjustments in shape or connection can dramatically alter the feel of a movement.

Through working in through both assignments, I have stumbled across the barest seedling of an idea for future work. I would like to incorporate mechanics into jewelry that is ultimately read as feminine. I would also like to make this work in a way that the wearer would learn something about the mechanics being worn. My first explorations will be with simple machines (lever, pully, etc..) and move through more complex movements (combinations of simple machines and the principals behind them).

This idea currently leans more towards exploring blurring feminine gender roles than blending female and male, but I'm sure I can find a way to pull it back over to the middle.