ME IM A CREATOR

ANODIZING

So to make my beautiful cartoon like colourful happy pieces.... I actually have to     
RISK MY LIFE  with acids and electricity

Well I don't exactly risk my life per say, but its not as happy go lucky as it seems IS IT?!!

Acid and electric currents are serious stuff, (take note of the amount of cautious protective clothing I wear in the pics!) The emergency eye wash station never got used so much as it did this year id imagine!!

Prepping the Aluminium


So I have a lot of boring work to do before I get to actually anodize my work, boring as it is they are steps I take to prepare for the perfect finish on my work and are super secret trade secrets... and Im not telling !

After this the aluminium has to be connected to a rod and suspended in a caustic soda etch, cleaned and then into a Nitric Acid dip, and then finally into the diluted Sulphuric Acid, and connected to the electric current .. via the rod! 



I used 14 volts for an hour or so, and then straight into the dyes and then sealed with steam !!

And this is what I do BOOM!!

From the Start

I can never pin point exactly when or how I come up with an idea, even when I'm sleeping ideas are always ticking over.  My doodles are a great starting point, I explore combinations of patterns and colour...

I have pages and pages of these types of drawings, They're not intended for anything other than to let my mind wander and see what happens! 

From here I took elements that I found attractive and scribbled down some initial designs. 

LOL are my drawings not just charming.... I can actually draw well, but I find drawing like a child to be far more appealing !!! 

IN FACT.....

I should probably have mentioned the hours of studying that I did on the actual Tara Brooch! 

Its such a detailed piece of work I could probably spend years studying it and still not know everything!

So after my child like creativeness I need to translate what I come up with in very grown up way (BOO) to rhino CAD drawings. I do this as I have my pieces water jet cut out. 

Cant find any CAD drawings... But heres what they look like once they have been water jet cut! Much cleaner that my initial drawing but still fun!! 

And thus ends this initial design stage for my work

KABLAMO

Despite being told in college to think about "who is your market" I never did. I never thought it was necessary, I disagree with the idea that people are limited to one genre of creative expression be that in fashion, music or whatever. Maybe this is just me, but I find myself drawn to what ever provokes my imagination, aesthetically, musically, or even in personal relationships. When I design, I don't consciously aim to please a certain stereotype, it just comes from my personal tastes, things I see and people I meet that inspire me to create, hmmm maybe I am the stereotype lol!! 

At the moment my latest range of work is based on The Tara Brooch. This is an iconic piece of Irish history housed in the National Museum on Kildare St, Dublin. I spent days in this place studying this incredible masterpiece of ancient Irish craftsmanship. I could go on and on about how AWESOME this is but not right now! 

So I wanted to reinvent the reproduction of The Tara Brooch... as its been reproduced BADLY for so long ... I wanted to completely vandalise this and put my own stamp onto it.

Which I did!

My Tara Brooches take influence from graphic design, Japanese Harajuku Girls, 80's fashion, Memphis Design and designers such as Anna Sui, Theo Fennell among others.

                                              

                                                    Harajuku Girls

               

                                                 80's Inspired Fashion

            

                                      Andy Warhol Screen Prints

I took the unmistakable silhouette of the Tara Brooch and simplified it. My imagination took over and spewed out designs .... 

I anodized alluminium and developed new techniques to hold the colour of the dye really well, and make the colours POP! 

The layering of alluminium translated into my designs really well as it echoed the flat paneling of the original Tara Brooch. 

I did away with the traditional pin element of the brooch and designed a new fastening mechanism, using magnets! I introduced a layer of .25 mild steel hidden behind the middle layer and made a separate component from stainless steel with magnets hidden inside!

So here they are!

More to come .......

Time to Start

So here I am sitting in Starbucks...... NCAD cant hold my hand anymore, its time to be a grown up!! I have plans for 3 new ranges , I'm scribbling down ideas on napkins, chaos helps me create lol! I have a photo shoot for my latest range at the end of this week and then I say goodbye to my babies as they go off to their new homes ^_^ And then I can concentrate on my website..... which WILL be up soon I swear !!