Conclusion Time: My Evaluation

When I heard that we had to do Greek Mythology for this project, I immediately thought about the myth about Prometheus, how he gave fire to man so we would survive. I’ve always loved mythology so I was really happy and excited about the whole thing.

I based my project namely on the fire that Prometheus gave the people because it’s one of the important parts of the myth and it’s also my favourite part. Through the project I was always wondering what to do next and experimented a lot. The thing I found went a bit wrong was when I did an experiment on some old acrylic and put the sentence ‘Man in God’s image’ on either side of the acrylic. I didn’t really like this much as I was out of ideas at the time, and even after I did it, it didn’t give me much to go on. I’m honestly not sure what I could of done to improve this. Whereas the other piece I did on acrylic gave me quite a bit to go on as it gave me another image of fire as well as the idea of a mobile.

A question I got that came up continuously through my work was whether I should do a final piece or not as I have many examples and show how I did everything. In the end, though, I got inspired to do a mobile and that became my final piece as the mobile symbolises the fire coming from Prometheus.

A few artists really inspired me, but none so much as Jennifer McCurdy. Her pieces called ‘Fire Vessel’ and ‘Fire Vessel #2’ really gave me the idea of fire dancing or moving gracefully. She showed me that fire could be beautiful and I wanted to enhance on that through my work.

I used many different materials through the project; acrylic, paper, plaster, etc. But my all-time favourite material would have to be the plaster as I loved how smooth it was and how I was able to carve into it, change its shape, and make a 3D effect with the image of fire.

All in all I really enjoyed the project and I wish it’d of gone on for longer so I could have even gone further with it. I would’ve made another mobile, but this one out of metal and then I’d of used the blow torch to turn the metal blue to show really hot fire. It’s a shame I didn’t have enough time to do so but I hope I do in the future.

Final Days 7-9: Dancing Fire

These are images of different fires. One is from a normal lighter that every day people use, and the other is from a blow torch in the 3D room of the college. I wanted to see what fires from different sources looked like and I also did a video of the fire from the blow torch so I could see how it moves. You can find the video below, but sadly it is sideways. I think it came out really well and I'm really happy with it.

Final Days 7-9: Hanging from a Tree

 I decided to hang my mobile from a tree so the wind would have an effect on it and so it'd spin. These pictures so it spinning as it hangs from the tree. I think this went really well as the sky behind it makes it look really pretty, whereas the tree makes it look almost natural.

Final Days 7-9: My Final Piece III

My final piece in all its glory. I put the fishing wire through the holes I’d made in the pieces of plastic and tied knots so they wouldn’t fall out. These wires were then attached to the two pieces of metal sticks I got so that it could spin around like a mobile would in the wind. I turned the corners of these pieces of metal so that the string wouldn’t loosen or just slide of the metal. To do this I got a pair of pliers and bent the metal’s corners either in a circle or just at an angle. Once I did this I made the final piece, the hook, so it could hang from anywhere. I did the same thing with the small pieces of metal and bent the hook with pliers to make it curve. The wire in the middle that is attached to the smallest piece at the centre of the symbol was then gone around the middle piece of wire in a loop, and then tied in a knot to the second piece of metal before tying it to the hook. The middle two wires were attached to the small piece of metal, inside the two loops I’d made with the pliers. Finally the last two wires on the biggest piece of the symbol were attached to the bent corners of the biggest piece of metal. I think this went really well as the pieces spin around each other nicely just like any other mobile and my next step will be to take some more photographs of it else where.

Final Days 7-9: My Final Piece II

These are pictures of my final piece close up. I made these by first making a paper template, then drawing around it onto some see through plastic. Once I cut out the plastic using a ban saw I then had to tidy up the lines so I used a rasp to cut it close to the lines I marked out on the plastic. Afterwards I got a piece of sand paper and sanded down the edges so they weren’t sharp but instead smooth. To make it so the plastic had a scratched effect on it I used the sand paper over the plastic. After I did this I used a drill to put in small holes in each corner of the shapes. I really like this effect on the plastic as it makes it look cold even though it symbolises fire, something hot.

I think this went really well as I put in a lot of work towards it and my next step will be to finish it off as a mobile.

Final Days 7-9: My Final Piece I

This is a paper template that I made for my final piece which is now stuck in my book. I drew onto some paper the symbol I wanted before cutting out the three pieces I needed. I made sure to right on the words ‘CUT OUT’ so I didn’t accidentally cut it or tear it. I think this template went really well as without it I wouldn't of been able to go any further with this piece.