Silhouette Neckpiece

In the last week I also worked on the Segments of Gooseberry plant silhouettes that was inspired by Kelly Jean Conroy's neckpiece which is made up of outlines and silhouettes of twigs, flowers and butterflies. Conroy uses these images in her work as they form part of her childhood memories. I think in a way,  this is a a form of self reflection, as she states in her bio that an item of jewellery is a " tangible object to be worn on one’s outer layer  " and that deep emotion, sorrow associated with death in Conroy's case,  is something that is present in our inner most layers. She uses jewellery to bring out her inner most emotion in the form of tangeable objects. The images from her childhood have become representations or symbols of her emotions associated with death.

Segments of Silhouettes

In a way, my idea of the work that I am creating is also similar to that of Conroy's not just visually but also conceptually. I use imagery of nature seen around me as symbols to represent the current phase of my life and the emotions/feelings/happenings that occur within this period of time. When I have fully completed this piece I will understand the full meaning behind it. For now, the silhouette images of one Gooseberry plant taken at different angles  represent the different areas of my life. the images are made up of one plant, but at different perspectives, just like my one life that is made up of many aspects. My Btech, my work, my family, my relationship and my social life. All these together shape the way that I see the world and how I think.

Gooseberry Leaves: Fragments.

I am still quite interested in exploring the gooseberry plant, although I feel embarrassed to be so drawn to a silly and insignificant alien invader. But I will do what I enjoy and put my all into these gooseberries. I have decided to explore the different parts of the gooseberry plant and not just the pods, although the pods drew me in in the first place. Just like the life of a person has different aspects some seemingly insignificant, others crucial, the gooseberry plant has these same features. I will be expressing this metaphor in my next piece. I have started dissecting the gooseberry plant and I drew the different features onto a page of which I traced digitally onto my computer so that  can arrange these elements on to sheet metal to be pierced. I want this piece to have a similarity to one of Kelly Jean Conroy's pieces where she uses silhouettes.

Scanned Image of drawn elements or fragments. 

Inspiration Image, Kelly Jean Conroy

Gooseberry Plant Drawing by me

Gooseberry pod Inspiration

Gooseberry:

Inspiration Image
Gooseberry Pods

The above image is of a gooseberry pod that I snapped off my plant last night, and I pinned it upside down to my inspiration board so that it can dry beautifully, that is why it looks upside-down but in actual fact it is the right way. I noticed the interesting silhouette that the shadow of the twig created and I took this snapshot. If my main light in my bedroom hadn't fused, I wouldn't have had this beautiful image, this was created through a light beaming from a 90 degree angle next to the plant. sometimes inspiration can come from the most random occurrences. 

Objects created from the silhouette inspiration
oxidized copper

How the pods were constructed:

I dissected one of the pods to examine the components. I noticed that the bods have a 5 way leaf pattern and I made a little design on paper to be placed on a sheet of copper. I had to redo this design so that i could get the correct shape of the actual pod. 

 I then  textured some 0.4mm copper sheet using cardboard that I scratched in different directions to create this interesting texture. I roll-milled the texture onto the surface of the cardboard.



















Here is my little "flower" after creating the grooves on the surface using a round chisel shaped punch