finish pieces for flourish exhibition

casting the matt wax gun elements

designing with stamps

stamping with mehndi

figure 1 (stamps,mehndi and patterns)

I used the stamps that I made from piercing patterns off vinyl tiles. I then glued them onto clear perspex so that the actual stamp is visible when patterns are being stamped. I wanted to see if these stamps are successful and stamps the patterns. I used mehndi out of the tube I coloured each stamp and then pressed it onto paper as shown in figure 1 

Now that I know the stamps work I need to find handles for these stamps.At first I wanted to use a nail,with the head being glued at the back of the stamp and a glass bead at the end. I got some wooden dowel pins and wanted to use those instead like shown in figure 2 below.

figure 2 ( stamps with wooden dowel handles)

matt wax gun and batik tool

figure 1

figure 1 shows paisley patterns made using the batik tool on the right with injecting and beeswax mixture and the left shows the matt wax gun with blue wax.

figure 2

figure 2 shows the close up of figure 1 that was done using the batik tool. What im tying to do is make the pattern more 3 dimensional by turning them over and making blobs on the other side.

figure 3

figure 4

figure 3 and 4 shows the patterns that are flat on the back and raised on the front.

figure 5

figure 6

figure 5 and 6 shows the detail both on the front and the back of the elements.

figure 7

figure 7 are patterns made using 3 different waxes with the matt wax gun. I started with the blue,then the red and then the green. I found the red and green wax works the best when the gun is on medium heat the blue wax needs to be used at a higher tempreture as opposed to the green and red wax.

draped bracelet/necklace

figure 1

figure 2

figure 1 and 2 is the prototype that i made for anglo platinum.at this stage it looks like it could be a chain or a bracelet.

3

figure 3

figure 4

figure 5

this was the pierced out pattern in figure 3,4,5 ,i thought i would use to make a ring, using the garnet as a set stone,the colour looks like the colour of a new mehndi stain. 

figure 6

i think attaching the chain to the pierced piece looks like they belong together but with a different stone. A citrine as shown in figure 7,8,9 .now looks like the colour of the mehndi stain fading.

figure 7

figure 8

figure 9

figure 10

This piece could also be used as a necklace when opened up like shown in figure 10 and 11

figure 11

mehndi with batik tools

I used beeswax that was melted and poured onto the batik tool,the copper batik tool needs to be heated up before melted wax is poured in, reason being is that the wax cools quickly so heat needs to be maintained for this technique to work.

What temp does the wax need to be?

Im not sure ,but its not in its runny form or in its hardening form its slightly cooler than runny.

I used wax paper as the working surface but on the non shiny or non waxy suface. Reason being wax sticks to wax and i dont want it to stick i need to be able to take the wax patterns out easily.

here was a test to see runny form to slightly cooler.when its runny the blob flows out and expands whilst when it gets cooler it sits.

This one worked out beautifully i did this without reheating the tool. this means that i had to work quickly

I made i little scapper to gently lift off the elements,this was made from a copper strip that was tapered.

the beeswax is beaking,need to make it either harder or softer by adding different waxes