Romantic book- Finished piece

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Here's a few pictures of one of the finished pieces for my visual display, this piece isn't based on anything in particular but is inspired by the idea of a gothic romance, the candle features red roses a flower typically connected with love the black wax dripping down onto the roses is a metaphor for an evil destroying the flower and therfore the romance. The necklace displayed inside the book was not originally intended for this piece but I found it in my mom's jewellery box and thought it would be perfect. I added an old knitted bookmark and threaded a red ribbon through to add a finishing touch to the book.

Victorian Mirror Necklace

To accompany some of the other pieces for my visual display I have made this small necklace inspired by the story of Dorian Gray, the tale plays on the theories of vanity and self obsession which I have aimed to express in this particular piece. The necklace features a small Victorian Doll's house mirror that I have attached to a gold chain, its purpose is not to enhance the wearers appearance but is in fact for others to view themselves at their leisure therefore toying with the idea of using jewellery for a different reason other than body adornment.
To finish the piece I have mounted the necklace on a sheet of vintage wallpaper and displayed inside an old frame.

Sketchbook Pages.... Continued

Sketchbook Pages

Here's a few pics of selected pages out of my sketchbook it's a working progress as I am still collecting things to put inside. The sketchbook itself isn't really focused on my theme it's more of an exploration of different crafts and experimental work, the items and materials used are just things I have collected over the weeks.

Bonsai Tree

When I bought the birdcage I also found this bonsai tree in the same shop and had the idea of somehow using the small tree inside maybe a book or something similar and displaying jewellery within the tree itself.

Beautiful Birdcage

I have eventually been able to find a birdcage that is perfect for my Raven display, it is around 25" high and the basic frame is made from wood giving it that vintage feel. I was thinking about displaying the shoes I made using chains to hang them from the top of the cage and finishing the outside by adding some decoration.

Arty Candle

All weekend I have been continuing with the making of my final pieces in particular the book and candle that I blogged about last week, the finished piece was created by using both a white and black candle and dripping the wax down to the base. The mixing of both colours is a great technique and almost gives the white candle that classic Dicken's-esc feel. I added the red roses wrapped around the candle using wire and pins adding an air of romance to the piece.

Market Finds

I spent yesterday morning visiting local second hand markets and car boot sales in the hope I might find something interesting. Out of all the places I went to there wasn't really much that would have been useful for my project however I did pick up a lovely vintage cup and saucer that I could put to some use and a set of pressed flowers in an old frame which I was thinking about using to display some small pieces of jewellery.

Memento Mori

Memento Mori is a Latin phrase translated as 'Remember You Must Die' or a 'Remembrance of Death', this name is given to numerous genres and arts that all share the same purpose of reminding humans of their own mortality and the punishments recieved if religious commandments are not obeyed.
Even though my concept is primarily based on gothic romantism and the Edgar Allan Poe fables this traditional phrase and the creations that follow it does relate to my initial research, the Poe stories in particular deal with issues of death, mortality and concience, however I didn't even connect these two together it was fellow fashion student Anne that saw the relation between my work and Memento Mori after looking at my blog (in particular the images of skulls, candles and the raven). This opened up a whole new area for me to reference for part of my file and when I went back through some of the images I originally collected in the early stages of my research I then realised that some were even based on Memento Mori so a BIG Thanks to Anne for spotting something I would of never seen myself.

Book Art - An idea?

I have been sketching out a few ideas to use along side the old books I purchased a while ago, this design featuring a large candle is one I am keen to include as part of my final display. The initial idea of using an old church candle inside a book came to me when researching gothic romantic author's such as Edgar Allan Poe and Victorian novelist Charles Dickens, Dickens in particular who consistantly depicts this idea of a depressing Victorian world with grim imagery of characters such as Eberneezer Scrooge sitting at a desk writing his accounts, quil in a hand with a small candle being his only light source. This kind of dark representation is something I want to include in my visual display therefore I have been experimenting with melting and mixing both white and black candles to create different effects with the wax, the finished piece could be used to accompany my Poe based outcomes in the final display.

Finished Shoes for Raven Display

Haven't posted for a few days as I have been busy finishing these shoes for my first visual piece The Raven. When I made this piece I started with the wings as they are the focal point of the whole display everything else just center's around them, the brooch was something I found in my mom's jewellery box and thought it would be perfect as it looked slighty Victorian, the shoes were the last thing I bought as they were specifically choosen on the style and colour to compliment the brooch and therefore the wings. In my original design I wanted to have small jewellery pieces hanging from the bottom of the wings however they were too delicate to hold them so I attached the pieces onto the front of the shoes to give them appeal from every angle.
The entire finished piece will feature the shoes displayed inside a birdcage my initial idea is to have them suspended from chains inside the cage.

Skull

Got this fab skull ornament from a second hand shop early this morning and thought it would be great to include as part of my visual display, the top of the skull can be taken off to reveal a hidden compartment inside which could be used to house a bracelet or other small accessories. My initial thoughts are to use the skull as part of one of my final outcomes based on Poe's The Gold Bug as designed earlier so I took a few photographs of how I imagined part of the final piece to look like.

Jewellery Making

Over the past week or so I have been collecting a lot of old and broken costume jewellery, beads and other little trinkets as I had the idea of using them to re-create new pieces that I could consider using as part of my visual display.

Wings

Discovered a seller on ebay who was having a clear out and selling a wide range of vintage items on behalf of his father-in-law. These crow wings date back to the second world war where this particlar man was a soldier in a special regiment and to survive sometimes had to catch and eat whatever he could, this man known as Alf made it his hobby to keep and preserve the remains of the animal's he caught using a method he learnt in Papue New Guinea. When the wings arrived they had a very musty odour which indicated their age, and as described by the seller were very well preserved using his father in laws old technique. I have been looking for a pair of bird wings for a while now to feature as part of my display based on Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven but was very reluctant to buy from other seller's due to the fact that the bird might have been killed for what I see as unneccessary reason's such as hunting/ culling etc however these are a by-product of an animal that was killed for survival reasons only and not for it's skin or just for fun, I also love that the wings have over 50 year's of history behind them.

Sketches

Here are a few designs I have sketched out based on the Edgar Allan Poe poems/ stories The Raven, The Gold Bug and The Tell Tale Heart. The Raven design features a high-helled stilleto shoe with wings which might be displayed within a bird cage with the raven figure I recently found perched on the top. The Gold Bug is depicted by an open book that conceal's the scarab beetle inside I have also sketched out the human skull featured in the story which could form part of the display. I thought that it would be an interesting idea to represent The Tell Tale Heart fable by hiding the heart (which could be in the form of a jewellery piece or another accessory) inside a vintage teddy bear, therfore keeping in with the idea of using second hand or very old items within the visual display. As well as depicting the Edgar Allen Poe stories throughout each part of the final outcome I will also use a range of accessories to be showcased inside each piece.