Module 3 Chapter 10

Designing an accessory.

Initial thoughts
My initial thoughts on reading this module were that I would make some sort of boned corset or boned shaped belt, but I think I would get bogged down in the "dressmaking" aspects to the detriment of the creative aspects.

At the British Museum I saw these metal arm pieces.

3.10.1

I love the idea of making an arm piece that starts with a spiral on the hand, wraps around the forearm and ends with another spiral that sits below the elbow on the top of the arm. I would want it to be one continuous piece, with the two spirals fixed and the spiral wrapped round the arm - not as a cuff, but something you wrap and unwrap each time you take it on or off.

So I would need to experiment with making cords as they would need to be self supporting and keep their shape.

• Try making a number of simple cords and then make a much thicker cord using the simple cords.
• Try adding in or wrapping them with wires.
• Try making a cord that gradually gets thicker so that when it wraps around the arm, it gets more chunky as it reaches the elbow - or maybe the other way round, so that it is chunky at the wrist and gradually tails off as it winds up the arm. 

And then I remembered some Bronze Age jewellery and artifacts I had seen at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest last summer. Don't speak Hungarian (!) so it was impossible to be certain what we were looking at - just all stunning!

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So I think this opens up all sorts of possibilities beyond the original idea, and gives me a lot of food for thought!  It strikes me that whilst all these objects were made to be worn, they look lovely on display, and whilst clearly whatever I make will be a wearable accessory, I think it is important that it looks good on display like a piece of sculpture.

Chapter 9 part 2

It's good to be working on this again, but I need some feedback!

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I think this is all fairly self explanatory, but one or two additional points:

• I think the shape of the large left hand spiral needs refining which I would do as I couch the cord down. I think it would benefit from the internal spaces being bigger.
• The lower picture shows the addition of a extra spiral to the right. At present it is the tracing paper shape I used to make the green spiral. Maybe one or two other "shadow" spirals? I quite like the shadowy quality it has.
• In the photo the green spiral looks as if it has just been plonked on top. Maybe I need to think about some straight stitching on the other spiral(s) to echo the wire wrapping on the green spiral. Maybe they are simply shadows entirely defined by the straight stitches.