Workshops

Workshop Induction:

I found the workshop induction to be intimidating as I had never used a bandsaw before hand. But when we began using them they became less and less intimidating. Hopefully, in time (and through future projects), I'll get used to them and will create something more successful as I had made a few mistakes whilst making my speech bubble. Which is one of the hardest ones to make because of the curved lines mixed in with a couple of straight lines as opposed to the other templates that only had straight lines.

Health and safety for bandsaws and sanding machines:

• Wear goggles and don't put your hand in a certain square area near the saw.

• Make sure the guard is at the right level for the piece of wood

• Use Bandsaws 1-3 for tight curves and Bandsaws 4-5 for looser cuts

• ​bandsaws 1-3- turn off & reset (button at back of machine)

• Turn off machines before backtracking as it could bend the blade and ruin it.

• Before starting turn on the ventilation systems, and turn them off when finished if no-one else is using the machines (same for sanding machines)

I found the induction to be quite useful in terms of learning about the machinery and what/how to use them, which is important to nailed down to avoid injuries

Spot Welding:

I found spot welding to be a fun workshop as I was able to create 3D shapes out of straight/curved lines. I ended up making a wing and a sort of basket. It was a new experience. Although I have made wire sculptures in the past, spot welding made it easier to attach the pieces together. In turn making it easier to make 3D objects as mentioned before.

Health and Safety:

• Wear eye protection when using machine

• When making circles hammer down both sides so that they won't slide off of each other

• not necessary when crossing over the wires

Casting:

Cuttle fish casting could lead to some really intricate pieces. However, I found it really hard to align both sides so that they would look more 3D rather than just relief. We also had to create a funnel for the metal to get into it. However, for one of my pieces it wasn't wide enough at the bitter to reach the design properly.

For these experimental pieces I went in not knowing what I was going to make. In hindsight, I would have liked to have made a ring or a charm for a bracelet as I think that would have been nicer than whatever I ended up making. But I really enjoyed the process

We also had to make sure they were properly cooled down or at least slightly warm before picking them up and opening them.

Health and safety:

• Use gloves when getting the thing for the metal to pour it into the cast

BA Make-up:

I chose this workshop to experiment and see if maybe I would want to choose this course next year. To be perfectly honest what throws me off is the whole fashion make, which I understand that we need to learn all the basics when it comes to hair/make-up. But I would love to get into the entertainment industry, which I could do through model making. Although it was fun knowing what to do with the wax and having slightly more professional stuff to use. Even if we couldn't use the paint to match the wax to the skin colour due to the lack of time we had.