Two little cups for a tea party .. part of my ongoing scribbling for Alice's adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass .. also made me think of the two of cups in the Tarot deck  

 

Nearly a week on from the European referendum in the U.K, and what a week it's been. I voted to stay in, I looked at coming out, I know that there are valid arguments for coming out but not one of the main proponents for leaving mentioned these. Their vision was not for a caring, sharing society it was for more grasp, more greed, more nastiness so in the end it was an easy decision for me. I voted to remain for environmental protection, freedom of movement, human rights, workers rights, for the sake of peace and stability. 
As it happens, when the majority tipped by a whisker to the leavers, I found that I am actually more attached to being a European than I thought, that my continental blood ran angry at the petty parochialism of people fixated on a "British" way of life. And that the briton in me baulked at the notion of belonging to the same nation as those that follow the repulsive Nigel Farage.
It could be argued that my desire to maintain my European status is also petty parochialism, that we can make new alliances now all over the world and not just with those countries that are our closest neighbours. But there was another way, put forward by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, to remain and reform. 
There is no doubt that the European Union is a flawed machine, that it has become greater than it's parts perhaps. As a member of that union it seemed that we could have helped to bring about a change for the better, not just for ourselves but for the whole union, for the whole world. 
Here in my town, Norwich, it is all strange; people don't look at each other; who voted in, who voted out .. most of us will have friends and family who voted against us .. do we stop loving those people ? no .. but do we see them differently, do they see us differently ? I don't know. Was this what it was like when Hitler came to power in Germany ? Small seeds of mistrust turned citizen against citizen. I hope we are better than that. 
The leave campaign are very keen to say this referendum result is a done deal and for the Remainers to now, shut up and put up with the new order. But that wouldn't have happened if they had lost this vote. Farage would have been on tv whining about another referendum and so on and so on. And so, why shouldn't thousands of people mass outside Westminster calling for their voices to be heard. Why would Westminster not listen ? 
So the division in Britain continues, those that would normally hold the status quo are also most likely to have voted remain and so their motive for holding the peace is no longer there. There is a tension in the air and it is hard to know how it will be dissipated. 
So I watch and wait. No day is the same. Some days I feel numb, some days I feel hopeful, some days angry, and some days - most days - ambivalent and anxious. 
And what can anyone do in that space but carry on with their work, whatever that work might be. Today I am making paper from recycled envelopes. It happens to be grey but it's not a statement on my mood, other days I've made blue and pink and green. The paper is for my piece for the Waveney River Sculpture Trail which I did last year too. 
In the midst of the craziness post referendum it is nice to fall back into making, particularly as this piece was always about change and release and response and movement so I can use the making as a chance to reflect. Deep inside of me, the part of me that knows itself to be creature not man, I know that whatever must be, there is a way through, even if the death of my body, my being, is a part of that way through. 

The other thing I was working on for the bishops's prize didn't quite work out, tho' I have a few ideas for taking it along a way. For the time being my waxed paper holes that I cast in aluminium are a pile of silvery slices and a ragged core. I have plans but I want to give them space to evolve so they are on the back burner for now.

 

I was happy with my folded paper aluminium samples that I've blogged about earlier. I wanted to take the folding on a step, to create a more resolved form. Also to see how the folded paper took the metal if it was doubled over. My ideas tend to feed into each other so the 1000 boats idea naturally led to me making origami boats. They are really more aluminium sampling but the final pieces are sweet, and complete little objects in themselves. I cut them off the pouring cups and removed the sprews though I thought they had something good about them when they were unfinished and upright too.

  

So, what will happen now ? My portfolio is handed in, my show stuff mounted, but, I have two projects that I am hoping to pull together for the end of year show. The first relates to the little metal boats that I've been making. And to stories from Japan about making a thousand paper cranes. I hope, between now and the end of June, to fold the best part of a thousand paper boats. I hope that people seeing the paper boats at the show will take one or two and set them to sail in the river that floats by the art school or anywhere they like. And maybe, just maybe to make a wish while they are doing it. The boats represent me, and my fellow students, and anyone who has helped me along the way in my life, or smiled because of something that I or someone I love has done. I hope that in setting them to sail a little bit of joy will be released into the world. 
I did road test this a week or so back with my little grandchildren, and we really did have a lovely time floating our prototype boats.

I guess that as we disperse http://nua-textiles-surfacedesign.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/what-our-students-have-to-say.html into the world outside of NUA they could be new vessels for our dreams.

My paper bowl in bronze

The experiments with folded wax paper made me smile a lot. Lovely slippery corners and holes.

 

The paper bowl, which I mentioned a month or so back, is out of it's plaster mold. It isn't really a bowl any more, which wasn't a surprise as it had collapsed as the plaster was poured in, but the texture of the geranium paper is clearer, and that's before cleaning so it may be more remarkable once that's done. And I think this piece may be worth giving a patination if time allows. I'm going to really miss the uni workshops and fantastic technicians, particularly Jim in the 3d studio http://www.jamespaulcastle.com/ who is a generous and patient teacher, and David and Neil in the textiles studios.

 

The other things that I have set up for the most recent bronze pour at uni, were a series of samples of folded paper coated in wax. These are a follow-on from the paper bowls. They are made from run of the mill watercolour paper and some wax that I had kicking about at home as these materials are cheap and accessible. I thought it would be interesting to see in small pieces how the bronze poured into the folds. I don't mind if they go wrong. I am often most interested in how to engineer flaws into my work. And if, they magically cast exactly as they are, then "ta da"  I have learnt that that is possible too. On the advice of the Jim, who I mentioned in an earlier blog, I used kebab stick sprues to aid the flow of the bronze. 
As our easter holiday draws to a close, and the likely craziness of the final term gets closer, I am excited to see how these small pieces work out.

 

 

The bowl that I had cast earlier hadn't really worked out well. It is very solid. I had wanted it to be lighter, visually if not physically, like the paper bowl that it was initially formed from. I had another piece of the geranium paper in my sample stock so I decided to make another bowl to see if I could get the affect I was after. The paper bowl came out prettily, I wondered about putting a coating of shellac on it to help it hold it's shape. I decided not to, this was a mistake as it was too fragile to stand up against the plaster as it was poured into the mold. But one of the things I love is sampling, and although there is an "ouch moment" when a sample goes wrong, there is also an "aha, not like that moment" to counterbalance. And a feeling that I know a little bit more about the materials I'm using, what they can and cannot do, the boundaries against which I am pushing. The photographs are the remains of the paper bowl. I have no idea how it will come out of the pour, flat and a little sorry for itself I suspect. However I liked it's form in paper, the holes and shadows and how the light cuts through it and this has inspired me to do more paper work.