Priley Riley, Bookbinding, 13th- 14th March 2014

I have spent the past two days binding paper that I made on the 5^th of March into a sketchbook. Because I have done Japanese bookbinding before I decided to try a different method to make this sketchbook, called cut binding. Cut binding involves the hinge of the book being both sewn and glued, making this type of bind very strong. For this sketchbook I kept the edges of the paper as they dried but in future I might try cutting them with a paper guillotine for a different, clean-cut, result. When I did the papermaking I added gold coloured glitter to the pulp so I chose the gold card on the inside of the cover to match the glittery paper.

Priley Riley, Animation, 12th March 2014

I did animation at university today, which is not something that I had tried before. One of the tasks set was to use Maya software to animate two objects so that they collide with each other. I wanted the objects to have a different state of matter to make the collision more interesting, so I chose to have a liquid collide with and engulf a solid object. I designed a table for my solid object and originally had a layer of lava collide with this. Although I liked the collision, I wanted the animation to look more amusing and unusual so I kept all of the lava’s properties except for the colour, and changed the colours so that the lava looks like cheese!

Priley Riley, Considering how to create an ice sculpture from a mould

Over the next few weeks I will be posting less on my Blog as I will be researching, experimenting and eventually producing a completed ice sculpture. My tutor said that in his 34 years working for the university no one has ever tried making an ice sculpture from a mould, but in theory it could work. I want the ice sculpture to be of the figure as I have been working on portraiture this semester, and to get a mould of the figure I will cast part of a volunteer’s body. The process will require a considerable amount of research as the only way that I could make a mould would be to use fibreglass- any other material would crack the mould as the ice froze and expanded inside it. I also want my finished ice sculpture to be clear and to contain an object. For this reason I am interested in casting the chest area, making a fibreglass mould from this, and using the mould to cast an ice sculpture with a heart frozen inside- either a real animal heart or one that I could make. Before I do this however, I will need to experiment with freezing water to see how clear it is; if air bubbles form the heart would not be seen. I will also need to consider other questions such as how I could freeze the heart exactly where I wanted it.

Priley Riley, Papermaking, 5th March 2014

This is the paper that I made on the 5^th of March. There are 34 sheets of paper in total. I intend on using 30 of the sheets, which are roughly 8 x 8 inches in size, to bind into a book.

Priley Riley, Papermaking, 28th February 2014

On the 28^th of February 2014 I did papermaking for the first time. The paper is roughly A5 size. I used a template to make my paper heart shaped, for a more interesting outcome, and I also added red dye to some of the pulp in order to make red hearts as well as a white one. I had to leave the paper to dry for a few days in between blankets so today was my first opportunity to take them out and photograph the paper for my blog. The way the paper dried has meant that the edges are not very clean-cut; I had considered cutting them into perfect heart shapes but decided against it because I prefer the idea of the paper looking more natural.

Priley Riley, Watercolour painting of family members, 28th of February and 1st of March 2014

This painting depicts my brother, dad and sister.

Priley Riley, Collagraph prints, 7th, 24th and 26th of February 2014

To make collagraph prints I drew onto card and added PVA glue to the parts of the drawing that I wanted to print. I then poured carborundum over the glue and left this to dry (I did these stages on the 7^th of February 2014). Once dry, I varnished the piece four times. I then produced prints from it on the 24^th of February and today using a hydraulic press. I prefer the other printing methods that I have tried to collagraph printing because collagraph prints are not as detailed and they produce prints in just two colours; this combination has made the subject of my prints less recognisable. Because of this, I have included the photo that I worked from below as well as one of my collagraph prints above.