Debbie Smyth experiment.

Debbie Smyth experiment.

This experiment was further development from my Debbie Smyth response. The main objectives were to try and combine materials to see if they'd work together. For this experiment i combined clay, wire and thread. 

Method:

1. First you need to gather your equipment which will consist of mild steel wire (its a thicker wire that oxides once in the kilm its less brittle compared to thinner wire) clay, sugar paper, pliers, rolling pin and knife. Thread will be needed once the clays been fired.
2. You then need to roll out your clay to the thickness of a pound coin and as wide as the palm of your hand. Make sure you place the sugar paper down before you roll out the clay.
3. Once the clay is rolled out you need to press your hand in to create an imprint, make sure the impression is deep to make it easier to identify. 
4. Next you need to cut your wire using the pliers. Try and keep the wire the same lengths between 5-7cm. 
5. Once the wire is cut you can plan out how you're going to place them in the palm of your impression. For mine i worked from a photograph to achieve the basic structure of a bike. 
6. Organise the rods so they form the basic outline as these will at like pins to support the thread. 
7. Then you need to put it into the kilm room. Don't forget to put your name on the bottom. 
8. You then need to clean up your area, wash all your equipment and throw away any tiny loose pieces of wire and put the sugar paper in the bin. 

Health & Safety 

• For the clay health and safety refer back to my original post. 
• Wire
• - Avoid putting your fingers in your mouth after you've touched the wire. 
• - Wear goggles and gloves to avoid cutting your heads and getting wire in your eye after its been cut by the pliers. 
• - Be careful using the pliers avoid putting your fingers next to the blade. 
• - Ensure you cut away from yourself to ensure wire segments do not hit the face.
• 
  
  Clay health and safety COOSH
  ·      Silica is in clay, slip and glaze. When the clay is dry it produced a dust known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Also known as free silica.
  ·      Inhaling RCS can lead to silicosis, it’s a serious and irreversible lung disease.  It causes permanent disablement and early death.
  ·      Respirable means the dust is very fine and can embeds itself deep into the lungs.
  ·      This can be minimalized by-
  ·      Using a damp sponge when cleaning surfaces.
  ·      Washing down the work place at the end of each day and cleaning up any mess.
  ·      Using a bin to collect scrap and damp slip.
  ·      Clean up scrap and spills regularly. Don’t let slip, clay or glaze spill dry out uncovered in a workroom.
  ·      Work in a well ventilated space.
  ·      Wash aprons regularly or use a disposable aprons.

Part 2 Debbie Smyth hand experiment.

This is basically the same method as the bike except you're using threads and wrapping them around the pins. Refer back to my other posts for the methods.

method:

1. basically you draw out a hand using a pencil onto cardboard. 
2. Then using pins you pin the main lines.
3. Once thats done use black thread and weave it around the outline of the pins.
4. Next you use coloured thread and wrap it around different pins kind of like a dot to dot. 

Health and safety.

1. Be careful not to stab yourself with the pins
2. Don't run with scissors 
3. Clean up after yourself