Final flowers

These were the final flowers; I chose to use a variety of larger flowers next to smaller flowers, both made from either the thick, medium, or shined leaflet card. I went with the wire to make the flowers look more simple, and ordered them into a bouquet that looked professional.

Stems

I tried a two different stems for the final flowers, plain wire and newspaper covered wire; I found that I didn't like the newspaper as it just made the flowers seem too complicated and I wanted the focus flower, not the stem.

Paper Vase Finished

I really enjoyed creating this vase using the research on Mary Jean's own wrapper vases; I chose to use paper instead of wrappers as I couldn't get the amount of wrappers in time. However, I feel that I prefer the way this has turned out as I think it will work better as a vase with the recycled flowers.

I started by using a small glass vase as a outline for the bottom, and then used the research to create the outward spiral for the edges.

Flower Experimenting

I started experimenting with different materials and recyclable media's to see what they might turn out like; I especially like the flowers made from the thick thickness leaflet out of a  newspaper. I don't think fabrics work for what I want, especially as I want the flowers to be mostly from recycled materials.

I also tried out different sizes and types of flowers to see which would work better than others and found the medium/large flowers work best for thick leaflets which I intend on using.

Denim ^

Thin Leaflet ^

Thick Leaflet ^

Medium Leaflet ^

Thick Leaflet ^

Shiny Card leaflet ^

Thick Leaflet ^

Newspaper ^

Coloured paper ^ v

Newspaper + Denim ^

Paper Flowers

I found somebody's blog that gives out templates and how-to of a few different flowers; I decided to try and create different flowers with the template/s.

Ranunculus
http://diyordont.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/tutorial-paper-ranunculus-flower-free.html

Roses

http://diyordont.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/tutorial-paper-rose-tutorial-and.html

Stephanotis

http://diyordont.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/tutorial-paper-stephanotis-flower-free.html

Gum Wrapper Flowers

I found this tutorial for a gum wrapper flower which I found really interesting; I actually like the way it's come out, but I think it looks a little too messy.http://sewmanyseams.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/tuesday-tutorial-gum-wrapper-rose.html 

I couldn't find a tutorial on how the person did these, but their blog has a few little projects with recycling materials and wrappers
http://trashintotreasures.tumblr.com/

Beginning of the Paper Vase

I started this little experiment by rolling strips of paper and gluing them together around a small vase; I used the vase to get the right shape of a vase that I may be able to use for the middle of the vase. I found this techniques through an artists named -- where she had used wrappers rolled up to create a large vase. I didn't have wrappers I could use so I chose to experiment with recycled paper; this then lead onto me looking at what I could do with recycled paper/wrappers.

Cathy Wu

Using dried fruits to create jewellery I found very interesting; I'd love to try doing this myself, however drying the fruit might take a large amount of time up.

I like the way she builds up the layers to create a flower look; I wonder if this would work with wrappers and newspaper

Upcycled Vases + Mary Jean

I found these really unusual vases made from rolled up wrappers while researching; I really like these vases and I'd like to try it out myself.
The artist is Mary Jean, she uses magazines and colourful paper to make these; she also makes flowers out of plastic bottles and decorations.
She sells most of her creations here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaryJeansThings?ref=top_trail 

I also found this interesting shaped one that I can't seem to find anymore of.



http://www.etsy.com/listing/87645788/pink-red-black-white-silver-upcycled

Designs

I did a few designs for vases using flowers from Yung Cohn's fruit carvings; I used masking tape to get the general shape of the flowers and used these as decoration over the drawing of different pieces.

Salt Dough Experiments

After changing pathway's to Decorative Arts, I decided to take AMW in a different direction of Food. I tried using unedible food, saltdough, for little models of food, and then combined the glitter idea with the food idea. I don't think I'll carry this on, but I'd like to move onto a different part such as using the wrappers of food.

 

Nicola Freeman

Looking into Food Art, I came across these sculptures by Nicola Freeman, a graduate from Wolverhampton; I really like the way she's used plaster and acrylic to create the subtle hints of colour. Maybe I could use this technique and try out making smaller versions. 

Gaetano Pesce & Fish Design

These vases reminded me a lot of strawberry laces and looks as if it's done out of glass; I like how it looks like something it's not, another lead to look into maybe? 

Yaya Chou

Using sweets to create everyday objects and sculptures; I really like the way the light comes through the sweets and doesn't look like sweets until up close.