FMP The last day of FMP 7th May

The last day of FMP   7th May

With today being the last day of FMP, I had a couple more things to do. I had to get ready to hand everything in for the deadline next Monday.

Once I sat down in 3D, I could sort out what I wanted to do as well as what to needed to do first. With my piece all but ready, all I had to do was heat the remaining copper so that I could fix them together and finish my piece. Having done the heating process with the copper a couple of times now, I was confident in carrying on with the heating myself.

I mixed up the borax flux so that I could cover the different copper pieces all over so that when your looking at the locket it is completely finished. Having made the paste up, I painted a thin layer onto each piece. I then placed the copper on the stone bench so I could heat the copper and burn off the flux, leaving the changed copper behind with the different colouring.

My first attempt didn't have the desired effect. After taking one or two pieces off the stone bench I could see that I was doing something wrong. With a little advice from the tutors, I could then see that I was wasn't heating the copper for long enough. By taking the torch away too soon, I didn't let the flux burn away completely, leaving the copper with a dirty looking colour instead of the contrasting colours that it should be.

Once I knew the problem, I could reheat the copper pieces so that the remaining chemicals were burned off properly. This gave them a deep red colour that fitted well with the front section of the locket.

Seeing as the locket was almost complete, my attention was turned to the presentation of my work. I wanted images of my locket on the wall. With my locket having the ability to swap and change each piece, it would be a good way to see the different looks of the locket before settling on the final piece. This would also give Marriyah a chance to make sure she's happy with the final design. It would be a good opportunity to get her opinion of what she thought of the bespoke process too.