It's been an incredibly busy month. I am probably around a third of the way through making the pieces for the exhibition. I'm taking October away from commissions to focus on finishing (or getting close to) the pieces so I have time to collate everything. I haven't shared everything on here yet, as I want some reveals to happen after the pieces have been made.
Yn Barod means, in Welsh, 'ready'. It immediately gives me an open, trumpet like image, and if it was a sound it would be a trumpet blast. It is suggestive of up-straining, outward-reaching shape. It got me thinking of tiny mushrooms and seed pods, growing up towards light from the forest floor. They'd need to be opening up towards the sun, rather than umbrella shaped.
For this piece, I could see a number of these 'barod' shapes, in different stages, reaching up. I thought I'd try a ring for this; as none of the pieces so far were to be rings, despite them being my favourite thing to make typically. Rather than attempt these in metal directly, I thought I would give wax casting a go. It's an ancient process. The piece is carved in jewellers wax, then a mould made around it. The wax is melted and the mould filled with molten metal. I'm still new to it, and am much more used to building a piece up when making something 3D, and am finding it tricky to make something by removing material instead. It's all practice (and I've learned it pays to not let attention wander when working with insanely sharp scalpels!). I've sent off for a few to be cast in silver, so I can experiment with different finishes. I'm thinking I want the 'barods' shiny bright against a rusty/dirty patina, but we'll see when they arrive back in a few weeks.
The images below are the wax 'barords' before being attached to the main 'rocky ring' to make the finished model for 'yn barod'.
I'm excited to see how they'll turn out! The continuing current events have led to my anxiety to be through the roof at the moment, so my accompanying sensory issues are also at maximum. I'll be asking for your input in the next day or two so I can collate a list of sensory responses of others. As always, please do leave messages, or contact me by email at lydia@niziblian.com or via the contact page on this site. Diolch yn fawr iawn!