Blurring Boundaries (2017)

In March 2017 I spent one-month in residence at Amit’s Hybrid Craft Lab, where I explored blurring the aesthetics of materials collected from different contexts to create hybrid jewels.

Blurred Boundary #1: Carbon Nature
Carbon coated seed pods. Strung from copper threads. Hanging on a burnt branch. They clash in silence, but their contact is detected. What follows? Must every physical interaction have digital consequences?

This work was collected, painted and assembled during a one-month “residency” in the Hybrid Craft Lab at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.

I collected these seed pods in the park on may way between home and the lab.
Painted them in Bare Conductive’s carbon paint.
Strung them from Karl-Grimm’s copper thread.
One day I broke off the branch from a burnt bush.
The consequences are still missing.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBcdrMTQXcI

Original version:

Blurred Boundary #2: Beaded Circuit Board
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157679469412322

Blurred Boundary #3: Primitive Continuity
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157679261138554

Version 1

Front and back:

Version 2

Front, back and side:

Flickr Album

>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157677985033993

Stirring Queen mask for Purim

>> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=6532
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157681273298536

Hybrid Jewels Workshop

>> http://www.kobakant.at/DIY/?p=6539
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/albums/72157679469354192

Field Notes

Inspiration

Jewelry from the Kalahari

Jacobs, Jennifer and Amit Zoran. 2015. “Hybrid Practice in the Kalahari: Design Collaboration Through Digital Tools and Hunter Gatherer Craft.” The 33th international conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI ’15). ACM, New York, NY, USA
>> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1772560/publications/CHI_Kalahari.pdf

Dots to Lines

>> http://www.dotstolines.com/

3D Sewing

Blurring boundaries by binding things together…
>> http://www.plusea.at/?p=5844
Instructable >> http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Sewing-Rings-With-Strings/
Flickr sets:
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157664675662002
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/plusea/sets/72157664675662002

“The concept of making holes or opening sin metal had its origin in prehistoric times when boring tools of bone or stone were used to make holes in softer materials.” (Oppi Untracht, Jewelry Concepts and and Technology, p88)

Wire jewelry work of Ann Lee Hu
>> http://www.facerejewelryart.com/artist.php?id=15

Leah’s beaded LED bracelet

Susanna Bauer
>> http://www.susannabauer.com/

>> https://www.instructables.com/id/Non-Functional-Circuit-Broach/
https://cdn.instructables.com/FTT/3YM1/FNI3VURU/FTT3YM1FNI3VURU.MEDIUM.jpg

Mandalas

Jewelry Concepts and Technology by Oppi Untracht (1982)

>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppi_Untracht

Design elements/concepts:
– contrast
– relative scale
– balance
– visual climax

Jewelry concerned with composition, form or pure design
Jewelry with dominating surface ornamentation
Jewelry associated with nature
Jewelry commenting on contemporary life
Jewelry using industrial techniques
Jewelry using new / non-traditional materials

THE MESSAGES OF JEWELRY
Why We Wear Ornaments

Origins:
Satisfying psychic and physical needs
Natural substances: products of hunt used first a body decoration/status symbol before use as material for tools
The bead: transforming natural materials

USES AND VALUES PLACED ON JEWELRY
The Amulet: protection against the unknown
The symbol: communication with the conscious and the subconscious

THE JEWEL AND THE JEWELER
The Jewel Mandala – mapping the jewel-motivation cosmos
remembrance
function (holding clothing together)
artistic/aesthetic
contemporary vs. traditional concepts
magical powers
self-image/public image

Circuits as material, in material

Wire-wrapping technique
>> http://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/wire_wrap_is_alive_and_well

3D sewing, layering, combining materials from different disciplines
Barebones circuitry
Cardwoven USB cable
Irene’s beaded USB cable
Daniela Rosner’s knitting

3D print and circuitry Thingiverse
>> http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:21975

Lynn’s protoboard embroidery

Display…

Tool functions

Measuring

Manipulating

– subtractive
– additive
– deformative

Storing

Woven memory

Reading…

Das Glasperlenspiel by Herman Hesse

Drawing…

Illustrating concepts and ideas

Mark Ngui’s Thousand Plateau illustrations >> http://www.bumblenut.com/drawing/art/plateaus/
Taeyoon’s handmade computer >> http://taeyoonchoi.com/projects/handmade-computer/

Plusea

walks

weeds