Organic vs Industrial
Title: say it ain't so
Medium: Wax & wire Size: 10cm x 8cm Date: 4/20/17 The rose comes in many colors and has many meanings. One hopes that the red roses you receive won't turn black.
Based on cultural and aesthetic (art nouveau) uses of the flower crown, this piece is a representation of grief, loss and sadness. |
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PlanningOne of the first ideas i had was to create something organic out of wax, based on some photos I saw of wax roses. From this I thought if flower crowns and the meanings of roses. Other sketches I did involved the idea of roses, what darker colors symbolized, what ways they could present themselves and I entertained the thought of encaustic art, still of a black rose.
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Process
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To start, you need to melt the wax. I used a pan I didn't plan on using in the future on the stove. In the pan you put the wax and melt until it's entirely liquid, then breaking off a piece of crayon in whatever color you want (for this I used black). It spreads easily, but use the spoon you're going to use to mix it together as thoroughly as you can. There's still be some areas that aren't a solid color, but that's fine. It also might not be the color you want exactly, but all you need to do it keep adding bits of the color until it is. When the wax solidifies it will always been lighter than when a liquid.
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While the wax is liquid, take a spoonful and create a circle of it on a flat surface (tile, plastic, etc.). Just as it has solidified, cut it down the center, and begin rolling the wax. If the wax breaks too often, other waxes need to be tried, like micro crystalline wax. From the first pedal repeat the process, wrapping each pedal around the previous and shaping the rose until the flower is completed. Repeat this entire process until the flowers are all complete. If you've used a wax that could not be colored or wish to change the color of a rose/flower, carefully paint it, keeping in mind that the thin wax is extremely breakable. If the bottoms of the flowers come out too far, either cut/mold them into shape or press the ends to the hot pan to melt them down and into a flat surface for the flowers to rest upon. When done using the wax remove it from heat and wait until the top has solidified before storing: the wax underneath will still be liquefied, so be sure to not rest anything on top of it.
To paint the flowers, use all paint and very little water, doing one side at a time. It's a delicate process to get in between the petals;use a small and flat brush. Next, push he wire through the ends of the flowers and arrange them where you'd like them to be placed. Using your own head or other measurements, close the crown, wrapping the coil around itself until the crown is thick enough( based on your judgement). Next, perform a similar process with the wax for the petals, laying out circles of wax and carving out the shape of the leaves, then rolling them up (making sure they don't roll on on themselves or come apart).
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Remove the petals and immediately paint one side. Once dry, paint the other. Once a petal is done it can be pressed into the wire frame of the crown. The petals are to fill in space and is done based on judgement, so it's best to do all of the steps for the petals continuously and at once. If the size of the crown needs to be adjusted, cut the very back and either add wire or pull the existing wire to overlap and make it smaller.
ExperimentationThe beginning of the project was very difficult, because the wax wouldn't bend. My research didn't make it seem like I would have any trouble bending the wax, but perhaps it was the type of wax I had bought. Either way I needed to find ways to make it more pliable. To do this I used olive oil, different candle wax mixed in, and eventually micro crystalline wax. This new type of wax had a brown color much less affected by the crayon, and so I needed to figure out how to paint the flowers without harming them and with the paint taking to the material (too much water and it doesn't stay/spread). One lesson learned was that the micro crystalline can be much thicker, and so the leaves were doubled up on wax. This made them much less breakable during painting and when molding them to stick to the crown. This process was also in experimentation, for I didn't know how to attach the leaves or in what way was best to fill space.
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Research |
The first bit of research I needed to do was about how to create flowers, before I could do any of the process steps. I learned mainly through videos of others doing it, like the one to the left. After realizing that the wax I was using wasn't mold-able like theirs, I researched further and found ways to make wax more pliable from sites about candle wax and using wax in crafting. These sties mostly said that beeswax was one of the best options, or that micro
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Artist Inspiration
"Floral Crowns History | Pink Metallic Holidays | 2014 Gift Guide." FlowerDuet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
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Cultural:
Flower crowns are a trend with many very deep cultural roots. There are versions starting in Ancient Greece with the wreath and a traditional marriage and fertility-symbolic flower crown in New Zealand (one that's being once again popularized). They were used in many pagan religions/cultures, and so they lost popularity in the medieval era. While the majority of the flower crown style I looked at were tied to themes pertaining to marriage, I took another take on what a flower crown could mean. Embracing that flowers aren't inherently feminine I used them for both males and females instead of signifying a pure female or bride and looked to what the placement of a flower crown could mean. With it resting upon the head, I dug up a theme I'd had on the back burner about addressing mental health in a physical representation. Most of my research on the roots of flower crowns which I applied on my work were aesthetic qualities and how to form flower crowns (what all goes into them, how are they tied together, what fills in space, etc.). Artistic: The first art movement I thought of, knowing I would want to do flower crowns, was of course Art Nouveau. The movement had a love for flowers and flower crowns, which are somewhat pivotal to the style and why I wanted to use it. The dull colors used also worked with the wax which, when dry, dulls in color. However it did differ stylistically, since the main colors I used were darker for my deeper meaning surrounding mental health. There are also no known meanings/metaphors surrounding dark subject matter in Art Nouveau. It exists, at least in this project, for aesthetics, similar to the cultural inspiration in an example for how to form the crowns, place the flowers, fill in space, etc. |
Reflection
This project was successful in most overall parts, but it did face a lot of struggle. It took a very long time to get the physical aspects sorted out, and there's more than listed in experimentation. It was difficult finding how to shape the wax aspects of the flowers and petals, as well as the arrangement, but it came together in a fairly cohesive design. The thought was to have more roses, but the few present carry the intended affect. The physical components come together fine, but some of the meaning may fall flat, since the meaning lacks itself. The project seems like it could hold somethings deeper, with the themes of marriage in the cultural background of flower crowns being applied it could mean widowing, and that's slightly what it's turned into in the end. It leans personally to more general themes of sadness and depression, especially with it's placement this was the intended theme all along, but something more specific grew out of it. This makes the piece less successful for conveying a message different than that intended, but it has potential to sitll be a strong piece.
ACT Response Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspirations served a large purpose in the shape/arrangement of my piece, and the cultural inspiration, if known, shows a very clear alternative take on the original lore of the crown.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
That the Flower Crown holds great aesthetic value and has a rightful popularity in pop culture, but it also served an important purpose for pagan cultures in countries like New Zealand.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned about the cultures that used flower crowns and how they typically represented marriage, fertility, etc. and how it would sometimes only be used in rituals or marriages, or for other cultures at other non-formal times.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
That the flower crown is an important piece of cultural history. To educate about the roots of the flower crown, what they generally consisted of, what countries they originate from, what place they hold in modern society, etc.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
It was only talked about briefly, but it's very clear how the flower crowns died out: making inferences about the ties of flower crowns to pagan cultures, once Judea-christian cultures took over most European countries, many of these traditions died out.
My inspirations served a large purpose in the shape/arrangement of my piece, and the cultural inspiration, if known, shows a very clear alternative take on the original lore of the crown.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
That the Flower Crown holds great aesthetic value and has a rightful popularity in pop culture, but it also served an important purpose for pagan cultures in countries like New Zealand.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I learned about the cultures that used flower crowns and how they typically represented marriage, fertility, etc. and how it would sometimes only be used in rituals or marriages, or for other cultures at other non-formal times.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
That the flower crown is an important piece of cultural history. To educate about the roots of the flower crown, what they generally consisted of, what countries they originate from, what place they hold in modern society, etc.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
It was only talked about briefly, but it's very clear how the flower crowns died out: making inferences about the ties of flower crowns to pagan cultures, once Judea-christian cultures took over most European countries, many of these traditions died out.
Bibliography
Satenstein, Liana. "The Flower Crown Means More Than You Think in Ukraine." Vogue. Vogue. Web. 07 Feb. 2017.
"Floral Crowns History | Pink Metallic Holidays | 2014 Gift Guide." FlowerDuet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
"Floral Crowns History | Pink Metallic Holidays | 2014 Gift Guide." FlowerDuet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.