Sorry for not updating lately

Sorry for not updating the blog lately..but here is the reason why..this is Libby Jane...my 1st grand child...so now I'll have to get back to work and blogging

Summer Project update - No 8 - more images

More images of objects sent in the post

A Post Card

A Post Card

A Tea Light

Image of Vegetables ripped from a Magazine

Painting

Summer Project update - No 7 - images

Here are some of the items I have been sent in the post for the project

Will post some more over the coming days

Carpet Sample

Image of a Habitat Plate

A piece of folded Card

Not sure what this is...think its something to do with running

A Sucker for a kids Dart Gun

Summer Project update - No 6

Just back from 3 days work in bury which is outside of Manchester....and I had another package waiting for me...all the way from Canada!!!! so far the total now is 32...so tomorrow will photo and put the item here for all to see..I'll post them in a random order so that it will not influence peoples choice of numbers for the project.

Summer Project update - No 5- A new request

Just say thank you to all who have sent me a package or envelope
I now have a total of 31 item!!!

So I could I ask one more thing from you its in two parts

1. Can you please give me three numbers between 1 and 31 (ie 4, 12, 29) but a number can not be repeated

2. And a single number between 30 and 65

if you could e-mail them to me at mark.c.fenn@btconnect.com

thank you

Latest rendering

Here is my latest rendering....its of the censer that gave me such grief..but it looks better!!...will now work on different versions for the goldsmith competition.

Summer Project update - No 4

Wow I got another 6 packages/Envelopes today..so the total I now have is 24....so I will until the next one turns up........I know one is on its way as received e-mail this morning. When it does the next step will then start. It the part I've can wait to do..is to ask for the numbers. Below is the little spread sheet my friend John sent me to help with the working out of the number of possible combination..so let the fun begin

How many combinations of selections are there of k objects from n objects?
n (Total number of envelopes)				25		<- Change this
k (Number of envelopes selected				3		<- Change this
Possible number of combinations				2300		<- Answer here
(With n = 49 & k = 6, this is the odds of winning the lottery - about 14 million to 1)

Dissertation!!!

So today I set myself the task of writing 500 words...well at least I set a target...but I did get 272 written..which is over half and I think for a dyslexic is not a bad effort...so only 3934 words to go!!!

Cockpit Arts

Went to the open studios at Cockpit Arts in Deptford South East London, Has a really good time there..met up with Jen Kidd and met Jo Hayes Ward (www.johayes.com) who's work I found very interesting....she use Rhino to design her work and there was one ring that was fabulous...very inspiring.

Summer Project update - No3

Got some more packages in the post today..so the total so far is 17, nearly there....looking forward to starting this project..so should not be too long before I get to the 20 mark...then the fun beings. Talking of fun the dissertation word count now stands at 4785 so little by little I will get there. Had a good day with it yesterday...I received two of my questionnaires back from the USA one from Robin Kranitzky and Kim Overstreet...who book Symbiotic Realms I recommended in the benchpeg article...and the other from one of my all time favorite makers Professor Keith Lewis...so here is a couple images of Keith Lewis work

Sebastien (imaginary self -portrait) pin 1999

“Salt Lick”, pin, 1996

Sterling Silver, 24K Gold Plate, Diamonds;

New Ring Render

Here is the lastest render..just to stop the blog becoming to wordy.....on the subject of words...

Dissertation = 4651 words written!!!

Benchpeg

So I got a small mention in this weeks issue of benchpeg...nothing to do with my making!!..but what books I have...well it does gets my name out there

24. Book Features & Review:

24.1 Bookshelf: Recommended Reads by Mark Fenn

Mark Fenn has emailed benchpeg with his recommendations for a good jewellery

read. Mark is a mature student at The University Of the Creative Arts (UCA) Rochester

in Kent, where he is studying BA (Hons) in Silversmithing, Goldsmithing and Jewellery

and has just completed his second year. Over the summer he will be writing his

dissertation titled: ‘Tales from the toolbox: An analysis of the different ways in which

narrative is used in contemporary jewellery’.

Mark will also be working in Europe before returning to complete his 3rd and final year.

To see how Mark will be using the many dissertation avoidance tricks at his disposal

please visit his blog and to see the summer project that Mark needs your input with.

Of his bookshelf he says, “I have far too many books to list and it would take me too long to write, but my three

favorite books are,”

Creative Stonesetting by John Cogswell - “In my view a stone setting bible.”

A&CB, ISBN 978-1-4081-0945-8

Symbiotic Realms: Robin Kranitzy and Kim Overstreet Selected Works 1985 – 2008 by Designmuseo

The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists explore Cartography by Katherine Harmon

Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 97856898-762-0

For more info on Mark click through to his blog:

[w] mark-fenn-designer.blogspot.com

[Back to Index]

24.2 The benchpeg bookshop

The bookshop lists all of the books benchpeg has previously featured and benchpeg

readers have reviewed, but also lists some wider titles covering a diverse range of

industry specific topics.

If you’d like to see a book listed, feel free to email any suggestions to:

[e] info@benchpeg.com

[w] bookshop.benchpeg.com

the benchpeg

®

newsletter

26 [Back to Index] Issue 167: 13th -

19th June 2010

Summer Project update

Just a quick update on the summer project...I now have 13 envelopes...so thank you to all who have sent me something...I was going to start once I had ten...but I think I will wait until I have 20. Two reasons for that 1. I,m still doing the dissertation!!!!! 2. with 20 envelopes I get a possible 1140 different combinations. I plan once I have opened the envelope to scan or photocopy then and put them here for all to see and maybe ask anyone who looks at this blog to give me some numbers.

Summer Project update

Well the summer project is in one way going well i.e I'm getting responses from people saying yep like the concept, give us your address and we will send you something...then nothing comes in the post!!! well I have received two packages so far.....and an e-mail with an images attached..with the following text!!!

Heya,

Good project, although just to be difficult If you want to print this and shove it in an envelope......by all means do so! :-D

Keep me posted no pun intended on the project.

Safe!

Philip

well it is early days..so lets see what this week brings

Wow I have followers!!!

Wow I have some followers!!....now thats cool..but also a bit scary. I intended to just use this blog as a place to put my uni projects and maybe stuff that I find interesting....well I hope you all like what ever I put here.

Dissertation!!!

So I have also started the writing of the dissertation....so my plan is to have the whole thing written before I go back in September..yep all 9000 words. With the summer break being 106 days long..if I write 95 words a day...should have it done and dusted!!!....watch this space for the dissertation avoidance techniques used over the summer....I think number one will be... ah yes I need to update my blog!!!

Summer Project

Today I received my first package for the Summer Project...so a big thank you to Kerrie Booth...I must resist the temptation to open the package!!!!.....was over a friends for dinner last night and I was telling them about this project and my friend John worked out the possible combinations if I received only 10 packages and the number is 120. Which I think is not a bad total and gives me a lot of starting points from which to design. He then went on to work out that if i received 15 the total of possible combination goes up to 1140, now that is alot may be this could turn into a life times work!!!!....so for those of you who are into maths here is the formula

n!

over (ie read a line)

(n-k)! k!

so here is my lastest rendering I'll left this one to just run until Maxwell had finished with it. The total number of hours = 166!!!

Mark Fenn - Summer Project - Self Brief

I will ask people to send me an envelope or package with an image, shape, object or any thing else they can think of. Once I receive the envelope I will assign a number to it and keep it sealed. Once I have over say 30 envelopes I will then ask senders to send me by post or e-mail 3 numbers from from 1 - 30 only when I have receive the 3 number back will I then open the envelopes.

I will use the 3 items contain within the envelopes as the starting point with which to design a piece of jewellery or silverware. I will use the 3 items as inspiration.

This project will help me explore and investigate the design process that is lead from the random and unexpected starting point. I hope this project will continue after the summer and into my third year as a part of my self directed study.

If you wish to take part in this project please e-mail me at mark.c.fenn@btconnect.com

for my address

Thank you

Hand-in Day for Unit 204

Today was the day we collected our work for Unit 204 Production jewellery..and boy I'm glad that one is over and done with. Have worked out my mark and I on course for a 2:1...which I think is not too bad for an old boy!!!!..so next week is stone setting...and its just for fun no assessment. will post images of the work as I go along.

Rapid prototype of Cooling Ring

This is the rapid prototype of the cooling ring for production. It will be made from 14ct Yellow gold with 120 x 1mm sq diamonds. 60 diamonds are set at each end.

Todays New Maxwell Render

Here is the latest render from Maxwell & Rhino

well that didn't last long or even the tech can't solder

Well the latest update on the soldering is even the tech's can't get the solder to flow...Kevin thinks that there must be dirt or something under the wire to stop the solder flowing. He even tryed and above are the results of his effort!!...So now for the big clean up. Spoke to Brian the course leader and we spoke of the problems I'm having with the piece. We have come to the conclusion that its best for me to clean the piece up for the assessment on Thursday. He really likes the design and has suggested that I should develop it for the Goldsmith competition. To this end I will try and reverse engineer it into Rhino and then render it in Maxwell. So not all is lost.

Wow I can solder!! & CAD Day

Today was the final CAD with Leon, hopefully only until next September so as always was shown a lot of tips and how to render a two pound coin...just brilliant. As a bonus Leon give us some tutorials video on a memory stick to down load and use. So after yesterday where I could not solder the censer....I brought it home to clean up for another try tomorrow at Uni..but I thought well lets have a go at home...and well I got the solder to flow at long last...not sure why I can get it to work in my workshop and not at Uni..maybe its to do with the flame? as I'm more used to the one in my workshop.... well I'm just happy it going better.

How come I have forgotten to Solder!!

So how come I have forgotten to solder?....the day started really well..leant how to use the TIG welder...so use that to attache the nickel wire in place so to keep it in place while soldering them...but no I spent all day trying to solder the wire into place..and it will not flow...so been yet another frustrating day at the bench. Tomorrow is the last CAD day with Leon for this academic year, but I hope he will be back in September.

A better day

Today was a better day, at last got the three sides of the censer together with some help from Kevin who TIG welded the first two side together which allowed me to hard solder them together. Then the third side was again TIG welded in to place and then hard soldered. Still I'm having problems with the solder not flowing along the seam....I hoping when I put the 1.mm dia wire down each seam the solder will flow a lot easier...but that's for tomorrow.

Cooling ring Render

Rendering of Cooling ring for Unit 204. It shows the top of a gold ring with 60 1mm sq diamonds which it also repeated on the other end of the ring. The other ring is made from Silver and has the same diamond setting on both ends. Model from Rhino and rendered in Maxwell.

This is not as simple as it looks !!!

Well I spent all day on Friday working on the censer trying to get the angle (60%) for each side filed. So it was a very frustrating day and I'm having a lot of trouble getting the three side to line up so that I can solder them together. So hopefully Monday will be a better day

Render Image

Here is the render of the wire ring...still need to work on the rhino file, but its a good start

Design Day

Today was a design day. got in at 9.00am..put my name on Jen's List and went to the computer room to use Rhino and Maxwell. At 11.00am had my design tutorial with Jen which went very well. But I feel I need to do a bit more in the sketch book drawing wise for this project. Jen thinks the research material i.e the maps and the text of the random post cards is good. The direction I think I will take is to do with landmarks....its about how we find our way with the use of visual images etc. The work with rhino and maxwell is coming on and I'm very pleased with what i have produced so far.....images to come soon

Tool Making

Today was making chasing tools day. The tools are made from 3mm Silver Steel rod. First the rod is cut to suit the hand, which in this case is 90mm. Then the rod was filed to the desired shape. The steel is then heated to a bright red then cooled in oil. Tech note if ordering steel for tool making get 01 (zero one) this steel can be cooled in Oil. After cleaning up the steel is then tempered by heating the steel with small hot flame (this was done by using a chef's torch). Starting at the top, the steel is heated until the steel turns blue but in front of the blue is a straw colour. The flame is then moved down the rod moving the straw colour to the chasing end. When the end is the straw colour the tool is again cooled in the oil. The chasing is now harden, to test if the tool has harden correctly the top should be too hard to file. If the tool can be filed the tempering process is repeated.

More Bench Work

Most of today was spent at the bench....working on the censer..today's new technique was a little bit of engraving. (note the cool plaster..the result of a slight cut)

Bench work - Traveling Censer

first a template was made from aluminum of the pattern to be pierce out.

A line is then scribed on the metal using the template

A indentation in the middle of each area that was to be pierced out. This allowed a 0.9mm hole to be drilled enabling a blade to pas through the metal.

Piercing out, later a deeper piercing saw was used to make it easier to cut out the middle sections

Installation of the New Chancellor of UCA

Have very good day went to the Installation of the New Chancellor of UCA Zandra Rhodes at The Banqueting House in London and had a little chat with her and also met up with Andrew Logan again..so I had a nice time

Good Day at Uni

had a good day at Uni, I have at last got to grips with Maxwell Rendering with some help from fellow student ( A Big Thank you to Jon Reid) so here is my first maxwell render