Finally there are two silver ‘Thistle’ brooches etched with a passage of text from the Declaration of Arbroath. One is called ‘Independence’ and signifies the acceptance of the declaration and the recognition of Scotland as an independent country by the Pope. It is pictured in my last post. The second brooch in this pair is pictured below and is called ‘Betrayal’ which signifies the 1707 Act of Union which ended Scottish Independence and brought us under English control.

Other final pieces are the ring exchange project piece, I don’t have a picture of this, a charm master pattern, no picture of this either, which was made for the batch production project and quite a few samples from each of the projects along with ‘source’ samples which I’ll be developing for next year (if I pass this year).

Although there doesn’t seem to be a lot of finished pieces I do have a lot of samples and experimental pieces which are the result of lathe and laser cutter work. I have also worked a lot harder on the dissertation side of things this year and hope that shows in the mark. The dissertation will keep me busy over the summer as will developing my source ideas for next year.

Finally, I’m looking forward to the degree show and wish all the 4th years well, I also hope all the 3rd years get the results they want too

‘mon the referendum

*edit – I forgot to say, I’ve really enjoyed 3rd year, very few negatives, many positives

Reading week is here, I took advantage of it by using the first day to finish the ring exchange project (at last), I was getting ready to admit defeat. Nothing much happening this week except work and Design Studies, speaking of which, I went to a gathering last Friday with Emma McLeod and a mixture of other students to talk to a tutor about Design Studies (past and present courses) and how we saw them. It was very interesting to hear the views of other disciplines. I think the general concencus was that Design Studies should be more seminar led and aimed at the different disciplines rather than a generic ‘Design lecture’ led course.

Anyway the present Design Studies course requires inter-disciplinary groups to come up with a business idea which uses or promotes sustainable thinking. I always find this type of scenario a wee bit annoying because I feel it assumes that we all want to become some sort of self-employed money motivated drone, although in it’s favour, this one has sustainability at its heart rather than capital.

There may be pictures soon of the ring exchange stuff and the Design Studies stuff, I don’t know yet because I’m unsure if we should publish pictures of things that haven’t been graded. Anyone like to comment on that? 4th years? Have you blogged or published pictures of your work before it’s been graded/assessed?

btw, the ring exchange work is on display in the Jewellery corridor. (I just had a thought that the rings are already in the public domain, pre-assessment, so pictures shouldn’t be a problem).

So students, enjoy reading week and the rest of you – just enjoy.