Wrapping Experiments (29/02/2014)

I was interested in the initial maquettes I made wrapping fishing wire round metal offcuts; I think I am drawn to the repetitive, formulaic nature of how the line of wire builds into rows until it forms another material of its own. When I have made a maquette I always hold it up to the light or shine light through it to see whether it is transparent. I think the built-up fishing wire works with light in a really beautiful way, permeating it to some extent but leaving shadows within the grooves of the lines. The residue of the rust is also very visually interesting, refracting light as well as interrupting the linear order with organic shapes.

Inspired the wasp nest that I keep on my desk, I have produced many more maquettes so that I can start to build up a modular structure of 'cells'. I thought about habitats at the beginning of the year, and I like the idea of fabricating something that looks like it might be a natural habitat made by an animal. The balance of order and chaos in this idea fascinates me - a minimalist motif of repetition with no hierarchy juxtaposed with the disorder of the wire escaping from the glue and the arbitrary patterns of the rust.

 

 

I am struggling to decide whether I would be able to carry this idea forward and develop it on a larger scale because it takes a very long time to make. I am going to try to explore alternative ways of making them that might take less time in order to overcome this. I have already made some similar maquettes to explore the concept a little more.

 

 

Some of my material experiments have made me think about the more sinister significance of fishing line, how it can ensnare and tangle. It is interesting how different my maquettes are in this way - it seems if the material is not forced into order (on the reel of wrapped around the metal pipe) it very quickly becomes disordered and chaotic, overlapping, entangling and presenting very different visual associations.