I have decided a change(ish) of direction would be beneficial. I have been "stuck" for a while now, and feel as if I am forcing ideas almost. I have been reading over my blog, and have decided to start a "new" project, based on ideas such as enclosure/protection/restriction and the personal narrative in contrast to a more encompassing one, which have resurfaced throughout not only this year, but also over the course of my Foundation year.

I want to look at story-telling, and the concept of a book. I am interested in the limitations of a book, both physical and temporal. It is interesting to think of a book in terms of occupying space and time, rather than being restricted by a cover, in the traditional sense. I am interested in process-based practise, the physicality of creating something, however fleeting the creation, or story, may be.

On my foundation course, I wrote secrets into condensation on bus windows and photographed them. At the time, I didn't take the idea any further, but I think filming the short life-span of such a story would be very interesting.

I don't think I am "done" with the eggs yet though, although possibly the idea of mass production, repetition etc. is a little tired. I want to finish my ceramic eggs though, to give that aspect of my work some sort of finality. However, the protection/restriction aspect of eggshells which I have been thinking about still interests me.

Today I visited the Subversive Spaces exhibition at the Whitworth gallery. I will write a full review of it in my journal, but with regards to my own creative practice, some of the ideas addressed in the exhibition - about women being restricted by or confined within domestic spaces - made me rethink some of my own ideas. I started to wonder whether egg shells, book covers, envelopes etc. really protect what's inside, or act as some sort of prison. I then started to think about protecting/constricting egg shells themselves, reinforcing them in some way.

The mental block seems to be lifting.......

This morning I went to the ceramics induction, where we learnt to make plaster moulds. I used to go to a weekly ceramics class, but I had never been taught anything like this. I started to think again about reproduction, and mass producing objects. I decided I want to make a plaster mould with which I can make my own ceramic eggs. As they will be handmade, albeit with the use of a mould, I think they will still look individual. I am interested in emphasizing the similarities between objects, yet at the same time considering them to be individual.

I feel as if I have come to a standstill creatively.

Whilst I was in the Special Collections a week or so ago, I started to think about books, and the physicality of a book, and in particular the concept of a book cover. I started to question the purpose, or role, of a book cover: is it to keep the story in or to keep the rest of the world out. Is it a protective barrier, something secretive? I started to think about making 'books' that aren't confined by the traditional book cover, and pushing the boundaries of what it is for something to be a book. I also liked the idea of 'reversing' a 'book' - i.e. writing a narrative on the outsides of objects or things which are seen as protective, for example, envelopes or eggshells.













I have written on the outside of an egg shell which was already broken. I was writing about protection, following the theme of book covers and egg shells. I am very protective of my sister, so I was using the way I feel if she's upset or hurt as some sort of inspiration. I think that, had I written on an uncracked egg and then cracked it, it would have been more poignant; physically breaking the egg would be symbolic of the impossibility of complete protection. I feel that the whole project is sort of veering towards birth and the mother-child relationship, which is not good as I have no children and have never experienced birth, and am thus unable to comment on the subject with any great authority.

I also want to print letters on the outsides of envelopes.

The science project idea seems to have reached a dead end, as what I want to do is possible, but would take too long. I am disappointed about this but I don't know what else I can do. The idea that Joanna Verran had come up with was photographing agar sheets with bacteria on them, I am always conscious of aesthetics within my work, and, to the naked eye, bacteria growing on an agar sheet does not look pretty. I wanted to photograph the changes through a microscope, as I felt the series of images would be visually more satisfying and cohesive, but as it isn't possible within a day (which surprises me, although I don't know much about the subject) then I feel I will have to give up for now and go back to the idea if I have a brainwave of any sort.

I wanted to print the image of an eggshell onto a fax roll over and over again, to juxtapose the similarity of the objects as a group with their individuality; in the same way, each image would have been the same, but each print different from the last. I am finding printing to be technically difficult. I find the technique isn't 'at one' with the way I like to work, despite it being entirely relevant, considering my interest in repetition. I feel that for me it is somehow too clinical.

I worked at home throughout the middle of the week, melting inky ice cubes on to paper. On cartridge paper, the result (as I have been using pinky-red ink) looks brutal. I like them though, as each one is different and, in their own way, shocking. I tried doing one on some handmade paper I brought back from Thailand with me, and the way the ink has been absorbed, rather than settling, makes the image much less gory, as it is more pink than red. It reminds me of some sort of cell. I particularly like that each inky, egg shaped ice cube has created a different pattern, despite me using the same method each time. I am considering experimenting with photocopies of them, rather than the images themselves, as I think they could be easily ruined.

Hazel's talk on Monday made me think more about the concept of mass production. I thought it was interesting when she talked about having to "mass-produce" objects, and how against the idea she was. When she showed us the result of her mass-production, however, to me each object looked different from the last, they were beautifully crafted and completely individual, yet still very obviously part of a 'set'. It was a very good example of what I am interested in, and I am thinking about trying to do something similar.











On Tuesday I went for my meeting with Joanna Verran. I found the whole experience a little intimidating, and I felt we were at crossed purposes; I wanted to know what was possible, she wanted to know what I wanted to do. However, I have a much better idea of where I should start my research.

I had been feeling a little confused as to what to do with my egg shells I have been meticulously collecting, but after I photographed them, I started to think about their differing shapes and volumes and how I could represent this visually. I decided to fill one half with ink and water and freeze it, and then leave the ice cube on a piece of paper to melt - the theory being that each similar object - the egg half - would produce it's own inky pattern. A series of unique images coming from very similar objects.

I spent most of this week "doing" my journal - writing up reviews, orgainising the work (the ability to format a Word document is an underrated skill).

I went to see the Turner prize exhibition, which was a huge disappointment; I found it pretentious, irrelevant and inaccessible. I also saw the GSK Contemporaries, Part II, at the Royal Academy, which was visually exciting and very interesting to me, particularly the William Burroughs exhibition within it.