Costings

Using realistic materials and processes has proven this to be quite an expensive project so far.
Here is a summary of what I have spent:
Brass etchings, (3*A4 at 0.3mm thick, + tooling + postage) = £105.00
Duck feathers dyed kingfisher blue * 28 = £2.56
Kingfisher wing covert feathers * 10 = £7.80
Kingfisher wing feathers * 20 = 17.00, (+ 10 free)
Glue: had
Braso: had
Tools: had
There are currently more feathers in the post at a cost of £9.30.

Still, compared to an original piece this is extremely cheap ! Surviving hairpieces can be found on ebay in varying conditions for hundreds of pounds. A piece as big as my hairclip would cost thousands today.

Drawing to PPD's guidelines

As I have been editing the colours to my drawings, I have been in contact with PPD to ensure they are correct before committing to them being brass etched. Their company proved very helpful as they provided guidelines and sample files for me to follow. Firstly, I had to adjust all my illustrator files onto two layers to include tabs and a boarder to hold them to the sheet once they were cut. After emailing this I was then instructed to draw a boarder round each piece so that the minimum of brass would be wasted. This process took much longer than I expected as all the shapes are fairly close together with their boarders overlapping. The way I drew the lines meant that they did not always join up completely, making the fill process fill in black where it shouldn't. To get around this, Will showed me how to selectively fill sections once I had brought the layers together on one layer. During this time I also realised the pitfalls to my tabs being one mm thick. PPD suggested that these areas could be half etched, but I decided on the slightly cheaper option of making the whole brass sheet thinner. Will showed me what 0.3 thickness brass looks like, and I decided that this would give a better flex to my plates as well as speed up the etching process.

Laser cutting and mid-way crit

To make my drawings suitable for sending to the brass etching company, I have traced the scanned in line drawings used in my sketch model using Adobie Illustrator. Once I had drawn these to comply with the university's laser cutting requirements, I could test these across three A4 sheets of 1mm thick card. Looking at the result, I could see where some of my computer drawings had distorted to be cut bigger than they should be, and I adjusted these accordingly. This week I have also been in touch with PPD to learn how they would like to receive my illustrator files. Adjustments such as ensuring there were no gaps smaller than 1.2mm and changing the colours of the design were made accordingly.

After my group crit, I have been experimenting with materials and adhesives. Using brass offcuts, I applied some dyed feathers I brought off ebay with wood glue that dries clear. The twisted detailing around the brass plates has been replicated with twisted wire. To do this, I clamped two lengths of wire together, secured the other, looped ends into an electric drill and ran the drill until they had twisted together tightly. I then removed the plat from the vice and sprayed the alluminium gold.

Changes to my original making plan have occured as a result of research. Solder will destroy the gold colour to brass sheet metal and will therefor, defeat the point of me using brass in the first place. After considering cheaper materials, I believe that brass will give the best finish and realistic weight and sheen.

Methods of making

Before Easter I constructed a mock up to see how the plates to my hairpiece would fit together and appear at a 2:1 scale. Each layer to the design was traced from my original, A4 image, p[photocopied and cut out to create the templates for each section. I am pleased with the result created from attaching all the plates together and this has lead me to believe that laser cut brass plates will give a nice finish and work well. I have used 2mm thick styrene in the mock - up to give the structure sufficient strength and depth whilst allowing the material to overlap with each other.

To re-produce in gold, I have looked at sites specialising in Brass etching and gold solder. I will be submitting my illustrator drawn outlines to PPD, based in Scotland to be laser cut. To ensure that my drawings are correct and will be read correctly by the laser cutting programme Excalibur, I will test my drawings in veneer using the University's laser cutter. As for the gold solder, I wish to look into using twisted wire painted gold as a substitute due to material costs and availability.