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For my Year 2 Final Main Project (FMP), I want to create two honest personal pieces that resonates on a collective psyche level. 

Piece one is a glass wishbone/ clitoris sculpture. The fragility, transparency and reflectiveness of glass is why it feels like the perfect choice as a medium. And a feminist tone wishbone feels like the perfect form for my own expression right now. Because in an era fraught with existential dread, climate crisis and geopolitical tension, it can feel dangerous to wish or create anything. 

Black glass wishbone it is. I feel drawn to black because it represents a void empty of hope. And also because it more traditionally represents a host of paradoxical qualities; death and magic, loss and power.

Common sense dictates, due to the labour intensity and high cost of working on a large scale with glass, that I am going to make a smaller maquette wish bone initially. It takes a staggering 7 hours to cast 1 inch³ of glass. So if I do decide to scale this up as a piece, I will need to have the larger mold ready for firing over the Easter holidays.

I’ve created a positive maquette using sculptors wax and will repeat the same plaster casting as before to make an investment mold. 

If the glass approach fails, I’ll make a large ice mould and create a melting black ice wishbone for the installation instead.

I’m not exactly sure about how I’d like to curate it yet; but some initial photos gave me the idea to nestle the glass piece in a mat of my hair, creating a visceral, charged and uncomfortable juxtaposition. I am just pleased as punch that when curated this way woth the right light source that it inescapably looks like a pussy with the shadow casting like labia. 

Piece two is an interactive installation with an inflatable sculpture. Maybe with conductive paint. I am going to rework a found object, a kneeling mannequin, attaching a fabric upper body which will be in various states of inflation. It would be ideal if the state of inflate could correlate with how folks react with the installation. But that’s going to take a while to figure out. To be honest all I can think about at the moment is how a 1 armed wacky waving inflatable time man would look like a nazi salute. And that feels pretty fucking on the money. Honestly, this second piece isn’t resolved beyond initial ideas at the moment. But it feels good as a starting point, and I’m excited to start making. It feels like the wacky waving idea in general adds a comedy depth to the installation concept and I like that because it generates ambiguity and ease of connection with audience.

The last piece I had in mind is a ceramic bowl, like an old fashioned washing basin,  with a human head submerged in it. It’s an absract nod to the sense of drowning in existential angst that is hanging about in psyche space. And it’s a literal reference to climate change and rising sea levels.

I’d love to cast my own head and throw my own bowl. I’ll chat with the ceramics tech about what’s possible.

I love this piece, I want to develop the idea, create a similar piece and have it on a taxidermy mount on the wall. 

Ideally it will have a strong scent so folks can sniff it.

I will call it Beaver.

‘Who’s in charge here?’ 

Screenprint on florists celophane and paper

The Fitzwilliam is a labyrinthian treasure trove, brimming with artefacts from across the globe as well as collections of classical and contemporary art. Created by the Dutch colonialist Richard Fitzwilliam it is also a decadent monument to colonial guilt and historical tax evasion, as are many similar spaces. I visited the space with my daughter and friends and unfortunately, we only had a few hours. The space really requires a full day. Indeed, one could spend a week pouring over all the works housed in this building, constructed to mimic the ancient temples of Greece. 

We began by taking in the ground floor exhibitions which feature ancient artefacts, with large section of the exhibition space occupied by their famous Egyptian collection.

I’ve been invited to create some work for an upcoming exhibition, Weird Hope Engines, at The Bonnington Gallery.

I’m not a huge digital gamer, but I do enjoy board games. 

A group of students and I have agreed to collaborate on a zine and maybe print some images onto tshirts and other objects for sale. 

I’m going to start generating pieces over the half term break. 

So far the idea that appeals to me most is rooted in the (slightly incorrect) dev workaround fact below. It’s absurd and funny, but also speaks so loudly of human ingenuity and creativity.

I’ve also got a copy of War on Terror, which is a deliciously irreverent board game by TerrorBull Games. I’d love to work with that in some way because it was so unbelievably, and depressingly, ahead of its time geopolitically. Also, it’s rare, because they only printed a handful and they only did one print run.

The game sometimes requires players to wear this balaclava. Which is fun. I’m thinking maybe a photographic project using that as a starting point. 

You can find out more about the game at:

When I saw my cooled test pieces in the kiln my heart sank. Even though one of them managed to give strong Handmaids Tale vibes, neither slump test effectively assumed the shape it was cast over. 

I am wondering if the firing was hot enough. I don’t think I used gravity enough in the process. I am also wondering if I need to raise the casting molds higher above the kiln base, so the glass tile can flow down further.

I need to run a more tests, using scrap sheets, before I wax 100 spondoolies on some new billets. 

I am also going to look into the core casting technique for creating open hollow forms as an alternative to slumping.

I am, however, really happy with how the colour came out and it’s making me think that I need to experiment with some deep orange frit for my jelly castle casting.

Good DJ name for a new project I’m working on. Seen in Nottingham city center, February 2025.