Still being influenced by the Mary Greg Chatelaine.

I feel a little odd adding to this as it feels like the site has been moth balled.. But I continue to create new attachments for my Chatelaine. I feel the Mary Greg project is still waiting for something to happen…we can’t have done all this for no “ending”

The new “Emergency Joke Capsule” is fourth along, I have included two other test ideas either side. The first two objects are from my own collection and have influenced the final design.

The second new set of work I have made are a little more complicated. Again influenced by objects from my own collection. These are for collecting the card discs from party poppers…mementos of celebrations.

Inspired by Mary Greg’s Watch key

Small stylus for texting

A page from my sketchbook, January 2013.

A quick update, I am not getting much time in my workshop at the moment, so I have started a mini project inspired by Mary Greg’s watch key collection. Trying to make some objects using the minimal amount of processes. One bend and one solder and some word stamping. The first one I have made I use to text on my new phone as I keep hitting the wrong keys with my fingers…I might make more texting “keys”. Old technolgy meets new.

Hazel

Xmas 2012, visit to Platt Hall

Just before Xmas Liz, Sharon and I met up to spend a lovely morning looking at the OPUA (Objects of Personal Use and Adornment) Collection. We ,as always, were focused on the Mary Greg objects. But these wonderful “Veil adjusters” caught my eye. The joy of being allowed to “rummage” in the collection has allowed us to find things we could never plan or expect, and this packet links in well with a Mail Art project I am launching this year on “How to Market Bent Wire”.

http://howtomarketbentwire.blogspot.co.uk/

Hazel

Instructions on how to use Veil adjuster.

Veil Adjusters from Platt Hall OPUA Collection.

 

Sort of connected..Fletcher Moss Art Gallery and 2 keys

A second year Interactive Arts Student, John Lynch, has organised an exhibition at Didsbury Parsonage (Fletcher Moss Art Gallery) for this weekend. I was kindly invited to be part of it and after a whistle stop visit a month ago , where I took a number of photos of keyholes, I decided to make a special  Escutcheon to cover one of the bare key holes and commemorate some  part of the history of the Fletcher Moss Art Gallery.

Research for Escutcheon for Didsbury Parsonage.

The connection is, that Liz found this entry in the MAG archives just last week and sent me these photos.

Two keys exist in the collection, alongside Mary Greg’s keys, but donated by Alderman Fletcher Moss.

MAG records

MAG record book

List Spools 2012

I also made another new set of list spools over the summer, the idea initially came from the roll of paper in a metal tube in the Mary Greg Collection, but I also was inspired by a roll of tape on a simple stamped tin holder which is now part of the A1 Scrap Metal collection. The lists have become archives of very special days in my life this summer, my wedding and my son going off to college. Lists had to be written for both events and thus two archive spools of “to do” lists. The numbers were printed using Letterpress at MMU. Hazel

Ready to Use List Spool 2012

"Diary" List Spools Summer 2012Ready to Use List Spool 2012

Quizzing Glasses 2012

I should have put this on the blog before, I made these Quizzing Glasses over the summer for the Mouseion Exhibition organised by Alex Woodall at Leicester University, in the Museum Studies building. See link for more details.

http://www.mouseionexhibition.wordpress.com      ” Mouseion Artists’ reflections on museums.”

All these “quizzing glasses” have normal glass in them, cut using the new skill I aquired at Mid Cheshire College. They are a way of encouraging you to look at the world in a quizzical manner…

Inspired by the two beautiful quizzing glasses we found in Platt Hall, which are part of Mary Greg’s collection. Which are  on show in the object memories showcase at Manchester Art Gallery at the moment. Hazel

Quizzing Glasses 2012 by Hazel Jones

Thimbles…who’d have thought?

Box of various thimbles, mostly donated by Mary Greg.

After a long time away from the blog, but no time at all away from being inspired by objects from the Mary Greg collection, I am back on the blog. Liz kindly invited me to join her on her research day in the store rooms of Platt Hall yesterday. I had a lovely day re -aquainting myself with some of the wonderful objects in this collection. It was a very calm and reflective few hours that passed far too quickly. We started off opening a few random drawers with the help of Katie who was on a weeks work experience. The one drawer had this box of thimbles, which I had seen a few times before, but we started to explore the box one thimble at a time and discovered we had missed so much at previous viewings.

There were thimbles with simple adaptations, such as thread cutters and needle threaders attached, as well as “sewing kits” which used the thimble as the lid and one thimble which contained a tiny spool of thread, as well as the commerative thimbles and tiny childrens thimbles, and home made thimbles and tough utilitarian thimbles, ring thimbles, glass thimbles, one with a glass file in it that we were baffled by, …how did I miss all that before? It also made me realise how much more there must be to explore in that collection.

I also re-discovered a large set of skirt “grapplers” or grips for holding up ladies long dresses out of the mud, or out of the way whilst playing sports or dancing…these, Liz discovered, were donated by another lady called Mrs H. Carr, MORE on her later…I really wanted them to be donated by Mary, but I am intrigued to know more about Mrs H. Carr too.

Hazel

Thimble with built in thread cutter

Thimble with bobbin inside

Des Hughes at MAG May 2012

Quick sketch of selection of objects made and chosen by the artist Des Hughes.

I went to see a lovely exhibition in MAG of work selected from the collection by Des Hughes. There is no text in the gallery referring to the chosen objects,but I could easily pick out the ones which Mary Greg had contributed. It was refreshing to see them amongst other objects, both old and hand made, they looked at home and even more intrigueing and beautiful.

Key

Europe

Iron

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.68

Keys

England

Steel

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.728

Latch lifter

Europe

Iron

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.754

Key

Europe

Iron

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.763

Crusie Lamp

Scotland

Iron

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.799

Spoon 1800s

India

Bronze

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.841

Comb 5th or 6th century

England

Copper

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.1074

Whip before 1900

England

Iron and leather

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.1198

Thumbscrew c.1720

England

Iron

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.1234

Dice

Greece

Steatite

Gift of Mrs Mary Greg  1922.1283

Hazel

A new start..and the sun is out.

Rising sun by Hazel

At last..a couple of weeks off for Easter to start thinking about Mary Greg again. This started off really well by meeting Sharon, Liz and Martin in the MAG cafe and catching up with each other yesterday. This year has been a hard year to keep the momentum going on the Mary Greg project for us all, but it was wonderful to know we still have a project which we all still want to build on..even if it is slowly. All I have done  recently (apart from teach full time) is attend an evening class at Mid Cheshire college and learnt to cut glass and use foil and lead work, having always been in awe of stained glass it was something I always wanted to try. As I learnt to cut the glass I realised I was now going to be able to make my own shaped “quizzing glasses”.  So here I go, plasters at the ready (I managed to cut myself nearly every week at the class).

Hazel

A Little Success…

Results of my second enamelling tests

Summer is nearly here, and I have decided to use my long awaited research time to try and master the enamelling kiln I bought last year. I was a little nervous to use if after my  disasterous first attempt, but I had a go last week and the results were slightly improved, I decided it was a little  like baking, you have to get the temperature and timing just so, which I can only learn by practice. I am making tags to hang off your clothes, which indicate damage or lost buttons. Hazel