For this semester we have been working on our major project which is as been assessed for these two terms, making our own amulets. We initially begin a case study into amulets and the origins, meanings and significance of amulets in that particular region. After that we got into the design process of our amulets and I particularly was into Buddhist amulets with gold and brass finishes but found the finishes might take longer to do so wanted to keep it simple with the basic Buddhist amulet design. The first stage if the making process involved learning how to cast our amulet using a piece of soap which took me quite a long time to finalise as it required me to carve to soap to have a flat or “smooth” surface underneath in order to do the next stage. The next stage was the construction of a fence like frame from a rigid corflute and then we would pour the mixture into where the amulet was centred to form a silicon mould. Afterwards the next step involved mixing two more substances and pouring the resin into the Silicon mould. This process for me failed twice due to my amulet having an unusual “bridge” shape which needed to be cut off as it affected the flow of the mixture to both sides. After this this was when we got to be creative about what paints and finishes we wanted to choose for the amulet. I choose to go very simple with the paints using a dilated mixture of orange and white to get a lighter orange. For the border outside I randomly mixed yellow, orange, blue and white to get a rather dark greenish grey colour for the boarder which I thought was rather well done as it gave a good contrast from the orange. Finally I added 6 beads (3 on each side) in ascending order of the colour pallet of Buddhist colours which I struggled to glue properly as the beads would constantly come off so I made sure that I fixated a proper area for bead to stick. Moreover, the amulet art task was a really excellent task for me to learn new skills and sort of having a break from studying and getting high grades and really taught me a lot about fine motor skills importantly. Given I want to be a surgeon when I’m older it really helped to use my hands a lot for the tasks especially the hot glue gun which was probably the most delicate part of them.
