Angela Zhu MBCS
Creative Portfolio
Craft Work
High relief sculpture wall decor
Project Description: My first completed sculpture work. Inspired by gothic and classical imagery, based on the Latin phrase "Radix malorum est cupiditas" (translates to "Greed is the root of all evil."). I hand sculpted this with minimal tool usage.
The wooden box frame was pre-bought, which I painted and hand-carved the lettering. The frame was slightly too shallow to fully accommodate the sculpture so I extended its depth by sawing two L-shapes of the same width as the frame spacer and gluing them to the back of it. I lined the inner frame with red velvet fabric for a luxurious feel. The metal gold beetle piece is from a candle holder which partly inspired the concept of this work since gold beetles can symbolise wealth.
I experienced some challenges with some parts of the sculpture element breaking such as the noise which I restored, as well as cracking after applying varnish - I believe this was due to not waiting long enough for the acrylic paint layers to dry properly.
Materials and Tools Used: Scola air hardening clay, acrylic paint, GOLDEN acrylic medium, DAS Vernidas Professional Vitrifying Varnish, velvet fabric, faux pearl beads, string, nail glue, ribbon, wood wedges, wood glue, handsaw, small knife, Windsor & Newton matt spray varnish
"Club Mel" decorative wall signage
Project Description: Original design, made for a friend’s birthday cabaret – with a "y2K" visual style and visually based on her favourite things. The glow in the dark text motif is intended to replicate a neon sign. After some experimentation, I mixed air dry clay with some acrylic medium and phosphorescent paint to mould into shape instead of painting directly over the clay since this made the glow effect far brighter.
Materials and Tools Used: Phosphorescent paint, acrylic paint, acrylic medium, hot glue, chalk pastel, cabochons, beads, ribbon, sequins and air dry clay on a heart shape canvas
Sleeper Cell moth signet ring carving
Project Description: Created at a Sken Studios workshop, using jeweller's wax. I designed and carved my ring with guidance and techniques taught by the tutor which was then cast by them in recycled silver. I used the album cover "No Time To Sleep" by Sleeper Cell as reference. This was my first experience carving a ring; getting the fine details was very tricky due to the wax build up and low visibility during carving. However, I really enjoyed the process and woyld love to work with metal more.
Materials and Tools Used: Jeweller's wax, recycled silver, filing tools, engraving tools
Dinosaur guitar pick holder prototype
Project Description: Original design for a novelty custom guitar pick holder made to contain four picks, hand sculpted with soft air dry clay as a quick rough test prototype. I used the guitar picks themselves to make indents. In the final version, the material would ideally be silicone or something else that is suitable to hold the picks in place without falling out, and with weighted legs.
Materials and Tools Used: Air dry clay, pearl beads, metallic pigment
Modular Candle Holder prototype
Project Description: An original design - a sleek, modern tripartite modular candle holder that can be stacked to be used together or individually. Designed to fit most standard candle sizes. This idea was inspired by seeing a candle holder that looked like it came apart but didn't, combined with how there doesn't seem to be a candle holder like this on the market.
I played around with the initial test prototype by sketching the base sizes then using children's soft air dry clay because its properties make it easy and quick to handle as well as flexible. Making changes based off of this, such as elongating the candle stick holder base to improve balance and stability, I used a new type of clay that was more robust for making the updated prototype. I used different candles to mould each piece into shape, several tools (paint palette knife and nail tools) as well as hand sculpting, followed by sanding down with sandpaper when dried to smooth out the clay.
I had to account for shrinkage of the clay, and filled in any cracks with modelling paste. Future iterations would need some light adjustments in structure and include an extra indent on the largest base holder which would accommodate the smallest candlestick holder so the two pieces can also be used together. There would also be different design options with this being the customisable base model.
Materials and Tools Used: Mungyo air dry clay, Liquitex modelling paste, mtn spray paint, acrylic paint, chalk pastel, sandpaper, hand saw, sculpting tools