Visit to the scrap Yard

Last week when I visited the scrap yard I collected more objects that had been discarded in a rubbish pile. I thought this was a good opportunity to collect some more scraps to make new objects that had come from a different context to the ones I collected at Falmouth. Here are some photos of the scrap yard and the objects I found.

The objects I found consisted of a heater, old wood and metal scraps, an old boot, a metal handle, a hair brush, an old cleaning cloth, some netting and leather strips. Before using these objects I had to clean them because they were extremely dirty and smelly. One problem I had was that the old boot I found was unusable due to the smell and to avoid getting ill I decided to throw it away. The difference about collecting the objects on the beach at Falmouth is that these objects had been sort of cleaned by the salt in the sea, the ones I found in the scrap yard however could have been crawling with disease. Despite this I started making objects, keeping in mind the idea of creating tool like objects that were unfamiliar to people. I found that many of the objects I made took the same kind of form, using the wood scraps as a handle and then attaching something to the end of it. They certainly don't look as interesting as my beach objects, one reason being that I didn't have a varied mix of natural and man made objects- but this only highlights the difference in objects depending on the context. For example I was less likely to find natural scraps such as sea weed or shells from Falmouth, because I was in the middle of London. I thought about this as I was making and decided that I would make my objects much more sharp looking to reflect the context I had retrieved them from by doing things like not sanding down the wood as much leaving sharp corners. I thought it would contrast with the soft looking wood from the beach that had been carved by the sea. Here are some photos of the objects I created:

I have decided not to take this concept any further because I feel like my use of materials is getting too similar and repetitive. I think I should now move on from using scraps to using the workshop at college to vary the type and appearance of materials in my project. For example I have already started doing this with the vacuum former whilst exploring how to frame of mount my objects. Also these unfamiliar tool like objects are clogging up my room and smell very bad!