For this piece, I used techniques I learned in class to [attempt] to create a flower out of wire. We used a fishhook technique to wrap the wire around one another and make a solid connection. This project sort of relates to my life. Mainly just because I like flowers and I think they are pretty.

To create this piece, I used wire, specifically 18-gauge wire, to create a flower. We used a simple combination of wire cutters and needle-nose pliers as tools. Thinner, 20-something gauge wire was available as well, though I did not take the opportunity to use it.

I used techniques that I have never used before to create the wire sculpture. Though I have had previous experience with pliers and using my hands for projects, which gave me a bit of an edge in this particular project. I tried using techniques that continued wire for longer than the fish hook technique allows as well. Which worked nicely and helped produce the final product. this project went along pretty smoothly, like others in the past. We started the project by trying to create a verticle tower-type structure just out of the fish hook connections. This proved to be the most frustrating thing I have had to do all year, and I must admit, I may have bent the rules a bit, but in the end, it went okay and it basically stood. After this, we created a cube out of the wire, with the same connections as before. This time though, we used the continuous strategy to create the base and the ceiling of the cube, which helped keep the structure up. This went pretty nicely, and I had some fun with this one. This helped me gain some experience before jumping into the final project which was a tremendous help. After the cube, it was time to start the final product. I decided to do a flower because of the interesting geometric shapes which would be fun to recreate, and I also like flowers. I started with the stem, and I added the small thorns the flower had too. This went nicely and I think it ended up looking like a stem which is probably more than I can say for the rest, but anyway. Next, I started to create the pedals. I got the hang of this pretty quickly and began to use one pair of pliers in each hand which helped me make more specific bends. I would first make a triangle or square-like shape with the wire, then I would make smaller bends in the wire to make it look more realistic. After this, I would bend a few of the top vertexes of the shape down to create the folding effect of the flower. Overall, the design process went well, though the representation is certainly abstract. I did this 20 or so times and then made a small base for them to connect to. I began connecting them and the flower started to take shape. Once I was done connecting all of them, I decided to add a few more in the less abundant places and it looked pretty good. Next, I started to connect it to the stem and this was actually harder than I imagined it would be. In the process of doing so though, I realized that my flower was substantially heavier on one side than the other. So I began to clip sections of wire and simplify the connections. After this, it looked much better and I decided to add one more pedal, basically forgetting about the stem that was dangling off. I finalized the flower head and moved back down to the stem. But before finalizing the connection, I had to add my name. to do this I used some much thinner copper wire and bent it to show Cooper. I tied it on and then I moved back to the stem. To connect the stem firmly I had to add three or four fish hook connections, but once I had it was sturdy and looked good. And, at that, I was finished. If I was to continue this project, I would probably start over and try something new. I honestly think that the flower needs not much adjustment that could be completed without creating a whole new one. So I would just try to create something else. Maybe some kind of animal, that would be fun.