Coloured match sticks-experiment 1...

 

Creating these 3 experiments was about using an unlikely material and seeing what could be created. My first experiment involved lining up 10 different coloured match sticks, leaving space next to each other so that they would create a snowflake look from a bird’s eye view and attaching them altogether using a hot glue gun. Keeping each match stick straight proved difficult by each layer but the outcome was small and decorative pieces that would come together to create a small installation. I made 20 pieces, they all had the same amount of sticks but the colours varied. I presented these pieces floating in mid-air; I got the presentation influence from the ‘Peace’ installation I had seen in a Manchester Museum. I also wanted these pieces to be light so that the air and wind could slowly move them, gliding side to side, sometimes spinning, I got this influence from the ‘Obsessions’, ‘We Face Forward’ pieces. I am very pleased with the outcome, given more time I would have created a lot more pieces and made this installation a lot bigger. Even though the match sticks were bold colours they didn’t make this piece look tacky which always impresses me, because the pieces are so small and are only attached by glue they are very fragile and delicate and could easily be broken.