When I began this blog, not having written one previously, I was uncertain as to how it would assist in my research. I chose WordPress and it has been kind to me, not quite as technically difficult as I first expected and the ability to edit and add to posts as you find more ideas and research is an excellent tool. Being able to access it from anywhere, on portable devices or other computers is a bonus. It has been conducive to compartmentalising my research and to developing it. I started with a very broad subject idea, which was to explore the reasons and results of people choosing jewellery as a good luck charm, amulet or talisman. The critical analysis and bibliography we wrote at the beginning of the year was an excellent starting point, critical thinking and in depth research, not simply from a visual point of view, but finding historical, anthropological and psychological journals was crucial in contextualising my practice. Reading back through my blog now, I can see how it has helped me to focus. The problem I had with my area of research was that I didn’t know what objects I wanted to make, therefore I have been concentrating exclusively on the research itself. Having the research in front of me in the blog format is quite a revelation. Whereas previous research consisted of some websites saved to favourites, some printed pages, books and a sketchbook in a very disorganised and fractured way, I can now just scroll back to remind me of the direction I need to go, and if a tangent presents itself to be explored, which culminates in a dead end, it will be far easier to return to the original path. Another advantage to the blog is to be able to just make small random entry into it, when an idea occurs or you come across something of interest, i can foresee that I will be doing much more of that in the future. That said, I still feel that I have only just begun. My research has been for the most part, external, rather than running alongside practical experimentation or work. I find it difficult to do the two together at the first stages of a project, though now I can identify a direction for my work to follow, the approach has become more clear to me, I look forward to continuing to use the blog for the purpose of reviewing the development of the jewellery conjointly with the research. The blog enables you to look at your own work more objectively and critically and evaluate them more effectively. The enjoyment has increased, the further into the blog I got. I feel like my own ideas are now starting to bubble to the surface. It is essential to have other contemporary artists to reference, to see someone else take on the same subject has opened my mind to new possibilities and to new materials to experiment with. I feel that now I have this foundation to my work, once I start in earnest on the making of the jewellery, the flow will be far more impelling and effective.
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