Art by Peter Heywood

Update:  This has been selected for Plymouth City Council's Open Art Display being held from 7 February to 1 April 2014. 

Here's a link for more info:
http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/creativityandculture/museums/artdevelopment/artsprojects/artscouncilhousedisplay.htm


I made this in my first term at Plymouth College of Art, where we spent two weeks in each workshop on an assignment of "wear/worn". 

In the small metal workshop it was suggested we study the way clothes were made, and I focused on zips and the way the zip teeth sometimes look like busts of people, with the fastener bringing them together and pulling them apart.

I made the fastener out of brass sheet.  Soldering the bits together was quite challenging!

I made the ceramic fleece by extruding clay through a garlic press and attaching it to a thin sheet of clay using slip.  It was very fragile until I glazed it.  Now it's very strong (and hard to the touch, which startles people). 

I "carved" the zip teeth out of leather hard clay and found a glaze that made them look brassy.


Assembling all of these bits was tricky.  I glued the teeth to the fleece and then propped it all up face down in the right position on top of clay covered with a polythene.   I then attached it to the glass stand with bolts threaded through little brass plates that I glued to the back of the fleece.  It's surprisingly rigid.