Jen Blyth

“Magnificent Celebration”

I was somewhat daunted by the theme assigned to me as I don’t feel very comfortable celebrating and certainly not in such a big way as “magnificent“ implies. Therefore, my design process originated from the types of celebration I do know well and from when I have truly enjoyed celebrating over the years: my 5 children’s birthday parties. From there, it was an immediate leap to party hats as the ultimate symbol of the celebration. Not wanting to go with the first idea that came to mind, I started playing with the word celebration and began thinking about cells – Cell ebration. This led me to study the cells involved during the experience of celebrating and I began sketching patterns of dopamine and serotonin, two of the neurotransmitters most involved in the chemical reactions that occur in our bodies when we celebrate. I went back and forth with both design plans and then, because I couldn’t make a commitment to either one, I decided to combine both. Thus, began the arduous task of using dopamine and serotonin diagrams as the patterns on the party hats.

This was a very challenging project for me because, from start to finish, it was a series of firsts (so grateful for the deadline extension!). I started sketches by constructing the party hat shapes very unsuccessfully out of sheet. I quickly determined that I had to build the whole piece in Rhino. I am still very new to Rhino – only a year in, and It took me over a week to actually get the neurotransmitter pattern onto the cone shape of the ring. This project was also the first time I have done my own 3d printing, with my own printer. Due to the fast approaching deadline, I had to have the pieces cast in sterling silver and this now became the first time I had enameled on sterling silver on a very 3 dimensional form. The enameling became the biggest hurdle and remains unresolved for me. I envisioned creating several more hats, each with different tops, and some with holes big enough to dispense confetti from inside the party hat. This whole project was a learning process and despite cursing my computer and my kiln at times, I loved every minute of it. I am a better designer, and enameler, because of this opportunity.

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