Shell Shaped Experiments

Focussing on the word and shape 'shell' I began sketching and experimenting in my sketch book with shapes and ideas that related to this topic, through my work so far I have discovered the use of small thin slits in paper and the very curvaceous and bold shapes that this technique creates, I felt at the time that this was most appropriate to try and create quite bold and simple shapes in a way that hides/includes the more intricate detail which is much more intricate and complex. Using this idea mean that although there was an overall bold outline of a shape, there was detail within that shape. 

I began using the net I had designed and looking at where I could join the corners together to create a spherical shape - would like to look at using a circular/cone shape piece of paper next time perhaps? 

Here I joined the paper using 3 corners creating this cone/shell like shape.. The slits in the paper allow a much more free and curvaceous shape, it is also quite skeletal showing the outline of the shape rather than the colour/texture etc.. Maybe I could look at texture using pleating etc similar to the workshop previous to this entry?

By this point I had added the forth corner to the other four corners, simply using a staple which i felt would cause less tension to the shape allowing the paper to move slightly into a comfortable, natural looking position, I prefer the more rounded shape to this compared to the first piece as it looks less stretched and more relaxed.

After tweaking the shape slightly I decided to take photographs from slightly abnormal angles that usually might not be used as much, I really like the way you can see inside this piece and how the contours are represented by the way the slits have curved due to the pressure added by the attachment of the corners.

This is the same shape as above take from a different angle, they both look like completely different shapes due to the lighting/angle of the photograph I have taken.. for my final piece it could be interesting to have a series of 'shell like shapes together - lined up? Randomly set and suspended in the air?

Once again this is the same piece, photographed at yet another angle, each photograph captures different shapes and the light reflects in various different places. To me this looks slightly like a clam/oyster shell with the 2 'mouth' pieces looking as though they may open up!

this piece below uses the exact same net as the pieces above, however I took out the existing staples and joined this piece along the sides to create a taller, thinner skeletal shape, this piece to me looks much more structural.. Perhaps reminding me of a stair case rather than a shell. I would like to experiment further with this piece by adding texture/pleats/different lengths and widths of paper...