Portrait of Woman

A lamp with the body of a woman, inspired by my interest in the representation of the female figure in classical and contemporary artwork. The process involved a number of machining and hand-finishing processes, and unfolded over the course of an entire quarter at Stanford.

Sand Casting

Using traditional sand casting and core making methods to create the hollow base of the lamp. I chose to cast my piece in bronze to evoke a feeling of warmth, which I associate with femininity.

The inspiration for this project was how the portrayal of the female form has evolved from the classical tradition of depicting mythological figures to more provocative imagery and everything in between. I wanted to create a piece that was not only beautiful but also fell into this evolving tradition of portraying to body in artwork.

Rod Bending and Welding

After I cast my base and chiseled out the core, the next challenge was to fashion the bones of the lampshade. Using steel rod and hand tools, I bent rings and ribs to weld together into the shape I wanted.

One of the biggest challenges I faced in manufacturing the lampshade was fixturing the pieces. Because I wanted to create an organic, curved shape, I had to get creative with holding the pieces in place while I welded them together. I eventually landed on using pieces of heatstone to hold up the “ribs,” while keeping the top and bottom rings vertical with two powerful magnets.

Coremaking

A subset of sandcasting, I had to use special materials to construct a “core” for the body of my lamp. This core allows the molten metal to flow around it, creating a hole that runs through the entirety of the piece. This process is extremely delicate, and after casting the hardened sand core must be chiseled out by hand.