Articulated Animal Project

Project 6 in Stage 2 of the Silver Program at Jewellery Training Solutions. This project teaches all about riveting and challenges the student to create and implement an articulated design. The first thing I thought about making was, of course, a horse. But I am definitely drawing challenged, so it took me a while to figure out the design.

What were the challenges?

The biggest challenge I had in this project was definitely the drawing! I do a lot of my designing on the computer, altering photos that I find online. But, I really want to improve my drawing skills so that I can more easily create what I see in my head, so I did this one on paper. I also had trouble getting the rivets flush on the reverse side and nicely rounded on the front.

Where could I improve?

I’m improving at my finishing, but still have a long way to go. Also the proportions of the horse are off - his head and neck need to be a bit bigger and his withers a bit smaller. Additionally, the lower part of the legs are off. Some of the rounded rivets were slightly flattened as I was fixing up the back of them.

What did I learn?

I really enjoyed this project and the challenges it presented. I made a new tool to be able to make the nicely rounded rivets, and I learned some tricks about riveting, like how to use paper as a spacer when joining the pieces so that the joint can move.