For the Portfolio unit I was required to choose a project that would really challenge my skill level and display the skills I have acquired over the past three years. I chose to re-design and re-create Tutankhamun’s gold canopic shrine, however adapt it to fit the story of Isis and Osiris. I selected the section of the story where Osiris is tricked into a coffin, which is what I adapted the gold shrine into. During the re-designing process I decided to make the gold coffin 2/3 of the original size of the gold canopic shrine as not only would it be challenging to create it at full size, but also there was a lack of studio space to create something so big.

There are many positive aspects of this project that worked well. I scanned and increased my designs by 400% so I could put these photo copies on top of the celotex and engraved them accurately. I’ve never really done much engraving before this project, the first few hieroglyphics I engraved were a bit rough but as I continued carving I feel like I improved and dug them more crisply. I did my research on hieroglyphics to make sure they were correct and actually translated to coherent sentences rather than just etching random hieroglyphics. Originally I felt my designs were very childish, however once they were carved they really looked the part and reflected my research of the hieroglyphics in the British Museum and the Petrie Museum. I am happy with the overall design of the piece and feel like I kept enough of the original design to show the correlation between them.

The main body of the gold coffin is structurally sound and has some interesting shapes to it, such as the curve at the top. The boarders also add more interesting shapes as the main body is very flat, so the curved boarders add another element.

The celotex I used to create the main body and the curve of the canopy, picked up the engravings and distressing texture well. By using the broken brick to push into the celotex it really distressed it in a way that looked authentic and aged by thousands of years.

I really like the different shades of gold I created on this piece by using paints, spray paints, powder paints and Dutch metal; this created many different levels to show the erosion of the coffin over the years.

In the photo shoot I got some incredible photos that I’m really proud of; I spread sand around the coffin to add some contextual element to the images so the viewer could really imagine it in Egypt. The lighting also really helped to set the mood as I used dramatic spot lights to cast harsh shadows on the coffin from the top curves.

In regards to my self-promotional material I am extremely pleased as I made a logo, website – including my online portfolio, physical portfolio and business cards. I feel all of these are professional in terms of design, printed through a professional company using high quality materials, written in a formal manner and consistent in colour scheme and font. Included in this section of this unit I also created and used social media – Facebook – and Linked In pages to advertise myself; I felt using these tools was important as many people today frequently regularly use these and can easily access them which could open up job opportunities for me. I decided to create an A3 physical portfolio as it will be easy to carry when travelling to interviews and the images are of a large enough size to show details of my work.

Along with the positive, there were also negative aspects of this project and improvements that I will be making after hand-in. Some of the lines I engraved are too thick, but this didn’t seem like too much of a problem once I’d added texture and paint.

Although the main body was structurally sound, the canopy however wasn’t. I did try hard to make sure the two sides of the pillar were at right angles when I glued them together, yet when I attached the beams joining the pillars it became unstable. This was because there was a gap between each beam and pillar which I tried to fill with body filler but this wasn’t strong enough to infuse them together. I will probably need to take apart the canopy at a later stage, re-cut the beams and then assemble it again. I also realised that when I added the canopy over the main body, that it was a very tight fit; I think this was due to using expandable foam as an adhesive to join parts of the celotex so this expanded everything out further, causing the main body to be a lot bigger than I originally intended. To rectify this problem, I will later sand down each side of the main body to allow space between the main body and canopy.

The celotex was a difficult material to work with as it dented very easily; this was frustrating when I was transporting my work to and from university as although it is supposed to look aged and withered, I also didn’t want all the edges broken off. I did keep many of these pieces that broke off, then glued them back on later; I also used the expandable foam and body filler to fill and holes and gaps, then shaped and sanded this to make it blend in.

Frustratingly I only bought two cans of 1100 gold leaf spray paint, however this wasn’t enough so I tried to buy more of the same shade on several occasions but unfortunately the shop only had gold leaf 110S so I took the opportunity to add this extra shade of gold and blended them. I later used another gold spray as well, which annoyingly when I first looked at I thought wasn’t suitable as the colour on the cap, but when I sprayed it I found it was perfect – this would have actually cost less as well since it was a larger spray can than the ones I had been buying. I think I also need to add more Dutch metal and powder paint to the canopy, main body and sledge and adding the legs of the sledge. I’m not sure if I should have used so many different golds as gold doesn’t change colour as it ages, however I do feel like it adds a more interesting element to it and was advised to use several golds by the scenic artist to make the gold leaf really stand out from the paint.

I feel like I could have saved money here and there but it was often a trade between spending a bit more money to avoid wasting time so I feel like it was the right call to make. My time management was much better this project than any of my previous projects; I could still have worked faster

For the photo shoot I hadn’t finished the sledge and canopy yet so I had to do the shoot with only the main body of the coffin. I will definitely do another photo shoot with all three pieces once I have perfected them.

Sculpting isn’t my strongest skill so I did find it difficult and don’t feel I quite master the correct shape for goddesses. Frustratingly, the university store had no silicon and we kept being told that it should be arriving soon so I didn’t want to order any; I now wish I had as I couldn’t mould my goddesses or snakes due to this. In future I will avoid relying on certain shops and will source my materials elsewhere, even if an order is due.

The sledge I made out of three MDF boards is really heavy, I now realise that I could have cut the perimeter of the middle board making it hollow and therefore lighter. I will keep this in mind for any future projects.

The boarders on both the main body and the canopy aren’t flush and are worst on the canopy. I did try to sand the corners before I attached the boarders but I didn’t sand them enough so once they were attached I tried to blend them by bulking the face with body filler but I don’t feel like this worked. I’m going to have to pull the boarders off, sand the corners again and then re-attach them.

The lack of studio space was an issue for me as it led to my project being accidentally damaged several times due to several of us having to work closely in the same room. This caused setbacks for me and wasted time as I had to spend time fixing the broken parts.

The images of my work on my business cards aren’t my favourite projects and I don’t feel like they show the best of my skills. Now that I have images that I’m happy with from my photo shoot of this project (and will be getting more with all three parts together) I will use these to create more business cards. There was one image in my physical portfolio of the Horatio Nelson project, that I’m not satisfied with as it’s of a low quality due to the image not being taken on a decent camera. The reason I left this in my portfolio was because I don’t have time to put a new one in before the deadline so I will take some more photos using a quality camera and then replace this image before showing my portfolio to future employers.

I am extremely pleased with the end result of this project and feel I did it to the best of my ability. I really challenged myself with this project by attempting new processes to me such as gilding and working on processes I am weak at such as sculpting; I also used materials I’d never experimented with before such as celotex, powder paints, van dyck crystals and Dutch metal. I also feel my idea progressed dramatically from originally wanting to create Tutankhamun’s canopic jars to re-designing and re-creating Tutankhamun’s gold canopic shrine and giving it a new purpose – Osiris’ coffin.