For my portfolio unit I propose to create a gold casket for the Ancient Egyptian god, Osiris within the context of the story of Isis and Osiris. I feel that it is important for this particular piece to be made as within the story it’s described as magnificent and I want to be able to show this visually. The design of the casket will take many elements from Tutankhamun’s gold canopic shrine that was found within his tomb. I originally wanted to create the gold canopic shrine and have it in its original context in Tutankhamun's tomb; however after doing my research and finding the measurements of this I realised that it was unrealistic to create a replica of this as it was both too big to create within the space I'm allowed within university and would be difficult to create to a high standard within the given project time. Knowing this I decided to find a new story to contextualise the purpose of the gold canopic shrine, which is how I came across the story of Isis and Osiris which was from the same era – the Ancient Egyptian period. I had to adapt the story slightly for the gold canopic shrine to fit into this context, and the purpose of the gold canopic shrine changed to being a casket instead; however the original design will be used as a starting point and very much integrated into the final design. Nevertheless, I do want to add my own design elements too, so I will adapt this and re-design parts as I see fit. The purpose of this gold casket would be part of a documentary film, Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, and would be one of many of short stories about the gods and goddesses of this time. This film will be aimed at teenagers to elderly people who are interested in learning more about Ancient Egyptian mythology.

Along with the usual methods of research such as books, DVDs, documentaries, etc, I will also travel to London to visit the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the Ancient Egyptian section of the British Museum. I have also booked a ticket to see the Egyptian Exhibition at Highclere Castle which is what’s left of Lord Carnarvon’s private collection.

The Ancient Egyptians have always been people that I have been fascinated by and hungry to know more about; having this personal passion I felt this will drive me to stay focused and interested in this project for the entire length of the unit.

In terms of materials I am likely to use celotex to make the main body of the casket as this will be easy to carve the designs into, a wood for the sledge and canopy as it needs to be sturdy and strong, sculpt the statues and snakes out of chavant, make a silicon mould with a fibre glass jacket and then cast the statues out of biscuit foam – for cheapness and for them to be robust – and the snakes out of fast cast – due to needing lots of them, this will be the quickest way to mass produce them. I then plan to distress the entire casket and then decorate it using a range of materials, such as brown and gold paints, brown and gold sprays, gold powders, van dyck crystals, shellack, button polish and dutch metal. The final product is going to be severely distressed and aged which is why I am planning on using so many different materials to hopefully achieve this effect.

From this project I am hoping to improve and learn many new skills such as carving, sculpting, moulding, casting and distressing techniques; I will also be using some materials that I have never had the opportunity to experiment with before like the cellotex, van dyck crystals and dutch metal.

In order to make my final piece to the best of my ability I will first create a maquette to understand the structure of the piece. Next I will practice a sample piece of carving to ensure I am carving at the right angle, try to carve roughly at the same depth and to try to discover any unforeseeable problems before carving into my final piece. I will then practice decorating and distressing this using the paints, sprays, powders, van dyck crystals, shellac, button polish and dutch metal to get an idea of what the texture and appearance of my final piece will look like when it is complete.

I am keen to present myself in a professional manner and to do this I plan to create an online presence by making a website which will include a bio about myself and my skills, an online portfolio and will also use social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram to promote myself. The reason behind me wanting to use social media as a marketing tool is because at present we are a very tech savvy generation and I want people to be able to effortlessly keep up to date with my current projects and be able to easily view my past projects.

Alongside my online presence, I also will be creating a physical portfolio containing high quality images of my most recent work; I will only be including work from the past three years – all created during my university period – as this feels the most relevant and shows my skills to the best of their ability.

Another way I will be promoting myself is through business cards that will be made professionally and of a high quality; these will include the label I will be working under, contact details and images of my work. All of my promotional material will be of a professional standard and have a consistent flow to it by using the same logo, font and images.