As I posted about Mokume gane before (title; Mokume gane), I have been practicing Mokume gane at my studio. Experiencing and experimenting in Mokume gane is significant but at the same time, I believe that I need to know how people in New Zealand perceive Mokume gane as well. Because of the fact that Mokume gane does not receive wide recognition, there is strong possibility that people show different reaction to Mokume gane. So I interviewed people around me about how they perceive it.
I showed my piece of work in Mokume gane to people when I interviewed them. Because of the reason that I made Mokume gane by myself, what they looked at did not show a typical appearance of Mokumegane, so their responses might be unusual… Even so, the research result was remarkable!! Starting from ‘beautiful’and ‘intricate’, the opinion has extended to ‘psychedelic’ and ‘disease’. Thereis also the answer ‘knots in timber or wood’ which matches its original meaning ‘wood grain’ (I have not mentioned Mokume gane’s meaning befire, sorry! It means wood grain metal in Japanese).
I am sure, I will take these opinions and utilise them for my studio practice.
List of responses (so far)
Beautiful
Inticate :3
Psychedelic /60s hippy patterns :2
Reminds of Jasmine Watson’s pattern
Liquid, paint
Science-cells /Petri dish :2
Middle eastern
Craters of the moon
Damascus steel
Batic fabric
Layered wax carving
Animal markings (cuttle fish, octopus, fugu)
Knots in timber /wood
Bubbles
Bullseye
Hot springs
DNA
Disease looked through a microscope
