Dorset and Brimham Rocks

I took a trip to Dorset to visit Durdle’s Door and Blue Pool, both natural formations. Blue pool is a natural occurring phenomenon, the name of the pool misleads you into thinking the pool is blue, however this is not the case, photography and reflections from the sky resulted with people naming the lake blue pool. The pool can appear blue in colour and then changes from turquoise, green and to grey. I was intrigued by this and had to find out what triggered the colour change, the museum on site of the pool answered this, there are still particles of clay left in the pool that float around causing the light to reflect off, generating colour. The ball clay was used to produce bowls, plates, kettles, tea sets and tobacco pipes.

 

Durdle’s door is made up of vertical bands of limestone that has been created by erosion from the sea. The door will not erode more than it has as it has a team that preserves its shape. Looking at Durdle’s door in particular, I became interested in rock formations. There is such a wide variety of formations that can inspire my designs, I’ve looked into the 3 types of rocks, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, focusing mainly on Metamorphic rocks that have been subjected to great stresses and have changed their texture or shape from their original form.  

I wanted to see more rock formations up close so I visited Brimham rocks in Yorkshire, the unusual shaping of the rocks started around 18,000 years ago during the ice age, strong winds caused the rocks to be sandblasted, particularly at ground level where the winds were strongest. The most famous rock is named ‘Idol’ as it appears to be balancing on a tiny pedestal. From this I have started drawing rock formations from primary and secondary imagery, and have begun creating 3D models incorporating them into Solidworks. I want to have strong links between my Digital Design and Ceramic projects through linking techniques.