Previously I talked about art medals and now I will talk about my own art medal that I made way back in HND 1. As part of casting project I was to design and carve out an art medal in wax. As a bonus, best wax designs were to be selected for casting in bronze and sent off for BAMS competition. My design was lucky enough to be selected and although I didn't win the competition, there is nothing quite like the joy of seeing your art medal in metal.

Because the project was split into two parts - an art medal and 12 link cast bracelet, I was really struggling with the theme of my art medal. What was it that I wanted to convey in my art medal? What did I feel strongly about? What sort of imagery I wanted to use? Symbolism?
All of these questions I couldn't answer, but I kept on drawing and brainstorming ideas. I knew I wanted to use nature to portray something, but I had no idea what. From brainstorm, I narrowed my themes down to exploitation of children in war, and that theme evolved into topic of girls being forced to grow up too quickly. I felt that it is issue that isn't mentioned often, but the fact remains that media surrounding us, environment and peer pressure often causes the girls to become women way too quickly. They don't have enough time to enjoy being children, before being an adult.
 I chose cherry blossoms as symbol of femininity and innocence. Their fragility and the way they are beautiful for such a short amount of time before wilting away fit perfectly with my theme. The front also features a caption "Like flowers, but pressured to bloom".
The caption came from short poem I wrote:
"Like flowers we bloom
Growing too fast
Hunted by pressure"
The back features sitting girl, one of those 'pressured to bloom'.

Below is final rendering of my design and actual art medal.