Start of Sculpture workshop.
Summary:
I started the sculpture workshop, which began with an hour
long seminar; at the start of which we were given modelling wax to mould this
block however we wished but without thinking about it, I settled on slowly
rolling it in the palm of my fist which resulted in the outcome below. The sand
mould process which I’ve described in detail interesting as it is a simple and
fast process to create a perfect cast, however of only a small simple object. Fine
details aren't easily picked up, which is a shame. Using leftover plaster I
made a cast of my cupped hands resulting in a curious little object as although
it is covered in marks and textures left by the impression of my skin it has
the appearance of a sea shell or small armoured creature with a skin like
texture on a hard surface. I didn't engage well with this workshop I'm looking
forward to next week’s wood and metal work themed session, however casting
isn't, I just find it a copy of a pre-existing thing, I like to create new original
objects not replicate existing things.
On Tuesday 1st Dec I started the three week long sculpture workshop, which started with an hour long seminar; at the start of which we were all given a cube of black modelling wax and instructed to mould this block however we wished but without thinking about throughout the duration of the seminar I spent this hour focused on the power point in front of me whilst rolling the wax in my hand and pulling at it with my fingers, I settled on slowly rolling it in the palm of my fist which resulted in the outcome below.
After the seminar we went through to the workshop where we began an induction into casting, I started by making a simple sand mould of a key ring. To do this I forced sand into a hollow cylinder, then pressed the key ring halfway into the top of the sand, I then carefully placed a second cylinder ontop and marked both cylinders on the outside with chalk so as to correctly align the two later. Again I filled this cylinder with sand pressuring it down. Once full I removed the top cylinder, and carefully removed the key ringso that a perfect impression was left inside. Using a metal rod I created a funnel from the highest point of the mould to the top of the cylinder, the top of which I then made into a larger funnel using a spoon. I then correctly aligned the two cylinders and passed this on t the workshop technician who filled the casts with molten aluminium from the foundry.
Once done I nockd of the sand revealing the cast of the key ring. This process is documented below:
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Below is the finished aluminium cast of the key ring I found this process intresting as it is a simple and fast process to create a perfect cast, however of only a small simple object. fine details aren't easily picked up, which is a shame.
I then moved onto looking at alginate moulds and plaster casts. In this workshop we looked at casting our hands. To do this we initially rolled a sheet of plastic into a cylinder secured with tape. we then sealed the bottom of the cylinder to a flat surface (a wooden board) using clay which was smoothed out around the base sealing the bottom so as it was water tight. After wetting our arms we poured the Alginate solution into the tube around our hands, so as to make the most of the limited amount of the alginate I spread my knuckles out close to the walls of the cylinder carful not to touch them and lowered my palm down almost in the same way a gorilla walks on its knuckles. After ten minutes the alginate had dried to a similar consistency as rubber, therefore we removed our hands leaving a perfect mould, which we then filled with plaster leaving about an inch above the mould to form a base or plinth for the cast. once the plaster had dried, we removed the plastic cylinder and peeled away the alginate delicately to reveal the casts, I was fortunate as the cast did not crack, however due to the quality of the plaster used several of my class mates lost fingers or sections of the as they uncovered them. I have documented this process below.
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Above is the alginate mould of my hand, I find this negative space far more intriguing than the cast the positive space as this is a copy of what we always see from day to day, whereas the physical representation of the negative space which we generally don't acknowledge.
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Below is an example of a cast which broke and lost several defining features, fingers knuckles etc...
Below is my finished cast which I'm fairly proud of, Although this is a basic cast it has inspired my thought process, so that I'm now considering how I can enhance and develop casts.
After making the cast of my hand there was a decent amount of plaster left therefore whilst listening to my tutor's summary at the end of the workshop I cupped my palms and let another student pour this plaster into my hands, after several minutes the plaster was dry and I was left with the cast below. This is a curious little object as although it is covered in marks and textures left by the impression of my skin it has the appearance of a sea shell or small armoured creature with a skin like texture on a hard surface.
I've now gone back to look at the wax sculpture I made in the seminar which in my opinion resembles an elongated neck and shoulders therefore on Photoshop I've developed my simple wax model into a portrait drawing below, which I quite like as its a combination of sculpture ad my primary medium drawing. Which has had an interesting outcome.
In hind sight I didn't engage well with this workshop I'm looking forward to next weeks wood and metal work themed session, however casting isn't greatly interesting to me as I just find it a copy of a pre existing thing, I like to create new things original objects not replicate existing things.
Furthermore in the seminar for sculpture I saw the work of performance artist Mathew Barney, who, after researching his work, doesn't really interest me, however his sculptures and characters that are activated in his performances do interest me therefore I considered making a mask as a start of a character. Although the finished object is disappointing I consider it more of a starting point as I didn't consider what I was making I primarily made the object as an experiment therefore I would like to develop my own character and create a sculpture to represent this. below I have documented the process I used to make the mask.
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10. finished piece
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