Skimmer

Brass Skimmer

Rice Paper

This is probably the most minimal artwork that I've ever made. I saw the skimmer in an Asian supermarket and felt an urge to buy one and admire its beauty. I had also picked up some rice paper, and so cut it into strips and soaked them in water prior to then laying them over the dome of the skimmer, ensuring that they neatly cover the surface. When it was dry I carefully removed the cast from the mould. I hung the skimmer on wall and then balanced the rice paper on the wire skimmer part. Over time the rice paper moulded itself around the skimmer, and as it dried out it began to crack.

Here it is in stages

Translucent rice paper

I am wary about using the same material too often, and wanted to find a replacement for the seaweed that I used along with the skimmer to form a bowl-like shape which balances inside the skimmer from which it takes its shape.

                                                                                                         
The rice paper is an interesting alternative to the seaweed. The transparency allows the intricate gold mesh to be partially seen through the 'bowl', and its muted colour goes well with the neutral browns, cream cloth and natural colour of the lining paper.

Laser cutting seaweed and rice paper

I have been using the laser cutter to engrave and cut seaweed and rice paper. I scanned the prints that I made on white paper, and then did some editing in Photoshop to create the file for the laser cutter.

My initial experiment was to engrave seaweed, which had the affect of creating what seemed like a lighter tone of green in the places where the laser had engraved it. It wasn't as I had imagined, and smelled horrid!

I then learned how to turn my tonal scans into line drawings using the laser cutting software, and then laser cut a few different patterns from seaweed.

I also tried laser cutting the same design into rice paper.

When the rice paper is laser cut, one can see the slightly browned edges of the cut from the heat of the laser. This helps frame the little shapes on this translucent and subtle material.

I really enjoy the delicacy of the laser cut seaweed. I could display them amongst the printed seaweed.

Relief prints on rice paper

My latest material discovery is rice paper. I have never seen rice paper like this before. It has an incredible pattern. Simply rolling ink onto the surface reveals the pattern in more detail.

When printing with other materials such as the sponges and jelly, the pattern of the rice paper overrides the pattern of the stamp. Therefore, I feel that the more subtler qualities of these stapes are lost on the rice paper, and so a different surface should be used for these types of print.