8th August - more casts

As I am sure you can see from the photos over the past few weeks, my studio is not in the tidiest of states, and I am running out of space to leave things to dry!

But, I am really enjoying the way the work is progressing and want to have a collection of colours to select from.

I really like the texture of the surface, created by making the mould from cardboard.

The surface quality is enhanced by adding plenty of polymer to the plaster, which gives a sheen, and this makes the ripples of the cardboard more noticeable.

I need to leave the plaster uncovered to dry, but am concerned that I don't want them to get dirty. I want the colours to remain as they are, and the polymer helps retain this.

I am going to test what happens if I paint polymer (or a diluted version) onto the surface, in the hope that it will help protect the plaster, preserve the colour and enhance the surface quality by adding a slight shine.

I have made the inside of the casts hollow in order for the wooden batons to fit flush inside, therefore being hidden. The wooden batons are needed to attach the work to the method of wall hanging used by the gallery in which these works will first be exhibited. 

I do enjoy the hollowed out back of the work, and will consider how I am able to exhibit this side of the work.

The edges are very important in this series, and so I will need to ensure that there is a large enough gap between the different pieces in order for the layered sides to be visible.

It would also be interesting to be able to view all sides of the work, but I do not want to display them on  a plinth.

Plaster squares 06/08/2013

I've been doing more casting today, adding layers to the casts that I started yesterday. I also made a couple of new moulds and will add more layers to them tomorrow.

Today's colour range :

 

 Some of the colour tests that Ive done over the past few days were ready to be removed from the moulds:

Plaster squares 05/08/2013

One of the pieces I made yesterday was ready to be moved from it's mould today, and to my delight, it turned out well, with no cracks!

I am now in production mode, with the intention of creating a series of coloured plaster squares with a single colour on the face, and multicoloured layers around the edges. I have chosen a range of colours to use, so the squares will have different combinations of colours, but these colours will all be in the same range.

Today's colour scheme is:

Ongoing work 03/08/2013

Success!The casts I did yesterday have worked. I enjoy the simplicity of the single colour face of the squares, with the multicoloured layers around the edges.

I begin by casting the square face, allowing that to dry overnight before adding another mould inside the square and filling the rim with layers of colours. The inside mould is the shape of the batons, so once I remove the mould and the plaster is dried, the batons can be placed inside and used to mount the work on the wall.

 

I now intend to produce a series of these works in a given range of colours.

This experiment was also successful, but I would need to use a file to tidy up the edges of the hole.

I was attracted to the colours of nail varnish, and thought it may be interesting to use the nail varnish in some drawings. The surface quality is rather lush, especially when applied to the matt grey plaster.

These are the colours of plaster squares I made today.