Market Gallery Residency - Day 10

Although I am pleased with how the cone sculptures are developing, I am conscious that they are not really on a scale to fit with the gallery, and so I want to increase the size.

Following the tests with parcel tape a few days ago, I know that the plaster will come off the surface easily once the plaster has dried.

 

Brogan and I covered a couple of sheets of cardboard in parcel tape, and made these into moulds for casting. I actually really like these forms as they are, with the shiny inside of parcel tape contrasting with the matt outside surface.

Tonight Nikki and I began pouring plaster into these moulds, but found this to be harder than anticipated due to the size of the mould.

We also covered strips of cardboard with parcel tape and created a boundary around the plaster dripped onto a sheet.

We then poured different coloured plaster over the dripped sheet to cover it completely. My hope is that, once dried, a sheet of plaster will peel off the cardboard, with two different surface textures.

More layers were added to the inside of some of the smaller cones, and I am looking forward to seeing the results tomorrow when I take the mould away.

Market Gallery Residency - Day 6

After yesterday's fiasco with removing the sculpture from the mould, today I did a few experiments to investigate how the plaster reacts to different materials and surfaces.

I wrapped parcel tape around the edges of some cardboard, and poured the plaster into the shape formed by the boundaries of the cardboard pieces.

I also tried pouring the plaster down a piece of perspex and let the dribbles run into the shape formed on the floor by the edges of another 2 pieces of perspex.

I made a cone of cellophane to sit inside the lino funnel.

I dripped layers of coloured plaster into the cellophane cone.

The same method was used for another funnel, and then I filled the cone with plaster.

In another funnel, I dripped the plaster around the mould, and then poured some plaster into the bottom, before swilling this around the mould.

 Once filled and moved around the mould, I left it to rest in a box of polystrene bits in order for it to set in an angled manner.

I am much happier with the range of colours I mixed today as they are less like primary colours, and appear more considered.

Market Gallery Residency - day 5

My first task today was to complete the birch plywood boards that I've been working on. I glued 12mm birch plywood around the edge of the triangular shapes to give them depth. I chose the birch plywood because I like the grain and the layers. Last week I prepared some large triangular structures and had left them in clamps to dry, so today I needed to trim the edges using a very handy piece of equipment called a fez tool. This enabled me to take a thin slice off the outside of the boards so as to create a clean edge.

With the help of my wonderful friend Kev, we transported the boards to the Market Gallery.

I had intended to either collage or print onto the surface of the boards, but now realise how much I like them in their current state, and completely covering the grain would hide some of the characteristics of the wood that I admire.

When Laura arrived to help, we began to remove the pipe mould from one of the pieces I had worked on yesterday. 3 hours later and we still had not managed to get the plaster out of the tube. Even resorting to sawing the mould and dropping the cylinder proved
 unsuccessful.

Lesson learned - don't cast from large pipes unless you have a good system for getting the plaster out of the mould! This has made me seriously reconsider how I am going to change the process of making these type of sculptures, or indeed if I would rather work on other ideas.

I noticed that passers-by were stopping to watch us making, and I hope that this curiosity continues and people enjoy watching the development of work. One man, Des, came into the space to find out what we were doing, and mentioned that the cylinders and colours had made him think about sticks of rock. He also kindly offered to lend his electric saw to help out with removing the mould, an offer I eagerly accepted!

I decided to remove the mould from the funnel cast that I had begun yesterday. I am very intrigued by the outcome of this test, and am going to explore the possibilities further.

Laura raised a very pertinent point when considering the colours used. She picked up on the fact that the colours are those related to the two main football teams in Glasgow, Rangers and Celtic, and the Orange order that exists in the city. I am very conscious that it is not my intention to comment on this situation, but think this can be avoided if I am using a wide range of colours and so the green, blue and orange shades are distributed amongst lots of different colours.


We then began casting a couple more funnel sculptures, one in which I dripped plaster into the mould and want to build up layers of drips, and the other combining dripping with pouring the plaster into the bottom. These different ways of making the sculpture will effect the appearance of the sculpture.



During the casting process Laura, (who had never done this before) commented how she was fascinated by the way the plaster soaks up the colour, and this is something that could be videoed.

Market Gallery Residency - Day 4

I've really enjoyed today; lots of making, some wonderful volunteers (Brogan and Nikki F) helping me, and lots of progress made.

 

 

Folding paper

I enjoy working with the simplest of materials, and paper is no exception. I have been experimenting with transforming a two-dimensional sheet of paper into three-dimensions.