I decided to use air dry clay, ThermoMorph moldable plastic and clear resin for this project.
I began with the air dry clay. I gathered together objects from around the house and pine cone, leaf, seedhead, dried orange slice and and avocado stone. I also used plastic containers that food had been stored in.
This piece was cast into a food container that had held dates. The piece on the right is the reverse of the cast. I like the fact that both sides are very clear casts. The air dry clay was very easy to use. I rolled a piece out first before pressing it into the container.
I used an implement that is usually for mashing eggs. The 'feet' of the object were pressed into air dry clay. I like the impression that was made and felt very satisfied with the clear image and think that this would make a good repetitive pattern.
These impressions were made by using the edge of a dried slice of orange. I think this makes an interesting surface because it looks tactile and that there is a pattern but it is freely done.
Next I pressed a cord taken from a gift bag into the clay. This is the reverse side showing the lumps and bumps of the cord. The isolated impressions were made by pushing the knot that was at the end of the cord into the clay. Again I thought this was successful and I like the relief impressions that were made. I think this invites someone to want to handle it.
I pressed the side of a seed head into the clay. This gave the clay a textured look almost as if it had been weathered. I quite like the look of this because it is in contrast with the previous pieces which were more set and patterned. I do like texture because it makes me want to look further and touch it.
The three photographs above show impressions of seedheads that have been pressed into the clay in set patterns. These pieces combine texture and pattern. I prefer the third piece because it is not as fussy as the previous two. I am enjoying working with air clay very much because of its flexibility and the results I am getting.
I pressed end of a kitchen implement into the clay and this made what I think are very nice and interesting marks. I like this because I think the edge could be pressed into the clay in quite a variety of ways for example close together, wide apart or at an angle to give a different look and texture.
I pressed the whole of the top of the same implement into the clay and again this gave a very clear cast and a different look to using the edge. Also this is the front of the cast.
This is one of my favourite casting pieces. It is the top of a poppy seedhead pressed into the clay. I like it because the cast is very clear and it looks delicate at the same time. A variety of patterns could be built up using the seedhead.
Above I rolled out two pieces of the clay and rolled a pine cone over it. I was thrilled at the texture and pattern that this caused. It actually reminds me of reptilian skin. I added some gold leaf flakes to one of the pieces. I think this looks slightly random and I do not like it because of this.
I rolled the clay over a piece of lace. I like the delicate casting of this piece but again it was a mistake to put the flakes into it because they look isolated and do not add anything to the piece.
The side of a toothbrush was pressed into the clay. Although not my intention, amazingly it looks like a sand dollar.
Having looked at Edardo Paolozzi's work I decided to do a piece that combined a few of the items I had previously used to cast into one piece of clay. I do like the look of this because there is pattern, delicate and strong casts which seem to compliment each other.
Next I started to work with ThermoMorph moldable plastic beads. This was obviously very different to working with the air dry clay. The beads were put into hot water where they melted and formed a clear workable plastic. When cooled slightly it was then able to be handled and had to be worked with straightaway as it set very quickly. The beauty of working with the beads is that the set piece can be put back into hot water and it will melt and be able to be used again.
First I cast the plastic into food containers. I was pleased with the results as the patterns on the containers were replicated very clearly into the plastic. However, I do not like the fact that when the plastic is dried it turns white. I was disappointed as I thought it would stay clear as when the beads are first melted. Therefore, I decided to try and colour one of the pieces. I used acrylic paint which I think was not very successful. The plastic took the paint but was very patchy. Although I do not particularly like this I prefer it to the stark whiteness of the set plastic. I think this is because the paint highlights some of the indents and edges of the pattern making what I think is something more interesting to look at.
I tried moulding the plastic around a small container. It held the shape very quickly. Whilst the plastic was still soft I punched holes into the rough edges using the handle of a paintbrush. Because of the quick setting time as I was doing this is became more difficult to punch the holes. I then decided to add interest to the edges by tying pieces of scrim through some of the holes. Not the most successful of pieces but I can see that the plastic beads could be used to make 3D items.
I went back to painting the pieces I had cast in the food containers. I added more paint to the top piece and kept rubbing it back then adding more paint rubbing back again. I think this has tidied the piece up more and I like it because of the definition where the paint is darker in the recesses highlighting the pattern which can be seen more clearly.
The second piece was painted with metallic acrylic paint and this seemed to cover the plastic better. I did have to apply a couple of coats with drying inbetween. The paint again highlights the cast of the pattern more and again I like this because it makes me want to handle the pieces.
I printed and took rubbings using the cast pieces. These I put in my sketchbook.
I tried moulding the plastic around a vessel again. This time I used one of the small plastic bowls used to put washing liquid into a washer. I folded the excess plastic over the edge and and then whilst still soft and having to work quickly I cut into the edge hoping to give more interest. It has turned out flower like which I do not like the look of. It just looks like a plastic flower. However, I did enjoy using the plastic beads. One point to mention is that I did not have to grease the molds before putting the plastic into or around the vessels as it can be removed very easily during drying and once set.
Next I worked with clear crystal resin. I had been looking forward to working with the resin. I began by using the recommended demolding vaseline to grease a food container that had nice round separate recesses. I had decided to cast small found objects into each recess. I put found objects such as buttons, seedheads, beads and lichen into each section and poured in the resin. I had to leave this to dry for over two days. I was disappointed in that I cannot however much I try get the resin piece out of the mold. Therefore I have had to leave it as a whole piece including the mold. I do like the effect of the magnification that the resin gives each piece.
It was also interesting that the lichen changed colour. Also the piece of linen with a few embroidery stitches on it had darkened so much and the colour had been taken out of the embroidery thread that the stitching cannot be seen clearly now. I am assuming that some chemical in the resin reacted with these items making them change colour.
Handmade felted button
Lichen
Handmade paper bead
Piece of embroidery on linen
Button
Gold leaf flakes and seedhead
Bead
Dried rosebud
Piece of lace
Seedhead
Beads
Handmade fabric covered button
The more successful piece using resin was one where I poured the resin into a food container that had a a pattern of deep indentations in it and then added found items to the resin finally pouring on another layer of resin. The items were a dried leaf, a key that had beads and wire added to it and a feather. The key and feather came out very well but the leaf kept rising to the surface and when pushed back down began to break as it became more brittle. I had used the recommended vaseline release for the mold and this time it worked. When the piece was dry which took more than two days it came away easily. The downside is that however much I have tried to clean the piece it still remains sticky to the touch. I have had to put it into a plastic bag for storage as it was sticking to surfaces.
I found the resin to be difficult to use because it was difficult to remove from the first mold and then the issue with the remaining stickiness once it was dry. I have re-read the instructions and I did everything to the letter including using the correct measurements so I am not sure what went wrong. I have another issue with using the resin and that is the unpleasant chemical like smell that it gives. I worked in a well ventilated space but still the smell hung around and stayed for over a day. I am quite nervous about using anything that can affect one's health and still did not feel reassured after reading that the resin was safe to use. As a consequence I do not think I intend to experiment further with this.
I looked back at the work I had done in Parts One and Two and had liked the folding exercises and the edge work exercises. I decided to see how the air dry clay and the thermoplastic would respond to being folded and pleated. It was quite easy to manipulate the thermoplastic to pleat it although it would not allow me to get crisp edges along the folds.
The air dry clay allowed me to get thinner edges but again not very crisp looking ones. I think this does not matter because it was the folded effect I was looking for rather than neat edges and I like the way the clay looks like a piece of fabric that has been folded. As the clay dried it began to get very fine cracks in it and this reminds me of creases in fabric. I liked handling the clay better because it is easier to manipulate.
As I had enjoyed doing the edge work in Part Two particularly joining edges with different materials I decided to first put holes into two pieces of thermoplastic as it was drying. I then joined the two edges by threading a piece of crochet through the holes. I think this is quite effective because the strong colours and softness of the crochet stand out against the white hard plastic. The crochet gives the hard plastic pieces movement. I think maybe this could be developed into a 3D piece.
I then cut out some curved shapes of air dry clay and punched holes into the pieces using a kebab stick. When the shapes were dry I reassembled them by sewing thread through the holes but leaving spaces between the pieces so that as a whole it had more movement. Unfortunately a piece snapped. I had rolled the clay quite thinly and the thickness of the rolling is something that would have to be taken into consideration when doing this in future. A lot would obviously be dependent on the size of the whole piece.
I joined two pieces of clay that I had cast seed heads into. To join them I pushed dried lavender sticks through the clay whilst it was still pliable. I think this has worked well and I like the effect of the rounded dried thin sticks against the smooth flat pieces of clay.
Air dry clay joined using strips of dyed scrim
Air dry clay joined with handmade silk paper using thread
Air dry clay joined by overlapping and sewn with thread
I really liked working with the air dry clay. I decided to try joining pieces of clay with other materials. Whilst the clay was still pliable I punched holes into the edges of each piece the size being dependent upon how thick the material/thread I was going to use.
I particularly like the piece where the clay is overlapped and joined by stitching. I like the look of the thread against the clay and the fact that the holes are larger than necessary for the thread. It gives a pattern along the edge.
I think the sample where the clay is joined by the strips of scrim is also successful. It reminds me of the joining that is done on Samurai armour. I like the contradiction that the clay is very fine but hard and the scrim is soft but thick. I think this works well together.
