PLASTER: Into the Void (Sketches and Piece)

Sketches:

When sketching for this project, I tried to really focus on the idea of continuity and rounded form. I was particularly intrigued by the path of connected modules (in the rounded arms), as you can se in the sketches above. I thought this was a simple, yet elegant way to maintain an organic shape, with a different approach to the execution of voids throughout the piece.

Building the wire armature for the piece was not as difficult as I thought it would, especially since my form had a very generalized overall interior outline. I basically attached three large rings to the circular base, as well as to each other. From there, I cut the burlap out, soaked it in liquified plaster, then placed it around the wire structure, to give the piece a solid foundation to work from. I started at the base and worked my way up to maintain stability and balance. 

Once the burlap was place, I added "putty" staged plaster on top of it. I made the base layer very thick to maintain an obvious base to the arms of the piece. I was not yet concerned with smoothing out the form as much as just getting the overall shape in place to work from.

When the base was plastered, I then added the putty plaster to the arms, trying to maintain a consistent thickness through out each. I wanted the base of each arm to be thicker, and then the arm would slightly and gradually thin out as the arm extended towards the next arm. A final layer of putty was used to smooth out the form as much as I could.

Finally, after all the plaster was added, came time for sanding to smooth out any rough patches. This proved much more difficult and time consuming then I thought it would be. I used first a medium grade sand paper, then tried to refine with a finer grade. I ran into the issue of air pockets--so many air pockets. I assume this occurred when I applied runnier states of plaster during the putty construction stage of the process, trying to smooth out the form as I waited for the plaster to thicken. I later learned after many layers of doing this that this was no the smartest thing to do, because it, indeed, cause air pockets. So I reached a point in sanding wear the more I tried to smooth down some places, I was opening up the air pockets in other places. Eventually I had to stop or i knew I would just keep sanding until I reached burlap or the form lost its intended thickness.

Overall, I was kind of "eh" about this project. I really liked how quick the plaster dried while constructing because it was then easier to keeping building on top of. However, I felt like so much time was wasted just waiting for the plaster to reach the putty stage to actually begin construction. I also didn't like sanding; I hated the feeling of powder all over myself and my hands, and there were times i rubbed my fingers raw trying to get a grip on the sand paper. It was difficult to smooth out some curvaceous spots because of their significant angle in curvature. I think I had a pretty solid idea initially, and did alright in my first go with plaster, but looking back now, I can definitely fix mistakes I made in this project if I were to do it again. My craft could have been a lot better in all honesty; air pockets were my enemy and their came a point where I couldn't really do anything to fix them, but just try to roll with it. I tried to stick to my original sketches, however the piece did not come out as symmetrical as I wanted it to be, which also ties into my craft. And my final form was very heavy, which was a real pain trying to transport; and the dust from the plaster gets everywhere! Honestly, Im kind of glad I'm done with this project. 

CLAY TRANSFORMATION: Sketches & Final Pieces

hybrid--> a thing made by combining two different elements; a mixture. A mixed character; composed of mixed parts. 

transformation--> a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.

duality--> an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something.

hierarchy--> the order in which the human eye perceives what it sees. A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

Sketches

For this project, I immediately went with the first idea I had to represent transformation: hands into a bird. I liked the context and relativity of these two things, having the crossed hands seemingly making the shape of a bird (like with shadow puppets) into the actual thing it is trying to represent. I just didn't know for sure how I would convey the intermediate between the two, and whether or not to have the clay pieces "flapping their wings" during the transformation.

Final Pieces

I had not had a whole lot of experience with clay prior to this project, but after getting into it, I think I began to get the hang of it. I was a little concerned about how well I would be able to render the hands specifically, but my instructor helped get me started--first molding the general shape of the hands, then refining down--and it turned out to be not as difficult as I had anticipated.

Once I had the hands formed, the other two pieces came more naturally. I always tended to start out with same general shape for each piece, keeping a general continuity between the three pieces. However, I changed the position of the wings/fingers to make it appear as if the "bird" was flapping its wings in flight, even though the figures themselves have their backsides laying flat on the table. I felt like this mimic of moment would be more dynamic in the transformation. As the transition from hands to bird ensues, more detail is added. I used the tip of a pencil (mostly) to add the lines and indentions in the three clay figures. The intermediate piece between the hands and the bird is a hybrid of the two; I webbed the fingers together to make to uniformed wholes and blended the thumbs to gather and brought the tip of the top thumb to more of a point (lending itself as a beak). 

Overall, I did enjoy this project. I was surprised actually at how fast I was able to get it done because I was concerned in the beginning whether or not I would have enough time to accurately execute my idea. I am pretty pleased with my three pieces. There are some things I wish I had been more elaborate with, like with the nails on the hands, or maybe more detail in the bird, but I was not completely confident in my skill with clay to pull these off without taking away form the pieces. I do believe I have a generally fluid and obvious transition between my three models, while connecting the two different objects in a witty and thoughtful way. I was excited to connect these two things on a physical and psychological level. I hope that it is visually interesting. I feel like the pieces are strongest when together; I do not feel like they would be as dynamic if they were displayed individually, separate from each other. I probably could have smoothed out some of the rougher edges a bit more, and added a bit more detail. However, I do think my craft was okay overall. Hopefully the pieces don't crack after they are fired in the kiln!

........

Well, two of my three clay pieces kind of exploded in the kiln. Luckily, I was able to glue most of the pieces back tougher with Liquid Nails. Once they were all glued together, I think glazed them with a layer of saddle soap and brown shoe polish. These were the final results of my ceramics pieces.