Clay Mask

Today I have been made a clay mask, partly inspired by my recent trip to Sri Lanka where "devil masks" are used to ward off evil spirits. Encouraged by Badger and the sudden arrival of several new pots of coloured glaze I decided to glaze the clay while wet. No one is sure what the effect will be - there may be blistering on firing, but we will see next month!

Sri Lankan Woodcarving

I am in Sri Lanka at the moment and found this man carving a Buddha in mahogany by the side of the road in Narigama. He has a good set of carving tools and a nice looking sharpening stone as well as a shop full of interesting pieces.
I bought this unfinished mask from him for Rs 300 (about £1.50!). He said it took him 3 hours to do. If only we were this speedy!

The Thing

Golden, lurks in the fireplace.

Clay Reliefs

The terracotta design is one I did last Thursday which luckily the Badger fired for me during the week. It dried too quickly however and the crack you can see appeared before firing as the clay shrank. This has been partially repaired with paper clay, a mixture of clay and pulped paper (3:1) which can be refired and should bind the gap.
Today I made these grey/white clay reliefs. One is a tile. The lumps in the bottom of the pictures are blobs of paper clay which you can see have a different texture. In an effort to mitigate the risk of cracks from shrinkage, these deluxe items have been placed on thick paper which should allow the clay to move as it shrinks. The terracotta design was left on the wooden board which is more likely to stick to the clay and make it crack especially when it is as thin as this.

Wire Faces with Wool Hair!

Wire faces with wool hair - a prototype for my friends shop window in Knightsbridge! Will they like it?

Tricks: in order to protect the frames of the glasses, the rough wire edges have been sealed in small pieces of sellotape; meanwhile the faces are suspended from a curtain rail by fine yet strong fishing line (the trip to the fishing supplies shop in Wimbledon provided an intriguing glimpse of a parallel universe). Thanks Paul for these tips!

Wire Mesh Faces

More Wool & Glue

String & Glue

Have you ever used a glue gun? asks Badger. I got terrible burns at art college says Audrey. The gun gets plugged in and melts the glue which can be squeezed out via trigger.

It sticks the woven copper wire in seconds

Wire Progress

I think this needs to hang.
and this needs something more interesting over the paper maybe? Once the glue is dry the paper is quite tough. Perhaps some fine Japanese paper?

Papering Over

I am now pasting tissue paper over the wire structure with PVA glue. It should let the light through. It does tear easily on the wire though especially at pressure points.



















Meanwhile the other plaster and wire creations are continuing to evolve ... here they are in the cupboard. They didn't want to come out for the photos.

Wire Sculpture Again

Then the following week, there was some chicken wire and I realised that my first effort was a bit shit so I started again. I want a form that entwines itself a la mode of the mobius strip and DNA. The maquette was easy anyway! I made the structure by cutting and fashioning three long wire tubes and then knitting them together. Pretty straightforward really.













I quite like this version. The next decision is how to decorate - Karim suggested paper which I think has legs.

Wire Scuplture

I wanted to start another wire sculpture but there was no chicken wire in the studio ... so I tried plaster and scrim on a coil of armature wire. However this was not an adequate substitute and resulted in this.







Which is not in itself terrible, despite mirth from the cheap seats ...

The Lava Lamp?

A few holes are now cut into the plaster wire structure and the edges smoothed with plaster and scrim. Bryn says it's gynaecological. Both the inside and outside are part of the sculpture. I reach my arm inside like a vet facilitating a calf's birth.




With a light inside it has a totally different feel and aura.

The Thing

2 more hours of applying plaster earlier today have resulted in this. I am deliberately leaving holes in the structure, possibly with a view to lighting it from the inside.

Direct Plaster

I've also got this going. It's direct plaster onto chicken wire inspired by the fabulous Audrey Reynolds.
I cut some chicken wire and then connected/sealed it into a pillow shape. I am looking for a lot of in and out in the sculpture. I am interested in the rippled surface of seeds like dates and nuts and have attempted to recreate this here.









Scrim is cut and dipped into wet plaster, then applied directly to the chicken wire. I have used two different types of scrim, one a tight knit gauze and anotherthat is woolier and thicker.

Here's a couple of hours worth of plaster applied. It's getting heavy.








But here I am lifting the alternative F.A. Cup

Lost Wax at Home

When Mrs T was not looking, I did some lost wax at home in the kitchen. I really like this one.

I made this one in a plastic water bottle which was easy to cut away once the plaster had set

Emergence sans Sprues

The sprues have been cut away and a small amount of finishing applied to the metal with files, colour powder and elbow grease. It's probably best left fairly natural though

Emergence

ॐ शांति शांति शांति

The aum on the left is plaster, painted in metallic acrylics. On the right is the original clay fired with a metallic glaze.

Lost Wax Process 5

It is difficult to break the plaster casing out of the tin - it took 2 hours! I had greased the inside with wax but obviously insufficiently. Anyway ... eventually I chipped it all away to reveal this ...