Visitor responses

During this second artist residency I have been opening the doors to the Gothic Hall every day to allow the visitors to Elvaston Castle a glimpse inside the artist studio. I have been fascinated with the responses of the visitors whether it be a comment to each other or to their children, or a comment made directly to me.

Children seem naturally to be very inquisitive with every aspect of the artwork on show, I’ve overheard their “what is it?” questions to parents and carers  and the response is fascinating. Answers have ranged from; “I don’t know, it’s art” to “these are artworks and they represent what the artist is feeling or experiencing” or they add “lets go find out”. The children and adults alike have seemed to be interested in what I have been creating or enjoy watching me as I carve into a block of plaster, they want to know why I am creating that shape, or what tools I am using or what is it going to be.

As a little experiment I have numbered all my plaster carvings from 1-13 and placed a note book and pen among them with a question “Which carving do you like and why”. Here are some of the responses, (you can look up the relevant carvings on earlier posts):

• No 7. Looks like four crescent moons fused together
  

• No 7 looks like a star

• No 6 reminds me of an affectionate hug

• No 7 reminds me of a crabs claws

• No 5 Reflection of a natural form such as a fossil but equally of a millstone. The roundness of the sculpture is soft on the eye.

• No 8 a big hug

• No10 large nut

• No 2 Earth like

• No 6 Looks different from every view

• No 6 I like it because its very smooth and pretty, also I like the shape of it

• No 8 It reminds me of a child reaching up to hug an adult

• No 6 Two swans whispering secrets

• No 7 It looks like a dragon claw - raaaah!

• No 1 Reminds me of a Yoga pose

• No 6 Looks like Rams horns

• No 2 I like the triangular outer form and the inner comma shape

• No 5 Mill stone

• No 13 Looks like Ghosts (Elliot aged 4)

• No 7 It’s my favourite shape, its the best, it looks like bananas (Also Elliot aged 4 who spent a long time deliberating on his favourite)

• No 7 It reminds me of claws

Such a wide variety of comments and I was surprised which shapes were being favourited, completely the opposite to my own preference. Some people said they were seeing female genitals which is interesting as many people saw male genitals in my older work. I don’t set out to make the female or male parts but the natural world is full of shapes that could be viewed as genitals.

Many visitors are drawn to touch the art, parents say to their children “don’t touch it’s art” or don’t bother saying anything and let their children do what they like, but most inform them to “ask the lady” and they are really happy when I point out a touching table. This table has resulted in some fascinating discussions with adults and children alike as they experience through their fingers. 

It’s not just the children who want to touch, the plaster carvings seem to draw adults and every day they ask if they can touch, I always say yes. Whenever I visit a museum or gallery I often feel very frustrated at not being able to touch and experience the artwork through my fingers, so when there is the opportunity to touch I always do. It is such a pleasing sight to see some one enjoying touching your art work and getting joy from it. 

Is the texture or surface of the sculpture as important as the look?

What are your own experiences ? 

Plaster Carving Experiments - Part 2 Assessing the shapes

Some of the shapes I have recently carved in plaster may not be successful when weave is applied over the surface, any fine details in the carving will be lost and not transfer into bronze.

I think moving forward the shapes of the plaster need to be simple and smooth. If they feature any voids or holes the weave should be able to pass through without blocking the space completely. If it passes through and fills the gap would this create more interest when cast? or would this cause a problem for the foundry?

The finished plaster blocks that will go through to the casting stage need to be fitted with a metal rod, this is to make sure the block is held mid air and thus not crushing the wax weaving that will be applied later. Will a metal bar sticking out of the plaster block be a hinderance to my carving?

Fitting the metal rods inside the plaster blocks prior to carving may be tricky as they need to be inserted into the plaster whilst it is wet and not yet set. Possibly the rod should be inserted prior to vibration, but I need to think how the rod can be secured whilst being vibrated as this may create more problems.

Next step - make 5-6 blocks of fine casting plater, carve them and then weave onto them using cord to see how the weave works being applied to a solid. Potential problems could be; not be able to work the weaving on both sides, getting the weave tight enough that it does not sag away from the block and trying to retain the overall shape.

Plaster Carving Experiments - Part 1

The plaster carving period has been successful, I can now create a number of forms working first from a drawing, then scribing the outline onto the plaster, then finally carving.

Hammer & Chisel

The best results so far have been using the hammer and chisel to cut away the waste in large chunks. This leaves a very rough surface and I have found that if the plaster is still fairly damp it can be made finer with the chisel and using my hand to apply gentle pressure. If the plaster is drying out the carving is harder as mistakes are easily made, it is too easy to gauge out too large an area. I’m not sure if this is the correct method but before cutting away a large area I use the hammer and chisel to deepen the scribe marks to create a small v-cut, this seems to prevent the plaster chipping away behind this v-cut.

Surform Tool 

This is great for making large sweeping curves if the plaster isn’t too wet. If the plaster is freshly cast then the Surform tool clogs up easily, if the plaster has stood for a few days first then I have found the Surform performs better. At first I was washing the tool at the end of the day, I have found that leaving it on the radiator overnight works as the plaster dries up and after a few taps of the tool the plaster just falls away.

Drill

Using a cordless drill and a flat ¾ inch drill bit has been great for removing inner areas of plaster, it works well at a medium speed and not forgetting to pull out the drill bit from the plaster block to remove any plaster that has adhered itself to the drill. The drill saves such a lot of time especially when wishing to remove a large channel of plaster from the centre, drilling multiple holes in a line and then breaking through the small areas between each hole with the chisel to connect each of the holes.

Scrapping tools

I found a collection of tools for potters which had two scraping tools that look a bit like an open potato peeler. I have found they are only suitable for very light gauging and finishing. They seem to be better when the plaster is damp, I use one yesterday on really dry plaster and the squeaking was terrible as you worked the tool over the surface, something to be avoided if black boards being scrapped with finger nails is something that makes you shudder.

Bubble problem solved with fat busting machine?

Part of my development of the new bronze casting is to find a suitable inner former to support the woven wax during its casting, so the inner core has to be able to withstand the heat of molten bronze.

Looking back into my research into ancient Greek casting techniques shows that by the late Archaic period (ca. 500–480 B.C.), Sphyrelaton went out of use as a primary method when lost-wax casting became the major technique for producing bronze statuary. This was replaced with solid lost-wax casting using a solid core or clay.

I want to use this method but replace it with a material that doesn’t shrink quite as much as clay, and use casting powder to make a solid block which I can carve into to create my desired shape. This block of plaster will then support the woven wax.

After discussing this with other artists and the foundry one of my biggest obstacles could be air bubbles. When mixing plaster and water you unavoidably get air bubbles in the mix, this is fine for usual plaster uses, but not if the plaster is going to be kiln heated to 800°c. As you know when air is heated it expands, and if it is trapped in a hard substance it will try and find a way out, this could cause an explosion in the plaster.

Many artists and specialists suggested a vacuum chamber or an oscillating plate to either suck out the bubbles whilst the plaster is wet or to shake the bubbles out by vibration. Both these pieces of kit are a bit on the expensive side, so it was back to the drawing board.

I was thinking about this problem and how to overcome it, so to help I typed in ‘Vibrating’ into a search engine. Along side the many items that vibrate for 'other’ reasons, was an exercise machine. You set the vibrating plate to your chosen level and stand on it. Apparently the vibrations help to get rid of fat deposits in the body, and I thought “If this machine can vibrate the weight of a person, it should have no problem vibrating a large bowl of wet plaster”. After some more researching I found a second hand exercise machine only 20 minutes drive from my home listed for only £30, a few emails later I was on my way to collect it.

So can my bubble problem be solved with a fat busting machine or will it just vibrate the plaster out of my mixing bowl and all over the floor? I’m not sure, but the machine is now safely in my little van awaiting the first day back in the studio after the Christmas break to give it a try. I can’t wait.

Research into ancient casting techniques

Research taken from Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art

“The ancient Greeks and Romans had a long history of making statuary in bronze. Literally thousands of images of gods and heroes, victorious athletes, statesmen, and philosophers filled temples and sanctuaries, and stood in the public areas of major cities. Over the course of more than a thousand years, Greek and Roman artists created hundreds of statue types whose influence on large-scale statuary from western Europe (and beyond) continues to the present day.
The earliest large-scale Greek bronze statues had very simple forms dictated by their technique of manufacture, known as sphyrelaton (literally, "hammer-driven”), in which parts of the statue are made separately of hammered sheets of metal and attached one to another with rivets. Frequently, these metal sheets were embellished by hammering the bronze over wooden forms in order to produce reliefs, or by incising designs using a technique called tracing.

By the late Archaic period (ca. 500–480 B.C.), sphyrelaton went out of use as a primary method when lost-wax casting became the major technique for producing bronze statuary. The lost-wax casting of bronze is achieved in three different ways: solid lost-wax casting, hollow lost-wax casting by the direct process, and hollow lost-wax casting by the indirect process. The first method, which is also the earliest and simplest process, calls for a model fashioned in solid wax. This model is surrounded with clay and then heated in order to remove the wax and harden the clay. Next, the mold is inverted and molten metal poured into it. When the metal cools, the bronze-smith breaks open the clay model to reveal a solid bronze reproduction.

Since the physical properties of bronze do not allow large solid casting, the use of solid wax models limited the founder to casting very small figures. To deal with this problem, the ancient Greeks adopted the process of hollow lost-wax casting to make large, freestanding bronze statues. Typically, large-scale sculpture was cast in several pieces, such as the head, torso, arms, and legs. In the direct process of hollow wax casting, the sculptor first builds up a clay core of the approximate size and shape of the intended statue. With large statues, an armature normally made of iron rods is used to help stabilize this core. The clay core is then coated with wax, and vents are added to facilitate the flow of molten metal and allow gases to escape, which ensures a uniform casting. Next the model is completely covered in a coarse outer layer of clay and then heated to remove all the wax, thereby creating a hollow matrix. The mold is reheated for a second, longer, period of time in order to harden the clay and burn out any wax residue. Once this is accomplished, the bronze-smith pours the molten metal into the mold until the entire matrix has been filled. When the bronze has cooled sufficiently, the mold is broken open and the bronze is ready for the finishing process.“

(see this article in full at MetMuseum )

Sketches for new woven wax shapes, which to choose first?

Exploring internal and external spaces of woven wax cont...

After discussing this with the foundry, one method that I would like to propose using would be to cast blocks of plaster on a set of stainless steel legs (using stainless steel legs ensures that they can withstand the heat of the casting). The plaster can be carved into the chosen shape or form to become a former for the wax. I would be working the wax directly onto the surface of the plaster in various weaving styles, the legs in the plaster allows the plaster block to be retained in the air, thus preventing the weight of the plaster crushing the wax. Once the weaving is complete the entire weave, plaster former and legs would go through the lost wax casting technique. Once the molten bronze is poured and cooled the foundry would cut a small section of the weaving to remove the plaster and legs, then the section of woven bronze would be replaced and welded back into place. 

Removing problems of inflatables will open up many avenues for styles of cast work in a way that is non restrictive. This could lead into new fluid forms that are delicate, weaves would not have to be thick and they could have open areas. I can explore the internal space of a piece and expand into the exploration of negative and positive space. The possibilities are endless once the technical restrictions of an inflatable or cartable former are solved.

Watch this space for developments …..

Copper Allium Sculptures have been installed at Doddington Hall ready for their bi-annual sculpture in the garden exhibition which opens on the 2nd August

The Memorial sculpture is covered with little wooden petals, each one representing a baby, and in some cases two babies.

The sculpture is the main focus of the garden which features paved areas, Lavender beds, carved green Oak benches and box hedging. Leading you into the garden is winding woodland path lined with box hedging.