T1-MMT-P5-s3 Vessel samples continued

Sample p5-6

Sample p5-6

My initial list of experiments using resin (26-Jan-2016) included the use of colouring agents. I added some cyan ink to the resin then dribbled it over some corrugated plastic – the same plastic used as a mold in sample p2-5 (31-Jan-2016).

This didn’t go well. The stored resin had gone grainy and hasn’t cured properly. The resin just dribbled off the plastic into a bowl, leaving a gritty residue. The plastic sheet was embedded in the dribbled resin and I can’t separate it. The resin is coloured, but has a cloudiness to it – which could be a product of the other problems, not necessarily the ink.

Still, I think it made an interesting photograph on the concrete driveway.

Sample p5-7

Sample p5-7

Sample p5-7

Sample p5-7 detail
Click image for larger view

Sample p3-53 (1-Oct-2015) explored developing a casting sample by throwing it repeatedly onto a concrete floor. Could the remains be used as the starting point for a new sample, a vessel?

Shards of plaster were still attached to rough rope. I coiled the rope in a plastic bowl, then dribbled on resin. This was done in two sessions a week apart, trying to build connections between the broken parts.

Once again the resin is grainy and not fully cured. I wasn’t successful in forming sufficient links to make a robust vessel. I wasn’t able to separate the results from the plastic bowl. The plastic was broken up using a hammer and most of the vessel released, but there is still a lot of plastic in the base.

Still, the result has promise. There are multiple interesting shapes, interesting views through the spaces in the vessel. It is a bowl form but clearly not functional. It is broken parts “mended” in a new form with voids and lines that don’t quite make sense. There are so many textures. It holds the gaze.

Sample p5-8

Sample p5-8

Sample p5-8 in progress
Click image for larger view

Sample p3-47
Click image for larger view

p5-sketchpage 040; 20160202
Click image for larger view

This sample is a continuation of the ideas behind p3-47 (26-Sep-2015). I developed the idea for p5-8 and p5-9 in my sketchbook, page 40 2-Feb-2016, posted 8-Feb-2016. A section of the same cardigan was used to line a round plastic bowl. Stitching was used to gather the cuff hem of the sleeve, which then fit neatly around a found glass form. The covered form was suspended over and into the bowl. The idea was that suspended glass would create the central void in a new cast plaster vessel.

No additional lining was used, and a small amount of plaster seeped through the knitted fabric. However what looked like a disaster in progress was actually minor spillage, as the plaster set quickly.(26-Sep-2015).

Sample p5-8 view 2
Click image for larger view

Additional strips of knit fabric were laid on the surface of the plaster, between the inner and outer forms. As a result virtually the entire cast vessel is textured by the knit.

The photographs shown here were taken over a week after the vessel was cast and it is not yet fully dry. Given the experience of sample p3-47 I expect the colour to lighten considerable over coming weeks.

I expected the rim of the cast vessel to be wide and basically flat albeit textured. Instead there is a splash effect with high, fluted inner and outer edges to the rim. I believe this is due more to shrinkage of the plaster during drying, with only small impact from the seepage.

The result is in my eyes at least both ugly and beautiful. The shape seems familiar but wrong. It is both solid, heavy and delicate, fragile. The lines of texture move in a way that is both dynamic and unsettling.

In earlier research of work by Victoria Brown (14-Aug-2015) and Rebecca Fairley (16-Aug-2015) I commented on the fibres caught in some cast works, an effect I find attractive, that adds interest and speaks to the processes creating the work. In p5-8 there is a haze of fibres over most of the vessel, and a few fragments of yarn caught in lines in the rim. Those threads follow the lines of movement in the molding, emphasizing the swirling flow.

I have been trying to make a video to show this more clearly, but grey, matt, slightly fuzzy surface is proving difficult for my current basic equipment to light and focus. Work continues.

Sample p5-8 detail

Sample p5-9

Sample p5-9 with internal led

Sample p5-9
Click image for larger view

In this vessel the second sleeve of the cardigan used in p5-8 was sewn and placed over the same glass shape. I smeared the knit heavily with vaseline, hoping it might act as a release agent, then dripped and poured resin over the form.

I expected to be able to extract the glass with little difficulty, and hoped that I might be able to pull away at least sections of the knit to leave the major part of the new vessel resin. In practice I have been unable to separate resin, knit and glass. I was able to neaten the top edge, grinding with my new dremel tool (purchased after Graham Marchant’s class (24-Jan-2016) for using in lino cuts).

The vessel is heavier and darker than I intended. The form is simple and there is little visual interest. However internal lighting allows appreciation of the knit fabric. Next time I am using resin I may run a bead around the rim to tidy it up a bit more. I don’t see this as an entire failure, but neither is it a success.

Sample p5-10

Sample p5-10

Sample p5-10 in progress
Click image for larger view

p5-sketchpage 043; 20160205
Click image for larger view

The idea of this woven vessel began in my sketchbook, page 43 5-Feb-2016, posted 8-Feb-2016. It was influenced by my research of Anne Dyke’s work, 7-Feb-2016.

Sample p5-5 in progress
Click image for larger view

I’m actually booked on a one-day workshop on coiling with Lissa de Sailles (class link), but that’s over a month away. I decided instead to weave the vessel – a technique I have already used in my collection in p5-5 (31-Jan-2016).

Sample p2-74 Rear woven with insect mesh strip
Click image for larger view

The main structure is the plastic horsehair. The base and lower section is yarn made from fibreglass insect mesh, seen many times during this course including in wrapping sample p2-74 (28-Jul-2015). The upper part is woven with strips of orange crystal organza, very loosely twisted as I hoped to get some movement and a light, lacey effect by using a heat gun on the woven form. For the same reason the organza weaving was left open, not packed down tightly.

Sample p5-10
Click image for larger view

The heat treatment gave a lot of distortion in the organza, as hoped for. It is not lacey, but there is a light solidity. An unexpected element was the response of the plastic horsehair to heat. It curled and frizzed and dropped to create some very exciting lines.

Sample p5-10 detail
Click image for larger view

I find the resulting vessel a delight. It has become an avocado shape and both expands and is more contained than some of the earlier samples. I particularly like the flecks of orange threads on the black base, a by-product of tearing the organza strips.

I originally intended to drizzle resin on the final form, but haven’t followed through with that (yet??). The vessel is already very interesting and structurally quite stable. I like the contrast of the relatively matt and deeply textured surface as a contrast to other pieces, especially p5-4 (31-Jan-2016 and 5-Feb-2016). The photo below shows the two together, with all their contrasts of shape, texture and line. I think this is a very good example of the interaction I was hoping to get in my collection of vessels.

Samples p5-4 and p5-10

Sample p2-18
Click image for larger view

Looking at this reminded me of one of my most successful samples of the course, p2-18 (19-Jun-2015). I think my collection could be enhanced by revisiting earlier work.

T1-MMT-P5-s3 Vessel samples continued
Textiles 1 – Mixed Media for Textiles
Part 5: A final piece
Stage 3: Sample-making
Vessel samples continued