Project 2: Experiments in life casting

Well following on from my experiments with materials I really need a better form on which to base the material.  The hand casts were not ideal as so small and fiddly, so I thought I really needed a head cast, which by my reckoning would provide a more recogniseable, larger and flatter form for the materials.  I had bought a small packet of alginate a few years back which provided a really successful way of replicating the hand casts and one face cast of a guinea pig friend.  So having recently bought another larger bag of the stuff off of ebay,  I got myself fashionably attired in black plastic bag, and having chickened out of full head cast, instructed partner in the method of face casting, (and drank lots of wine to alleviate fears of panic and claustrophobia). I hate the feeling of being shut in, added to which I have the associative memories from teenhood when I got a friend to cover my face in plaster while I led down.  The straws that were supposed to maintain airways had lots of gaps around them which allowed the plaster to seep up my nose.  Anyway, this wasn't nearly so bad, although the comments, "its a bit lumpy", it's not sticking very well", and, "it's not like the stuff in the video you showed me" should have made me realise all was not well.

"Ah it will be fine", was my optimistic response (before my mouth was sealed shut) and we continued after with the mod-roc application.  This was the only really claustrophobic bit.  This was the bit that made the world become darker and my anxiety begin as I worried about a plaster cast of the inside of my nostrils.

That thankfully didn't happen and all was fine,  but.........when we removed the cast the alginate all came apart in bits.  That wasn't supposed to happen,.......bum!
I have since had more success in mixing the alginate with a blender in that it removes lumps and sets better but subsequent attempts at using it on various body parts has proved that it is a duff bag.  Maybe it's old or something but it wouldn't even replicate my daughter's hand very well so looks like I will have to source some more and put it down to experience. Back to the drawing board, as they say.

Project 2: Experiments

Well my first attempt was using granny net curtains, (the ones that are just mesh) with PVA to see if this would stiffen it enough to take the form of the hand.

The single piece would just not stay in any of the contours with the PVA and was just too floppy a fabric, so then I ripped some strips, distressing areas into threads before applying the glue.

 

I did like these stiffened thready bits as this is more along the lines of what I'm after (I think)

Well although it's half term everyone in this household seems to have some sort of lurgy, well apart from me and the dog, so not being able to go anywhere has at least given me time to try some more.  The next material being crepe paper.  This has a kind of subtle crinkled surface which gives it a kind of stretch.  Ideal I thought for taking contours.  Unfortunately it's way too fragile in a single layer as when I tried to brush on a bi of PVA it broke apart so instead I had to use a few layers.

The end result looks a bit too solid and a bit like papier mache but I do like the look when it has light shining through it and I like the unevenness which almost looks like skin and its wrinkles and lines.

Project 2: The begining

I've spent the last couple of days scouring websites and reading up on moulding and casting materials.  It seems there is nothing you can't make providing you can sift through the mountain of information on materials and techniques, oh, and you can afford to buy it all of course.  I find it all very exciting but at the same time I'm quite befuddled by the different types of materials including resins.  I did buy some general purpose polyester resin as polyester stuff is what I was familiar with, having spent some of my childhood encapsulating any unsuspecting bug in the water clear kind.  What a cruel child I was, but I did move on to making polymer clay models and casting them instead.  What does amaze me, with all of the health and safety data included these days, is how it was non existent then.  This was in a kid's craft set back in the 70s and I did this in my parent's kitchen, well, before being sent to play in the garage.  The stuff stinks, in a real toxic kind of way, they recommend masks now and I used to get covered in it.  It would never wash off, instead turning black from all of the fluff and dirt that adhered to its stickiness.  Well what I didn't know then, but do now is that acetone will do the job.  So anyway, this is very much an experimental journey, and not being ready to get plastered or unleash the smelly toxic resin fumes, I thought I would dig out these hand casts I did a couple of years ago with alginate and crystacast, and start by trying to seal them with the idea of then applying test materials, hopefully stiffen them (somehow) with the intention of pulling the material back off and it retaining the cast form.  So far they have had a coat of shellac.

My kitchen that has gradually been morphing into a studio is now going to become a workshop too I'm thinking.  Ah well, eating is overrated.

During my searches I came across this useful site, (for me anyway) and there is an interesting bit on the resin casting of Rachel Whiteread's 'Monument'.

http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=173