A new course

Prosthetic's
I'd been looking all around for a new course for ages and hadn't been able to find one the looks the least bit interesting.

Whats really quite odd is that one day I decided to do a search for prosthetic's in TV and film.  The stuff I found was amazing but I didn't think that I would be able to make anything near to the standard of that.
I managed to find a course at college that does prosthetic's and after a stern talk from my father I've decided to go for it.  I have an interview this Thursday and I'm feeling quite confident about it.  If I get in I can't wait to get stuck in creating fake injuries.

Bring on the latex!

Walter Van Beirendonck

Sculptural garment know by the name 'Cloud 9'

Linda Benglis - Liquid Latex

Linda is a new artist that's uses liquid latex as the material for her work.

The images I have are the pieces that interested me the most, especially the glow in the dark one.  I didn't even know you could do that with latex.  All of her pieces are really interesting and the pool of coloured latex on the floor reminds me of something Chloe Newton might do.

Latex swirls

I have made quite a few latex swirls for the garment.  Waiting for them to dry is a pain but as soon as these are done I'm going to make more and whilst waiting for them I'll stick the others on the dress.

This is not what I had originally intended to do, I wanted to cast with latex over something that would give it a structure but now that I think about it, it didn't really have anything to do with the theme.

Final Piece (starting of)

Latex swirls
I have started wrapping latex around different sized tubes to create different shaped swirls that are going to hang from the bottom of the skirt.  This is working well so far but I'm a bit worried about the time I have to do it in and that I have to do them one by one.

I have also added an image of the sketch for this idea at the bottom of the images.

Structural experimentation

Plaster and wadding.

An experiential piece to see which has the best structure but is still flexible.  This is not what I'm looking for because this falls apart really easily.  It won't be easy to move in either, it will be too heavy.

Plaster, latex and wadding.

Another piece made for structural reasons, the latex and plaster mixed together fine at first but the powder dried up the latex so it's created and scrambled egg/porridge effect.  This is definitely not going to work.

Latex and plaster.

This is the same as above but without the wadding.  The wadding seemed completely pointless because the mix just sat on top and didn't really sink into the wadding. This also went completely wrong, so this is being removed from possible to absolutely not.

Latex, glue and wadding

This is a mix of latex and glue dropped onto a piece of wadding. This piece has worked a lot better than the others because it still moves and isn't just stiff and possible painful to move in.  It still looks disgusting though.  

Latex and glue

The same as above but without the wadding. This is ok but without the wadding it just snaps all the time with random little stringy bits from the latex.  Maybe try this with something else other than wadding?

Latex, glue and plaster

Again, this is another completely pointless combination.  The latex hasn't stuck to the plaster so it just peels off.  At the moment the plaster is hanging on, not what I wanted at all.

Latex

This is purely just latex, it's ok but still not strong enough the support the weight of a structure.  Maybe mix this with something to crate a backbone to it?

Glue

This is good for strengthening but on its own it just snaps constantly.  If i was to make a garment from this it would just dally apart and split.  Same as the latex, add something to it.

Latex, glue, plaster and scrim 

This is a lot better n the wadding, with the big holes it just sinks straight in to it.  I think the plaster ruins it though, because the plaster has no flexibility at all its just stiff and refuses to bend without breaking.  Take plaster out?

Latex, glue and scrim

Woo! I've done it. Without the plaster it bends easily but is also stiff and stays in the original shape.  This will be perfect for the final piece.  Now I just have to sort out the smell and colour.

Latex and paint

When battling with the colour and smell I decided to add paint.  Turns out with quite a bit of paint it cancels out the latex smell and looks really nice. Now I just have to try it with scrim and see if it works the same. 

(The starting of) My final piece

This is the start of my final piece.  It's a dress/tunic type thing that is made up of latex, scrim and paint.  This has actually gone really well because its structural and stays in the same shape no matter how much you bend it.  It also looks nice on because its smooth and goes with the theme I'm running with.