Latex!

I've not put anything on here in a while so I really need to get back into the habit of putting posts on.

Below are some examples of latex molds I have done.  When looking at them altogether I can see how experimenting has led to improvement in all of the pieces.

The only reason I use bubble wrap is because there is a lot of it, it peels off easily and it means I don't have to use clingfilm when other people need it.

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These are all of the first samples I did when i was just trying to figure out which materials work best with the latex and what properties latex had.  For example, whether you could peel it off cardboard with no trouble and if it would flow or just fall, it just fell.  These latex prints are from cardboard, clingfilm, bubble wrap and an object to put clay on that makes it easy to use(I don't know what it's called).

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In these pieces I was really bored of the same old manky yellow color that the latex had so I mixed paint with it to give it a bit of life.  For the first image I put wool into the latex mix and swirled it around onto the bubble wrap so when it all stuck together, it was bendy and wasn't sharp around the edges, unlike glue.  The second image is basically lots of drops onto bubble wrap so it all stuck together when it dried.  The only problem with this piece is that even though it's dry the latex still sticks together, which is annoying.  The third image is doing the same as the first but with fabric strips rather that wool.  I like the single yellow one because it stays the shape it is even when you pull it straight it still springs back.

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These images are when I thought about doing water as the theme for the Alternative Miss World project.  i was just playing with different shades of blue to see if I could create a water effect.  It hasn't really worked so I need to look into images of water and the sea, just to get some inspiration.  They are both made in the same way, just painting the latex onto bubble wrap.

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The images above are of a shell made out of bubble wrap and tape,  It looks a lot like an ice cream though.  I tried to create a shell like shape out of the materials I had at hand but I think I need to look into the shapes of shells and the colours.  When I picture shells I imagine a big swirly one with an array of yellows, browns and oranges on.  The colours I have created don't exactly fit that description.  Even though it went wrong it's still going to help with my work because its all about trial and error.

Plaster

Plaster casts

Giant Paintings

1st Attempt

 

 

 

 

2nd Attempt

 

Negative Space

Today in 3D we looked at negative space and what we can create using it, we were given rolls of string and decided to make a maze for ourselves around the whole of the room.  At the beginning it was easy to make your way around the room to attach the string to different places, but after a while it became more challenging as you had to duck and dodge out of the way of the spider web of string.  The session was fun and I think that's because we worked together as a team to create something fun and interactive.

Even though we had spent a very long time putting all the string up we still had to take it down at the end of the session. The images below are the several rolls, some the same and some different, that we used in our work.  Its nice to see everything that went into it and that when it was up it seemed like loads of string was used but in the end it wasn't that much at all.

3D

This is the second piece of work we did in 3D and I'm not as happy with this one as I was with the first one.  The clay I used in this one had also been used for the one before so it kept on cracking and didn't stick together very well.  To make this piece better I need to use different clay as that will work a lot better.

         This was made by coiling which is where you create a worm like shape out of the clay; swirl it around and build it up until it's as high as you want it.  I smoothed down the edges so it looks neater but because the clay was cracking it didn't smooth out very well.  Mid way through the process I realized I was coiling outwards rather than inwards so I had to turn it upside down to prevent it from falling down.

3D

This is the first piece of work I've done in 3D this year and despite not doing sculptural work in a while it's turned out pretty good.  In order to make it better I could put some sort of pattern on it or maybe make different shapes.

     When we made it we were told to create something and make it as tall as we could and instead of going for the norm and creating something that looks suggestive, I decided to create a few square blocks, pile them on top of each other and this is how it turned out.