Slip Casting - Take 3

Well... I've been in all day today in ceramics doing more slip casting. Kind of forgot to take photos as I was stressing about the moulds. However I've made one for the inner part of my two piece interlocking design. 
So, first I soaped up the model, then put it on an oval profile bat and built up clay to the top, making sure it was flush with the model. Next I poured plaster in to make the outside fitting spare. After having made this I carved it down to make it more manageable. This would be a lot easier to explain with pictures!
Part two consisted of turning the outside fitting spare up side down and placing the model on top. I then built up clay to the bottom of the outside fitting spare and poured in plaster to cover the model, thus making the mould for the model. 
Because of how the top of the model is shaped, I needed to make a reservoir ring to keep in the slip in the slip casting process. to do this I glued the outside fitting spare onto the top of the model in the mould and poured plaster over this again. After much ado with the air gun, cottling the mould up and then realising I hadn't soft soaped it or put natches in and having to take the cottle off, and finally getting the damn thing apart I ended up with a drop out mould for the inner part of my design... WINNER!
And here's a diagram to show you what the hell I'm on about:

Geoffrey Mann : Cross-fire series

 I'm loving this post I just found and wanted to share it. Its a series of tableware that uses sound mapping - how awesome! Thanks to the blog 'musing about mud' =]

"Mann's 'cross-fire' series utilizes the possibilities digital technology offers to examine the intangible characteristic of the spoken word. The work investigates the unseen effect of the sound of speech, focusing on an audio excerpt of a domestic argument, sampled from the film 'American Beauty' (1999)."

"The inensity of the argument's sound waves are digitally mapped and materialized using rapid prototyping and then the forms are cast in a range of materials. Each object encapsulates a momentary emotion of the argument. The once-static tabletop forms are deformed into objects of unseen familiarity. "
'Cross-fire series' were exhibited as part of lab craft at during london design festival 2010.

via Designboom

More Slip Casting - Model 2

Right so I've had another long long day in ceramics. I've been working on the second model in my slip casting project. This is the outer "shell" of the two part interlocking form idea. I started off by using the model I made last week, putting it on a profile bat, and casting another block of plater over the entire thing.

Next I took the two apart and started carving so that the outside vaguely matched the inside...

After I had the vague shape I then marked on the two models where the cut offs would be and used the band saw to cut them at angles. This worked really well!

So yeah... that what I was going for. I then sat carving the bottom model for a while longer so it had thinner walls and better curves. I also smoothed off the walls and the tops of each model where the band saw marks were.

These are the two models made from plaster that sit flush inside each other. Now I have made these I can spend next week making a drop out mould for the inside model. Yet another really productive day =]

Frozen Sound Art Exhibition

I've stumbled across an art exhibition that was on in 2008. Its all about art pieces capturing sound. I love the works in this exhibition and want to use this idea of capturing the sound waves (as I've mentioned before) in my art.

I think these sculptures are amazing and capture sound in the moment. Take a look at the page I found them on =]

Visual Sound Waves

Have found a video showing someone visually showing sound waves by throwing baking powder onto a metal sheet that is vibrating at various frequencies, literally showing the patterns that sound makes.




By the way... if you're going to watch this and you have your sound turned up... turn it down! It'll hurt your ears!

Tim Wakefield

So I've been trying to find artists who use sound waves in their work. Stumbled over this guy online. The images are created from digital images formed in the recording process. Each artwork is hand signed by the musicians. The collection features some of the most famous songs and artists of all times.

I really like these, capturing sound in art, (although quite literal in these) is what I am aiming for. 

Slip Casting

So far I've only put my print making stuff on here. Now it's time for a bit of my ceramics.


The first project this year is to do with slip casting and mould making. Our brief for this produce 2 interlocking forms, one larger than the other, based on one of four themes. I chose plant life. Using leaf and bud forms and abstracting them I came up with this idea...

So yeah, I love this idea, however figuring out the logistics of the moulds has been a little complicated (which way to cast what and how many mould parts etc...).

I started off with the inner form without the sloping top. To do this I set a big chunk of plaster on a profile bat, made templates for the top and bottom, marking it on in indelible pencil, and sat there all of today carving away at it... took a while but I've got a nice smooth model now!

All soft soaped up ready to cast over next week! What a productive day =]

More Sound Wave Ideas =]

Well I've been scribbling away at more ideas for insects made up of sound waves. Thought I'd show you all what I've been thinking...

Dragonfly 2

This one I quite like, have already made an etching plate of it, can't wait to get it inked up and printed =]

Dragonfly Turning

I'm liking this idea of over laying the dragonfly, I'm not quite sure as of yet what I'm aiming for in this, however I like how it could represent movement. Maybe even a trail of sound. I'm also liking how it creates complex pockets of pattern and leaves some areas feeling emptier. 

Wasp

There we go, I've moved on slightly from my fixation with Dragonflies (although I'm sure I'll carry on with them also as they're pretty amazing). This ones a wasp. I like how in this one I've used heavy layering of sound waves to create darker patches and used a finer pen in the sketch to give finer details.

Give me a comment and tell me what you think... anyone!?