Plaster & Surface Development

Plaster Sculpture:  Yes, it’s Eva from Wall-E

As I am a percussionist, I chose to set my final product on one of my model drumsets I have on my wall at home.

This was without a doubt my favourite activity of the course.  Using plater that was previously set in small dixi-cups, we were to use carving tools and carve anything we wanted.  We were to keep in mind that our final product would have to also be treated with a surface technique ( another paining and mixing aspect ).

I will use this activity in the future.  I will however probably mix the plaster a bit further in advance than what was prepared for us as a few of us still had damp plaster.  I know though that Michelle is very busy and has more than just one class to worry about.

At first I thought it was nice for it to be a bit damp, however as I got close and closer inwards, it became very damp to the point Ii had to stop until the next week.  Wow, one week later the plaster was solid and was extremely easy to carve.  When it is hard though it tends to get a bit dusty when carving which really is not that good to inhale.  In these situations a quick submersion in a sink of water will provide enough dampness to keep the dust down, but not make it too wet.

As I got close to what considered “complete” i started to wonder how this was going to turn out.  It wasn’t until I treated the surface with a pearly white mixture and it hardened did I forget about it not working out.  Once It dried I wanted to figure out how to make it look like the head and wings on Eva look like there were floating off the body.  I used the shading technique learned from our painting activities to darken my surface colour enough so as to make it appear like a shadow between the arms/wings and the body.

I really like how this turned out and will definitely be doing this activity in the future.  At this point Eva remains on my wall as the drummer for the Beatles, replacing Ringo Starr.

Surface Treatment:

The top card (blue) is an example of using a sponge and brushing over top of a newly laid layer of paint.

The second card is an example of splatter surface.  This was achieved by using a paintbrush saturated with the colour I wanted and using my fingers to flick the hairs on the end of the brush.  This was splattered over top of a base coat of black.  I used both blue and white for this splatter portion.

The last card is an example of the seal coat and the shiny pearly surface paint.  Being so close to white (but not white) it is hard to see, however it is the technique that I used for the surface of Eva.

 

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