#Experimentation Clay Plastic Art Silicone

[aananduniverse-blog]

Blog Post 4

Solid Clay

This material looked and felt smooth, but also dull without shine. It had no reflectivity of light. The clay we used were white and grey. The emotions I could observe in clay was flexibility and adaptability, taking whatever form the sculptor wanted, and adjusting to the environment as needed. This material, like earth, is very natural and shapes made from it could very easily exist in nature as stand-alone objects or can appear very man-made.

Paper

The paper I used appeared smooth on both sides, but like the clay, had no reflective property. It was very opaque. Paper, for me, ascribes a certain ability to create value. While it wasn’t flexible like clay, I was able to fold the paper in whatever way I wanted. However, fixing the shape into what I wanted was difficult.

Resin (for 3D printers)

The resin 3D printers produce objects that seem to have a smooth surface and texture. This is true both to the look of the material and to the touch. The material was available in different forms and colors. Such as flexible resin, tough resin, and regular resin. I used white, grey and black colored resins to create the 3D forms, and the textures across the forms were relatively similar.

Casting

We used alginate and silicone to make our own casts. Furthermore, we had different premade casts available, and I used multiple of them to create forms. The alginate had a visual texture that appeared rough, however it was very smooth to the touch. The silicone looked and felt soft. Both felt very weird, though; especially alginate. Once, I even shuddered when I was ripping off alginate off an object I had created.

Plaster

Plaster created both smooth and rough surfaces, depending on whether they were on the open end of the casts, or the closed end. The plaster created a surface that looked and felt smooth to the touch on the enclosed sides. On the open end, there were rough bumps that stuck out due to unevenness. Plaster seemed cool to the touch and reminded me of the summer months in Nepal where leaning against an indoor concrete pillar always helped cool the back of my body!

Silicone

As described above, silicone both looked and felt smooth. It was also heavier than I assumed it would be, and stronger than it looks. Not very stretchy as a solid form! This simply brought my attention to my chemistry classes in high school, when I was working with various compounds that had silicone in its structure and the formulas I had to memorize!

White Urethane Plastic

Urethane plastic is a light weight object and looks plaster-like from a distance. However, the texture is different. It looks very smooth, too, like plaster. However, I don’t seem to be able to describe the texture very well, due to the age of the mixture I used which led to a slightly unique formation of the object. The object I made was ‘leaking’ from one spot, and was almost ‘melting away’ at another, which gave the object a slightly less rigid look.

Pigment

Using colors to change the monotone that making objects out of (white) plaster was a good experimentation. They turned out well for me, creating nice contrasts and contours. The different colors created different colored intensities on plaster, with red turning to pink in plaster, red pigment separating to create a ‘dotted’ feature with urethane plastic, and blue remaining a deep blue despite being mixed into plaster!

Monster Clay (Liquid to Solid)

             I attempted monster clay as my last venture in this phase, and it was a hard material to work with, with the casts I tried to use. Because the clay didn’t really harden that well, my casts disallowed the forms to be removed from the cast intact for 2 of 4 that I created. The other two were very soft to the touch in texture and looked soft too. The material was very dense and wouldn’t reflect light in any way. The piece I created, a shot glass I believe, reminded me very much of pottery.

  Of all the materials I used and described above, I prefer working with silicone. This is because of the potential it has for color and texture, as well as being both a material to create a cast out of as well as a material to create forms out of. I would want to experiment with this further either in this class, or outside of it!

I would want to create more objects through the 3D print process that will add to my theme from earlier phases. Through phase 4, I have slightly drifted away from my theme because the process of creating was so intriguing that I wanted to try each step as best and uniquely as I could. Furthermore, there were restrictions to my abilities as to what I could replicate through casting. By getting a few more items 3D printed, I will be able to align the objects I casted along with what I previously had, so that I am able to bridge the gap. I am still thinking as to what I need, but I should have a cleared idea through the next few days.

Some important things I learned from the article on Materials and Texture that I couldn’t integrate into the above summary is followed below:

·       Materials have numerous possibilities, and sculptors need to be aware of them

·       Nothing a sculptor does is neutral – everything has meaning

·       It is a 3-way conversation between sculptor, material and viewer

·       Creating forms transcend the material with which they is made

·       Constantin Brancusi’s Torso of a Young Man in wood and brass

o   The dullness of the wood

o   The shininess of brass

o   Marks left by tools for wood; nowhere for brass

o   Parts of the torso could be invisible depending on the light setting, for the brass piece

·       Cellophane-wrapped candies – sculptures can be made of anything!

·       Arcadian Cluster by Shinique Smith – again, anything can be considered materials for sculpture since mid-20th century

·       Each material has its own life:

o   Cannot make something out of marble that you’d make out of wood and such.

·       Surface quality observed by hand, eye or both.

·       Actual texture – touch

·       Visual texture – look

[eringfoundation]

ART & DESIGN GENERAL FOUNDATION DJ11002 (Contemporary Art Practice)

What is Sculpture?

My initial idea was directly derived from one of my Cut & Paste collages.

I wanted to carry over the religious themes from my collage project & have a look at kitsch aspects of art. I decided to look at the sculptures of Jeff Koons as well as the definitions of what kitsch is. (The Celebration series & Gazing Ball sculptures & paintings.)

Through some reading I discovered that, the definition of Kitsch could be a reproduction- or a copy of a copy. I went further, looking at Christianity through the lenses of kitsch. Reproduced crucifixes and commodification of sacred symbols. It feels like over time the sacred value of those symbols was reduced through reproduction. There is a sense of estrangement when one sees an icon of Virgin Mary painted on the interior of a seashell being sold in a souvenir shop.

When I had a look at these images, another artist came to mind. I wanted to include them, just because it was adjacent to the aesthetic I was going for -  Pierre et Gilles. 

I decided to make an upscale version of a Virgin Mary statuette, by casting her face in wax and dressing a manikin with sewed elements made from scrap material and sequins - I wanted the bling to emphasize the kitsch aspect. 

I started with the face. I purchased a plastic mask, which I had decided to turn into a mould by using silicone and modroc.

Then, the mold was filled with wax melted with coloured Crayola wax crayons to give it more of a pink, fleshy tone. I filled the mold layer by layer, waiting for each one of them to set before pouring the next one.

This was the final result after removing the mould. I held a lighter up to the face’s eyesockets in order to give it ‘tears’. Molten, running wax.

This is an element of what the manikin would wear once the installation would come together. It’s a piece of tablecloth decoration onto which I sewed a folded piece of blue muslin, before sewing a sequined applique on top of it.

It is meant to be worn like this by the statue.

(The ‘dress’ wrapped around is actually a curtain, affixed in place by pins.)

The next element was Mary’s ‘veil’ which was a double-sided piece of heavier dark blue fabric with red fabric (similar to organza) sewn on the underside of the veil, with appliqued elements on top of it.

It was meant to be worn on top of Mary’s ‘head’.

This particular piece was not completed, due to the technical difficulties I ran into. I couldn’t find a good way to attach the wax face onto the manikin without damaging it, meaning that I could not assemble the installation. I wasn’t sure how I could balance the face on top of the manikin without making it look awkward. I considered using clay and wire, however considering the fact that we were 75% through the project, I had to present something else.

I decided to retain the thematic of religion, but take it in a slightly different direction.

For that, I decided to look at Urs Fischer’s wax sculptures as well as Michelangelo’s unfinished ‘Captives’.

I wanted to incorporate the aesthetic elements from these sculptures into the small-scale models that I was making. I wanted to play around with clay, modelling clay, wire and pins to create vague, obstructed shapes & incorporate figurative elements into it.

Where the figures were present, I wanted them to be obstructed and obscured, like Urs Fischer’s wax sculptures once they melted or Michelangelo’s slaves, where only parts of the body emerge from the marble. 

I took the model with the candle outside and burnt it. Just to see how the wax would drip over the model and what effect it would create. 

This was one of my first experiments with the modelling clay, because I found the texture of it very interesting. I kneaded it out into a thin sheet and folded it, like one would fold fabric, securing it with pins. Once it dried, for the sake of experimentation I brushed over it with latex just to see the difference in texture once the latex set.

Here are the two experiments that combine both modelling clay and normal clay as well as a candle which was meant to be burned.

The change of direction was hasty, but it gave me an idea for a combination of materials that I would like to bring back and experiment more with in the future.

The main thing that I took away from this project is that sculpture is something that has to be more carefully planned than the 2d work I’ve done so far, since it’s possible to run into a lot of problems and difficulties in the process. 

[brendagilliam2]

Create your own art toys

If you don’t know what an art toy is, or you have never seen one, there’s probably a good reason. It’s quite a niche industry, but filled with some of the nicest people and most talented artists in the world. About 10 years ago every man and his dog was talking about it; nowadays it’s quite a steady industry, but one that’s growing in popularity every day.

Art toys are predominately made by artists who have a desire to see their characters come to life in glorious 3D. In many ways, it’s an extension of their character development.

These toys are found at comic conventions worldwide, and are often handmade in low volume runs (as low as 50 or 100 pieces), which can potentially make them much sought-after and valuable. The figures are normally around 8-15 inches, and many artists start small so they can manufacture on a low budget, either by hand resin casting using silicone tools, or in vinyl plastic using rotocast or injection moulding methods (typically done at a factory in China) for larger quantities. This two-part workshop will focus on resin and silicone casting.

Why teaching yourself paper craft could earn you more money

Before you start making your own resin art toys, you need to understand that there are two main methods of production. The first is the basic method of silicone tooling, which uses just one block of silicone to make simple objects and characters. This method is what we will focus on here, because it’s the preferred casting method for beginners.

Split tooling is the more advanced technique, designed to give you greater control over your split lines on each cast while allowing you to produce more complex objects.

Sketching ideas

Turnaround drawings show six projected views of a character. Ideally, it’s best to draw them in Illustrator

In the first part of this workshop, I’ll focus on having a solid idea and producing 2D ‘turnarounds’ (see the image above). Once you have these, you can start to experiment in 3D using plasticine, and then gear up to producing a model using Super Sculpey clay.

You’ll need some paper, pens, a ruler, a computer and printer, and some Super Sculpey clay and plasticine. I’d also recommended you buy yourself a small set of modelling tools.

Before you make anything, though, you need to have a good idea of what you want to make. Your idea can be something new you create just for this project, or something that you’ve been drawing for years and want to see finally brought to life in 3D.

Start by sketching out a few ideas and choose a character that isn’t too complicated. Some things just aren’t suitable for resin casting, such as thin forms like hairs or very long spikes.

The longer and thinner the shapes, the harder it will ultimately be to get resin into these parts and actually pull the resin cast from the mould. Also, the thinner a design element, the longer it will take the resin to harden.

Turnaround drawings

Adding guidelines from the character’s front view helps you to draw the side view in the right proportions

Turnaround drawings are a set of drawings that show six projected views of a character: the front, left side, right side, back side, and if required, the top and bottom too. Ideally, it’s best to draw this up in Illustrator, because you can make adjustments and scale it as you see necessary. You can also use the drawings to see what colour you’d like and how your model will look overall in the final design.

The best way to build up another view is to use one drawing to create another. Draw the front first and then use this drawing to build up the other views. Add guidelines taken from the front view (see image above) to help you work out where to draw the essential details; this will help you establish things like where the top of the head finishes, where the arms finish, and so on.

Once you have your turnaround drawing, print it out for reference at the correct working scale. To keep it clean, I’d recommend putting a layer of clear sticky tape over it, providing a thin protective layer; you can then work on top of these guides directly while using the clay. It’s a great way of making one guide last a long time, and makes model-making easier and quicker.

Start sculpting in 3D

Super Sculpey clay is used to make a master for the art toy

Now build a rough 3D model of your character using plasticine clay. Don’t be precious about how much you use; this is a fun, experimental stage and takes a while to master.

Build lots of models and try out different colours. I normally use my whole hand: the palm for rolling soft shapes like balls, the fingers for rolling out sausage shapes, and fingertips for the fine details. I find I do a lot of fingertip patting down to get really smooth shapes like domes and to reduce the visibility of my own fingerprints. If you need a circle shape in the design, try using a pen lid or the cap of a bottle. Look around you to see what other objects make interesting impressions; plasticine clay takes details really well.

It’s worth taking a moment at this point to refine your design, and you will probably need to retune your turnaround drawings from what you have learnt using clay.

Once you’re comfortable with clay, get out some Super Sculpey. Make sure you knead it well, and have a play to create your model. Super Sculpey can be baked so it goes hard, and you can also sand it and do all sorts of stuff with it.

Next issue, we will be using Super Sculpey to make a master, so in the meantime, please read the instructions on the box you bought and get ready to make a master model in part two.

If you are interested in furthering your knowledge and fancy getting down and dirty with this fun process, check out the Plastik Surgery website and buy a copy of the Plastik Surgery Handbook to get making.

In the second part of this workshop I will reveal how to finish creating your resin art toy.

This article was originally published in Computer Arts magazine issue 262. Buy it here.

Related articles:

11 inspiring design toys for your desk

Inside Etsy’s handmade workspace

15 tips for creating characterful creature art

This post comes from the RSS feed of CreativeBlog, you can find more here!

The post Create your own art toys appeared first on Brenda Gilliam.

from Brenda Gilliam http://brendagilliam.com/create-your-own-art-toys/