To begin my experimenting using plaster, I created a mould using scrim and newspaper. I started off by spreading soft soap over the table in the area I was going to use, then played the scrim over the area. However I added more detail to the mould and placed scrunched up balls of newspaper underneath the scrim to create bulges and a shape to the scrim so that when the ink will be popped on it, hopefully it will run through the cracks and over the bumps. Secondly I mixed the plaster to the thickness I wanted, then I simply spread the plaster onto the scrim in heaps so that there was plenty on because I know i wanted it to be very thick and heavy, however after I mixed it and started to apply it I then realised I didn't mix it enough and it was too runny for me. Although it was too thin I still made it work as I could still use it but it did take a lot longer to dry.
After letting it fully dry for a day I then began to remove it from the table. This was very difficult, even though I had used soft soap underneath the mould it had still stuck to the table. To remove the plaster from the table I had to bash it with a rolling pin then it removed its self from the table because of the banging. When it finally left the table I turned it over to see what it looked like, I preferred the opposite side to the from as the newspaper had left areas where it was. I then ripped the newspaper out of the holes and it created three deep spaces, this then gave me the idea to fill them with something.
After painting it all white I thought about filling the gaps in with the balloons. At first I attempted to simply squash them in but after trying that I realised they may burst so I tried gluing them in, however that didn't work either so I put plaster around the balloons so they dried to the mould. This worked better as they were more secured and fitted in. I also wrapped one of the balloons in the scrim and covered that in plaster too. To complete this mould, I painted over the bits that I had put plaster on in white, I then took it outside so that the mess wasn't everywhere in the studio. I leant it up against a concrete wall so that the ink ran down and it was easier to hit with the balloons.
To complete this experiment I bought some darts and painted them white. The darts were for popping the balloons and making them shatter more that burst. The reason I used darts is so that I could get a clean shot at the balloons and it also links with my research into balloon art and Niki De Saint Phalle. I painted the darts white so that some of the ink would splatter onto the darts this worked well, however it isn't shown in this image but it does look very abstract. When bursting the balloons the impact from the darts smashed the plaster around the balloons, I like this as it adds a broken kind of look to it. I chose four colours purple, yellow, red and pink, I chose quite bright colours as I wanted to see which ones worked well and which ones showed up more. From this result I found out that the yellow was a poor outcome and the red didn't look good either. however the purple did work and so did the pink, as these colours blended and great a lighter purple. I will use purple and pink ink again in more of my plaster work as I know they both stand out vibrantly.
After letting it fully dry for a day I then began to remove it from the table. This was very difficult, even though I had used soft soap underneath the mould it had still stuck to the table. To remove the plaster from the table I had to bash it with a rolling pin then it removed its self from the table because of the banging. When it finally left the table I turned it over to see what it looked like, I preferred the opposite side to the from as the newspaper had left areas where it was. I then ripped the newspaper out of the holes and it created three deep spaces, this then gave me the idea to fill them with something.
After painting it all white I thought about filling the gaps in with the balloons. At first I attempted to simply squash them in but after trying that I realised they may burst so I tried gluing them in, however that didn't work either so I put plaster around the balloons so they dried to the mould. This worked better as they were more secured and fitted in. I also wrapped one of the balloons in the scrim and covered that in plaster too. To complete this mould, I painted over the bits that I had put plaster on in white, I then took it outside so that the mess wasn't everywhere in the studio. I leant it up against a concrete wall so that the ink ran down and it was easier to hit with the balloons.
To complete this experiment I bought some darts and painted them white. The darts were for popping the balloons and making them shatter more that burst. The reason I used darts is so that I could get a clean shot at the balloons and it also links with my research into balloon art and Niki De Saint Phalle. I painted the darts white so that some of the ink would splatter onto the darts this worked well, however it isn't shown in this image but it does look very abstract. When bursting the balloons the impact from the darts smashed the plaster around the balloons, I like this as it adds a broken kind of look to it. I chose four colours purple, yellow, red and pink, I chose quite bright colours as I wanted to see which ones worked well and which ones showed up more. From this result I found out that the yellow was a poor outcome and the red didn't look good either. however the purple did work and so did the pink, as these colours blended and great a lighter purple. I will use purple and pink ink again in more of my plaster work as I know they both stand out vibrantly.
Then to continue my experimenting I have created another simple mould of plaster to experiment with different coloured ink bombs. I went through the same process by creating the plaster to the thickness i wanted it and placed newspaper underneath the scrim, however I added I bit more detail to this one. I included two flowers I found in the back of the 3D studio, they were plastic and very easily stuck to the plaster. Again I continued the same development and painted the piece white, let it all dry then glued five balloons on it with a hot glue gun to secure them properly as they kept falling of the first design. This time I used the colours blue, black, orange, pink and purple these colours worked really well as you can see they stand out very much especially the black and blue. Although something different that I tried out was using an object other than darts to through with, this lead me to search for an object that was slightly heavy but not too big. In the end I found a wooden cube and a wooden triangle. I mainly chose the block as the heaviness of it would burst the balloons but also crack the plaster obscurely, this made the plaster crack in a way I wouldn't expect, this was my aim when throwing the block as I couldn't predict what would happen. Also I used the triangle block as it had three sharp edges that would again burst the balloons very aggressively. The result of using the block was beneficial as it cracked the plaster quite violently and created a very chaotic look. I will use the wooden objects again with in my future plaster work.
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