New week. New Techniques - Part Two

[ P e w t e r . ]

This the first time I've ever worked with pewter and I absolutely loved it! The block of solid metal quickly melts under the heat of the blowtorch and can then be poured into a mold.

Not a great photo (its very dark in that corner of the workshop!) but here is the pewter just after being poured into clay. I had pressed the metal shape into the wet clay first to form the outline. As you can see the pewter is very free flowing so can easily spill, but the great thing is it can be melted down to be used again if it does go wrong! 

Above are my first experiments, the on the left was created using the same silicon mould I poured plaster into earlier in the week & it came out lovely and textured but did melt the mould a bit so I'll have to explore this with a different material next time.

Continuing on with the same domed shape I enlisted the help of my tutor Ed to help make a wooden press mould to press sheet metal into. This requires lots of precise calculations which is definitely not my strong point so I was very glad of the help!

This is still in the process of being made so I'll keep you posted on whether this worked in the end or not!

New week. New Techniques. - Part One

This week has been a week of experimentation & trying out new techniques which has been exciting & inspiring and given me lots of new possibilities to explore in my work!

For the first technique I worked with plaster and mould making. I was given some leftover silicon to play with and this is what happened..    

Below on the right is the object I used for casting, from my collection of rusty pieces. I'm not sure exactly where its from but I found the shape & texture really interesting, especially where there are folds and creases in the metal. Its also much more fragile in nature than the photo portrays, which is in contrast to the solid plaster version. 
When I first saw it, the shape reminded me of those brightly coloured flying saucer sweets! 

I'm excited to continue working with this shape and developing it in other materials.