3D and Life Drawing

Lara's hand.

3D and Life Drawing...


In 3D, the teacher demonstrated how to mould a body part using ALGINATE (pronounced 'aldjinate').  This is a blue powder that mixes and sets around the skin very quickly.  It's like dentist's putty -- non-toxic and it doesn't cause burns.  But do not put it in your mouth because it expands as it sets and will fill nostrils and airways.

- Take an empty soft drink bottle and snip off the top.
- Add some lukewarm water, enough to cover a hand.
- Tip in the alginate powder and mix it for one minute until it's like blue cream.
- Insert a hand.  Don't make very complex shapes because the plaster won't be able to fill it all.
- Wait for one minute, until the alginate is like slimy rubber.  Mix up some plaster, keeping it quite liquid so it's able to run into all the gaps.  Don't remove your hand from the mixing bowl as it introduces air bubbles and the plaster hand will appear to have warts.
- Remove hand carefully, wiggling and tensing to slide it out without tearing the alginate mould.
- Pour plaster into the mould, adding an inch or so at the top so that your plaster hand will have a little pedestal.
- When it's set, the alginate can be cut away with a knife.

The blue mould could also be filled with other materials like fine concrete or resin.
Mouldform is a similar medium used on the face to create prosthetic masks.

I glazed my sugar bowl, which had been fired, but my milk jug hadn't been fired yet, so the teacher gave me one of his demo pieces to practice glazing on. 
The glazes were oily liquids in plastic pots and we painted them on with a brush.  Earthenware is 'biscuit' fired at a lower heat than stoneware.  Because stoneware is fired at a higher temperature, the glaze becomes as solid as glass and the clay is very hard.  Stoneware is better for practical household use and outdoor plant pots.
My sugar bowl is glazed in an indigo stoneware glaze, but before firing it looks pastel pink.  The other vessel is glazed in light blue oatmeal speckle stoneware on two sides and metallic bronze earthenware on the third.  You're not supposed to combine the types of glazes, but the teacher thought this would probably work.

The brief is to create a series of drinking vessels using the methods learned so far.  We spent the end of the session brainstorming ideas. 

In Life Drawing, we did an exercise we drew a picture in charcoal, then moved three places to the left -- rubbed out the picture and drew over it -- two places to the left, rubbed out and drew over again.  The results, pictures layered on pictures, not quite matching, were surprisingly good.  We also learned how to draw a figure using geometric shapes as a framework.  (Pictures to follow... maybe.)