Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

Experimentation and Development Ideas

02/12/15

Continuing with using plaster, I decided to see if I could create a completely smooth surface so that I could use it within later experiments.

The technique is called Cottling, and is where you use four pieces of shiny wood that are stood up leaning against each other, with a coil of clay on each seam, so that nothing leaks out. It works better on a shiny surface, as it comes off of the surface easier when dried. Soft soap helps the plaster to come away from what it is touching easier, so to begin with, I applied soft soap to the surface I was working on.

Once I had pressed clay into every seam and made sure it was tight, I could then pour in the plaster.

I filled it as near to the top as possible, since one of the wooden planks I was using wasn't as tall as the rest, banged the table around it so that it would set into the space and then left it to dry.

Once it was dry, it was a simple matter of lightly tapping the inside of each wooden plank until it fell away, and then tapping the table lightly near the plaster so that it would come away from the table. The result was a perfectly smooth, almost cube block of plaster that I could use as a plinth or in other experiments. 

One the plaster was relatively dry, I began to smooth the edges so that they were no longer sharp, but curved and smoothed.