Casting Elective

Casting Elective 1

1^st elective- casting small pieces of fruit

For my first casting session I chose to cast a lemon and a lime. I chose these two fruits due to thinking that they worked effectively together as a pair- they are both citrus fruits that are often paired together. I also chose these fruits due to their waxy texture. As I haven’t done casting before I wanted to choose something that would be relatively easy for me to cast. The waxy skin meant that it would make it easy for me to remove the fruit from the cast after creating the mould.

Steps in creating a two part mould:

1.       Lubricate the object (fruit)

2.       Cover in modrock leaving a seal, creating two halves to the mould. Strengthen along the seal with extra modrock

3.       Let the modrock cast dry, then remove from the object and lubricate the inside of the mould. Place the two halves back together and modrock around the seal.

4.       Mix up the plaster, then pour into the mould

5.       Wait until set/dry (24 hours) then remove the modrock cast

6.       You are left with a plaster positive!

Casting Elective 2

2nd elective- casting small objects

For my second casting session we followed the same process as for casting fruit. This time the fruit was swapped with small objects of our choice. I chose a snail piggybank, a small ornamental owl, and a plastic bottle. I picked these objects because of their textures. I wanted to chose interesting objects to cast that would pick up the patterns and textures when a plaster positive was made. After the plaster positives were made Rob asked us to pick one of our objects to cast again. They were placed in a wooden box and then had a rubber solution poured onto them. After the rubber was set the plaster positive objects were removed. The holes where the plaster positives previously were were then filled with resin coloured yellow. 

Casting Elective 3

3rd elective- casting using pewter

For my 3rd casting elective we experimented with casting using pewter. Firstly made a wall to pour sillicone into. This was made from lego as it is a good interlocking material which does not allow the sillicone to leak from it. The key was then placed into the middle of the lego and sillicone poured on top. After the sillicone had set the key was removed. This then left a key shape that was able to be filled with warm melted pewter. The pewter had to be worked with fast due to its setting time being very short. We also learnt how to do hollow casting. Firstly casting an object leaving a hole for liquid to be pored into, much the same as in the small object casting. Then after the cast was set and the object was removed we poured melted dark chocolate into the mold. The chocolate was swished around and then poured out, each time building up a thicker layer around the outside. The end cast was then hollow. 

Casting Elective 4

4th elective- bring in an object to learn how to cast

In this elective we were asked to bring in an object on which we would like to gain advise on how we would go about casting. For this elective I brought in a rabbit and bird skull. Ang advised me that both would be difficult, but the end result would need to be made of something metallic due to the thin parts of the skull being easy to snap with a flimsy material. All holes in the skull would also need to be filled in. The verdict was that the skulls could be used to be casted, but it would be a very difficult process. In this session we also got the results of the casting using resin. 

How I have used casting after:

I found this elective really valuable with helping me to create studio work this term. I have created casted pig trotters made from using the hollow technique and experimented with new materials such as wax. The session really helped to boost my confidence and creativity in thinking about how I could portray my subject matter.

Adding The Human Aspect

To my pig trotters I wanted to add a human aspect to contrast with the animal representation. Thanks to Megan Fox I was able to get hold of a large bag of left over hair that she had been using for a previous project. I wanted something to hang out of the pig trotter, for the trotter to be holding something. Here I wanted to do a role reversal representation of the human/animal relationship. The trotter will be instead above the human aspect, holding the human aspect and in a sense in control of the human.

With the hair I decided to use a rubbing technique to band it all together. Because of the hair being cut off people it didn't have much length. The rubbing is similar to the way people backcomb their hair, it knots the hair and allows it to stick together. I also used hairspray and hair gel to bond the hair even more.

I wanted a play on words idea for this piece. Humans have named a certain hairstyle 'pigtails'. I thought that this idea would be ideal to use for this piece due to the name connection of pig, and the trotters of a pig that feature in it. I began making large strips of hair binded together so I had enough to braid the hair into a long plait. I made four plaits using different colours of hair so they would all look different to each other and to represent the different types of human hair colours.

These pigtails were then glued onto the pig trotters hanging down out of them giving the appearance of them clasping them. This is to represent the idea of the animal having control of the human. The norm of the human being above the animal has here been reversed. I wanted the hair to dangle from the trotter in the same sacrificial way that we hold the bodies and dead parts of animals in our human hands in everyday life such as eating the animals bodies. Hair is something we as humans hold as high value as a fashion trend and statement. It is something of great importance in our appearance. This is similar in the way that animals only have their bodies as high importance, such as to attract a mate.

Lastly, I covered the hair in dripping wax to connect it to the backdrop wax and the material that the trotters are made from. I wanted the whole piece to flow and have a mix of the same materials that the pieces were made from. The wax always gives the impression of an ending of time. When a candle has all burnt out the wax has melted and dripped away, the use of the candle has come to the end of its life. This pieces of hair represent this when covered in wax. They have been paused in a moment in time, a representation of death and the ending of time.

Final Piece:

Photo Editing Process

After taking my deer head photographs I decided to edit them. I felt to match the theme of my work so far that they should be black and white. Using colour would not be right for this type of work and the content I am displaying. I also felt that the photos looked more effective when in black and white. They are quite dark photographs of disturbing content. I wanted them to be dark in colour aswell as content. I started to edit the photographs this way, changing them to black and white and changing the brightness and contrast.

I took a variation of different pictures in different postures and different ways up.

This photo I felt didn't work so well. This was the starting point for my photos, just a basic shoot in my room. After reviewing the photos these had too much background objects and the bed needed to be just all one colour. I also felt that the photos needed to be portrait as I couldn't capture enough of the body. The skull was also not in the right place and not covering all angles of the face.

After I moved onto taking portrait photos. I found that these images made a more effective photo. I got rid of the distracting background pieces and changed the bedsheet to an all black sheet to keep it one colour. The posture in the photo is captured more effectively, and you are able to see more of the body. Lastly, the deer head has also been placed correctly.

After reviewing all the photos I chose three that I thought worked well together. They are all similar in posture as they are forward facing, and all similar angles. I wanted the posture to be very seductive, almost advertising to the viewer. The images clearly show me as a woman, but show my more seductive animalistic side.

Final Photos:

Taking Photos

After watching the dogging documentary I was inspired to capture this idea of hidden animal sex lives in human behavior. I decided to use myself as a model for this pictures. I am comfortable with my own skin and how I appear to take pictures of myself exposed. I photographed myself in my bedroom environment. This is where I personally experience these animalistic sex life behaviour. I personally would say I have a very experimental and animal like sex life and this is the place in which I like to act apon such behavior.

I wanted the photos to portray this sex life I have in the bedroom and be realistic to me. I wanted these to be nude photos to be accurate of the experience. I covered my dignity in the images by crossing my legs and using tape across my nipple area. The tape is representative of the sort of sex life I experience again, using such things as being tied up. There is something satisfying about having someone in control of you, just as a dog would have its master who tells it what to do.

To represent the animal in these photos I carried on with the use of bones within my work. I borrowed a deer skull from my friend to place over my face in the images. I wanted my face to be covered with that of an animals, representing the animal quality in the image. This is also representative of the thought pattern that goes throughout my mind when placed in this experience. My mind is often that of an animal quality, thinking about the experience and what is happening nothing else. It is although when placed in this time you are more confident, you do not think about being embarrassed. You can suggest crazy things to do and for fill your wildest cravings.

Contact of photoshoot:

Dogging Documentary

I watched this documentary on channel 4 called Dogging Tales. I found this documentary really interesting to watch as it delved into the hidden sexual lives of many people. Dogging is a well known sexual experience where groups people gather in hidden places such as in the woods and have sex with each other or just go to watch others have sex. People from all walks of lives use dogging to gain pleasure from, some alone, some go in couples to spice up their sex lives.

What I found interesting about this documentary and the whole aspect of dogging is that people will often wear animal masks whilst taking part in it. Often they will chose the animal which they believe is most representative to how they feel about themselves/the animal in which they would like to have sex life. For example, a lady in the documentary chose to wear a pig mask. She chose this as pigs are often a very degrading animal to be associated with, they are also dirty animals. This whole representation is how she wanted to portray herself whilst she had sex with others, to be degraded and treated badly whilst in the experience.

Also the name 'dogging' is directly related to the animal. It gained its name from people who would walk their dogs as an excuse to go to these hidden locations and have sex or view sex.

This documentary has opened another avenue for my work to progress in. The sex lives of people are often hidden, but it is often in the bedroom where we reveal our most animalistic sides to others. We like to be treated like animals, bitten, treated roughly and in positions that would commonly be used when animals mate (such as doggy).

Documentary link:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dogging-tales/4od

Taking Apart The Trotter

After the main use of my pig trotter had come to an end for casting I decided to take the trotter apart to expose the bone. The trotter came from a pet store where it would have been used as a dog chew toy and still had flesh on it. I removed all the flesh I could and then put the bones into a mixture of warm water and biological washing powder. This mixture allowed the flesh to soften and eat away at it. The flesh then easily fell off the bone and cleaned the bones. I was then left with the bones from the trotter. I found these bones were interesting to look at after casting the trotter to see what is actually beneath the skin. We are the same as animals, we have flesh covering our bones but when we die we are all left at the same ending.

Bone cleaning process photos:

Progression With Pig Trotters

After casting my Pig trotters in wax this was the final outcome of how the trotters looked. I believe they look really effective casted in wax. I wanted to chose a plain casting material which would not detract from the form of the pig trotter. I found wax as a material isn't distracting in a work. It is also a good material to pick up all the textures of the trotter such as lumps and bumps and the toenails.

I have been deciding on how I would be displaying the trotters in my studio space. I decided on painting my walls from white to black to allow me to display my trotters on my walls. The matte black colour contrasts the white wax and allows them to stand out from the wall. You are also able to see the texture of the wax clearer on the black background.

After painting my wall I had help from Rob to hang the trotters. We placed large screws in the back of the walls so they poked out into my space.The large screw allowed me to hang the trotter on the screw due to them being hollow and allowing me not to have to use any visible hanging forms.

My plans for these pieces has been to explore the human/animal relationship, how we are in control and how we revert back to being animals ourselves. I have been exploring the notion of 'packs' and how we as humans show animal behaviour. Throughout this piece what I am exploring has changed slightly. This piece is now more focused for me on exploring the notion of the human/animal relationship and categorization of animals. I have the representation here of the animal, and will now be moving onto the human portrayal in the piece.

After hanging the pieces on the wall I decided that the walls looked to bear. I needed the space to connect with the piece. The piece was more turning into an installation piece than a sculptural piece. To connect the trotters and the wall I added dripping wax to the wall, starting from where the trotter was placed and allowed it to trickle down the wall. I wanted the trotters to appear as higher and bigger than the human aspect. By adding the wax dripping down from the wall it gave the illusion of the trotters being larger and more extended. These large lengths of dripped wax also contrasted with the white wall again.

Experimenting Using Modelling Clay

After the failure with casting the birds skull I decided to move onto using more practical material to replicate the skull. I purchased some white modelling clay and experimented with creating a version of the skull. This is the first time I have used this type of modelling material. I found it very difficult to work with due to the amount of time that it allowed you to model the clay with. After a few minutes of being out in the air the clay would become tacky and dry up. This did not allow me enough time to remodel the clay to how I wanted it to be. The modelling clay also did not stick together well once you had molded specific parts of it. For example, this skull that I made I also started to make a skeleton for the bird. I used the image below as a basis for how the skeleton should look. However, due to the problem with the clay sticking together I was unable to keep the skeleton together. 

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Modelling clay skull:

Overall, this experiment was a bit of a flop. It didn't give me the end result that I had wanted to achieve with making the skeleton. I didn't like the modelling clay that I used and will be unlikely to use it again. 

 

Trip To The British Museum

Whilst taking a trip to London I decided that going to the British Museum would be great for this project. I went to see in particular the Dinosaur exhibition. Within this exhibition the bones of many different types of dinosaurs are displayed. I found it interesting to look at the variations in the different types of dinosaur skeleton. Just from looking at the skeleton you were able to tell what the dinosaurs ability type was. For example some of the dinosaurs had hooked beaks, relating to birds of some type. Other dinosaurs had very large bottom legs, having the power and height.

I found this trip a helpful experience to look at other bone types. It was interesting to view a different type of bone to the small bone types I have been working with.

Considering Other Animal Parts To Cast

I have a collection of skulls which I thought would be useful to look at when experimenting with casting. I wanted to try and attempt to cast the skulls, and get replicas of these skulls which I could then use within my project. After talks with Ang she advised me to use the smaller skull which was a birds skull. This was due to the skull being less complicated with less areas that would get the cast stuck in them. She advised me to fill in all the holes with clay before casting. However, she did say that it is likely that the skull would be damaged through the casting process. I decided against casting these skulls in the end as they are quite precious to me and hard to come by. I didn't want to damage them through casting and there was no guarantee that the cast would be successful. 

Rabbit Skull: 

Bird Skull:

Interesting Article Relating To The Use Of Animals In Art

I have found this article on the internet by 'Occupy For Animals!' relating to the use of animals within art. I found the article interesting due to its strong negativity towards the use of animals in art stating that it is wrong on all accounts of using live animals and dead animals. Although I have strong views on what is right and wrong regarding the use of animals I believe that the views expressed in this article are from an extremist animal rights point of view. These views are not a general view from the public.
This article is interesting to look at however for my own studio work and for my future dissertation proposal aims of writing about the use of animals in art. Personally I have been a vegetarian for around 8/9 years, and although I disagree with the slaughtering of animals for human consumption I have different views as to the use of animals within art. Throughout my personal practice I have been using animal bones and body parts within my work. Many of the bones that I have collected such as my bird and rabbit skull that I tried to use earlier on for casting have been collected whilst I was wandering around fields and or sides of roads. I do not know as to the story of the animals before they have died and what their cause of death has been. Some may have died due to natural causes, some may have died due to being hit by cars or interaction with human contact. It is not for me to know the stories of these animals of what has happened to them before they have died. I have not personally killed them for my own gain, more to the point just using their bodies within my work and collecting them after they have died. I see no harm in using the bodies of these animals after they have died as I am not causing any deliberate harm to their bodies.
The article that I have read disagrees with this opinion saying that it is disrespectful to use the bodies of animals. I can see the point of view that using an animals body could be viewed as disrespectful in a sense of using a dead body for your own gain. I found the article on the whole an interesting read.


Article website:
http://www.occupyforanimals.org/art--animals-killedused-in-the-name-of-art.html

Steven Melton- Casting Artist Research

Stephen Melton is an artist who works with themes of death throughout his practice. I was first drawn to look at him due to his casting working with dead birds on crosses. This series of birds on crosses was brought a lot of attention from such as the Guardian newspaper, and they were included in the book ‘Ghosts of gone birds- Resurrecting lost species throughout art’. In a statement about his work Melton said: "I found the birds used within this series whilst wandering through landscapes, perceptibly having been killed for either sport or ‘land management’. The cross, though laden with Christian meaning, in this instance draws reference to the pagan use: life. The key to a sustainable future is to surely live in harmony with our ecology. Does the unnecessary killing of any species upset the balance…or do they have the answer to how we can live in a sustainable way?"

These pieces clearly have a deeper meaning to Melton, and are in fact symbolism to the attitudes in which he believes our species have. The symbolism of the cross will automatically be linked to the crusifiction of Jesus on the cross. The cross has become symbolic in the sense of sacrifation, in the biblical sense Jesus gave his life to save the lives of others. Within this piece and from Melton’s quote we are able to see that the cross featured in these pieces is symbolic for us as humans being the ones that are sacrificing the lives of other species for our own need. The sacrifice is not for any gain for others, but in fact greed from ourselves, sacrificing a life for our own entertainment.

The objects themselves are bronze casted using resin and found objects such as those of the dead birds. You are able to see Melton’s passion for nature and conservation in his pieces, using reclaimed and recycled wood to even create the wood for the birds crosses. Melton’s work is much more of a statement about humanities perceptions in the world rather than the life of the bird. The bird has been given up and sacrificed for us. 

These birds show a link to my current studio project in the way in which they portray animals showing human characteristics. They have taken on a sacrificial quality, related to Jesus being crucified on the cross. The lines here have been blurred in what species is taking on what quality. 

Surveilance Footage

Currently I live opposite a nightclub called Sugarcubes. To fit in with my project I decided to film some footage of people outside of the nightclub. After one of my crit sessions this idea was suggested. Humans often show their most animalistic sides when under the influence. People tend to let go, relax more and get into fights.

I filmed the footage from a bedroom window that looks out to onto the street where Sugarcubes is located. The camera was well hidden as I wanted to get footage where people did not know I was filming them. Often when people know they are being filmed or photographed they act up for the camera. They will often play along, do things that they would not normally do. This is the reason why I wanted to keep the footage undercover.

I want to now take the footage further and edit it. I want the footage to have a darker feel to it, and for the sounds to be muffled and more animal like.

Stills from the footage:

Change Of Plan

After my disaster with bleaching bones I decided to have another look around to try and find different animal parts to cast. I went into a local pet store in which I found a pig trotter and a cows ear which are meant as dogs chew toys. The pig trotter especially appealed to me. I was looking for a symbol to represent the Animalisation of humans. Hands are a vital source for communication for humans, they are what we touch with, how we enable ourselves to feel things and others.

I began to cast the trotter in Latex. After a chat with Rob he decided that this would be the best way to go about casting the trotter. My aim was to make wax casts of the trotter. I wanted a material that I would be able to remold and that would be flexiable and easy to use. I also chose to use wax as I thought the trotters would take on a nice effect when cast in wax.


Starting to cover the trotter in latex:

Pig trotter with dried latex, marked with lines for covering with modrock:

Latex Cast of trotter covered with modrock, ready for filling with melted wax:

Melting the wax ready to fill:

After melting the wax I needed to wait for the wax to cool down before pouring it into the mold. I was using the hollow casting technique in which I poured the wax into the mold, swirling it around to cover all of the mold. I would then pour out the wax and then do the same thing over and over again. After a thick enough layer of wax covered all of the mold I was able to leave the wax to cool.

Result Of Bone Bleaching

I left my animal bones to soak in a solution on half hot water half bleach. I changed the solution every 24 hours for three days. I used metal scourers to try scrape off alot of the tissue beforehand on the bones to make it easier for the bleach solution to soften up the tissue. After 24 hours I went back to the bones and tried scrubbing more of the flesh off. The softer red meat flesh was coming off well, however the muscle tissue attached to the bone was not shifting anywhere.

I left the bones to soak again for another 24 hours. After this I went back to the bones, this time taking a sharp knife. I tried using the knife to cut off the muscle tissue from the bone. Some of it I was able to cut into and then peel off the bone. The rest again was too hard to peel off.

Again I changed the water/bleach solution and soaked the bones again for 24 hours. After returning to them again I was still unable to shift the muscle tissue and some of the meat would still not come off. By this point the bones were starting to become very smelly, and stank of rotting. This made it impossible for me to carry on working with them as every time I went near them I would gag! Even when changing the water solution they never lost their smell.

The bones were sadly way to big for me to boil, so I had no other choice but to sadly bin them. However I managed to photograph them before throwing them away.