This fall, I decided to take a Studio School Class in Casting, since I never took casting during my degree (just a strange occurrence of events). It's been interesting, especially since my mind set has always been in fabrication. At first, I had a really hard time bending my mind around the concept of carving wax--the whole taking away aspect, as opposed to "building". It's getting better though.
Our first project is "Sculpture for The Hand", a ring project. I started with ideas of relating the ring to different aspects of the hand, like fingerprints and fingernails. But then I remembered the lace I found in my Great Aunt Dodo's chest. Lots of lace. Lots of texture. It's a good thing I kept it!
First, I decided to try pressing the lace into wax sheets using my hydraulic press and using those sheets to form rings. Sounds alright, but after doing a few pieces in wax, I decided the rings were rather plain. It might still be a great idea for further exploration. I'm also going to try roller printing the lace into metal, although I'm not sure how well the lace will fare.
After being frustrated, and having this carving idea floating in the back of my head for a couple weeks, I decided to jump in with the carving. My first carved ring is in the investment stage, and the one above is from another piece of lace. Because of the thinness of some areas, I'm going to cast it first before doing the finishing, so I don't break the wax. Hopefully they will turn out wonderful! They are much more sculptural than I originally imagined, but then again, I love going towards the sculpture aspect of things when given a concept!
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