Iron Pour @ Tellehasse

Will update this section when I have optimized the pictures for internet posting. So many to go through... but worth it.

Sand Cast - Classmates

In the meantime, as I was only just starting with the form for the sand cast, my fellow classmates had already created their items from very interesting selection of choices... I wish I had been as smart as them.

Sand Cast - Creating the mold itself

sprinkle talcum powder over the item so that it will ease the removal of the item from the sand cast.

Kim making the sand for the mold... a mixture of sand and silicon that will create heat when hardening. it's hard to see but she is wearing rubber gloves and a gas mask. Health first!


After pouring in the sand, use something flat (like a brick?) to flatten the top so that it is flat on its back when the metal is being poured in.

Came back later that night to remove the item from the mold...

due to the many layers of cardboard (to create the thickness for pouring the iron), I had a little bit of difficulty peeling it out...


as you can see some of the top bits got stuck in the sand, but I managed to pull it out eventually.


I have a feeling I did not compress the sand enough in the beginning when I was pouring the sand, resulting in the loss of details being written into the sand. the rough grainy texture also contributed to this loss.... It was here that I realised I was being overly ambitious and that sculpting something this detailed is not too suitable for this project. Should have done something simpler. I really need to learn to simplify my ideas... it's a bad habit, I think, to over-complicate things.

Sand Cast - Creating the item to be casted

So here goes the beginnings of the coral-woman's head.. using plasticine instead of sculpey. Again, on hindsight, perhaps I could have used sculpey to do the form, and after ripping it out, go back to work on repairing it so that I could bake it? I wonder if the heat from the sand when it is hardening will bake the super sculpey in the process, but I didn't want to risk not being able to pull out the object as it would mean that I had to create another sand mold.


I did not like how the face was turning out, and after re-working it at least 3 times (meaning ripping off the whole face to start again, which was a rather painful process), I finally was sort-of satisfied with the shape on the 4th attempt.. which meant I could start adding all the extra details and parts, which was much more fun to work with.

Casting - Ideas

For the Sand mold, since it was going to be iron and flat on one side, I wanted to create something that seemed to be emerging from the surface of whatever the sculpture was on. This led me to think of a creature peeping out from the surface of the water. The other idea was to make something floating on the top of the water, but my impression was that it would be harder to cast... On hindsight, I should have used a ready-made object but it was an interesting learning process nonetheless.


the water-creature evolved into a woman with coral parts..I was looking at Nervous System and seeing how they are inspired by organic geometrical patterns, I was hoping to incorporate that inspiration into my work as well, especially for the plaster cast.


the repetitive pattern made sense to attempt to recreate with the plaster cast, but at this stage I was still not very sure how I wanted it to look like.

Casting - Demo

Because I am muddleheaded and need these pictures to remind me what to do...
Set up container

Breathing in plaster powder is not good for health, so remember to wear a gas mask. (though I don't think we did that... more applicable for when mixing the sand.)

Add water and mix in plaster in incremental amounts until the mix is the texture of pancake mix.

Remember to spray oil / pam? so that the plaster will not stick to the other plaster piece.

splatter some plaster before pouring in the rest.

The result = YAY

Rachel Whiteread - Ghost (Review)

From the video, I learnt that Rachel wanted to make a cast of a room which someone like herself might stay in after coming out from college. Her small exhibition included 4 pieces , which would be found in the actual room and by casting the space of the room, Rachel “mummified the air in the room”.

The challenges she faced was that it took some time to find the grants, space for exhibition, and the room itself for casting, and it was an ambitious project for a young artist like her at the time. She was 27, out of college 3-4 yrs, took waitressing and other jobs on the side to support herself at the time, and did not have luxury of being a full time artist.
The experience from her works "closet" & "torso" helped her know the steps involved in casting large objects. Other artists that she looked at for 3-dimensional ideas include Ashley Veneer , Francesco Pierre paintings. how to piece the component parts together, perspective,
window, door, fireplace key element places, had to be cast in a certain way in order to be retrieved from the actual room

having no water, no electricity, she had to borrow these from the neighbor. As she had no car, she used a bike to transport materials like plaster. Despite the inconveniences she still enjoyed the process.

had to make false, flat foundation, the height of the room was inconsistent
flick plaster on wall, using hesiant in place, built 2-3inches
metal framework inside the plaster
when making the piece, the walls n room were made from plaster n glass, horse hair very old plaster, the walls were falling apart, fragile environment to cast
had to consistently repair the room while making the piece, can be seen in actual casting

go to studio spent 6 weeks on frame work
saw the light shining on door n light switch, eureka moment of the viewer being the wall

man in bristol had been in prison enclosed in a space u can't get out of, reminded him of being inside his pocket.
She felt touched by his thoughts
she thinks pple read all sort of things
piece to do with aura, physical dimension, where we eat, sleep, die, spend our time