There’s always that moment when you see something on Facebook or Pinterest that you think – I could do that. This project was one of those – a link to a YouTube video that popped up on my timeline (sorry – haven’t found it since). It was in German, and seemed to be 20 minutes of the two presenters describing – but not actually doing – the process to make these cast concrete votives.
I found out why. There is a very delicate balance between crumbling and creeping with a concrete mix – too little water and it doesn’t hold together, too much and it slumps and slips. My first attempt was a great success, three perfect casts – more by luck than judgement, it transpires… Could I repeat the feat the following day? Not nearly as easily! I eventually used vibration to help liquify the concrete mix, begging it each time to stay put after I had stopped jiggling it. I learnt quite quickly to let the casts set on a different table to the one I was using to form the next cast… Time will tell if I have mastered the art, as I plan to make several more to sell at the church Christmas Fayre at the end of November.
I had a little play with the lighting and tweaking with filters in Photoshop too:
These are stunning, Neil! I think you have done very well, because they look extremely thin. What have you lined the insides with? It looks like gold leaf! They are so beautiful.
If you go here: http://shoshiplatypus.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/my-first-florabunda-drawings.html you can see what I have been up to with the Florabunda book! I am having a lot of fun with this. Energy hasn’t permitted me to do much more, but a friend has printed out some sheets of my drawings on her laser printer so I can start experimenting with colour once I feel up to it. On a later post you can see how she has foiled some of them and they look amazing!
Shoshi