I feel it’s important that I now focus on fewer processes and develop these skills and my concept. I inked up my small etching plates and filled them with Fibrocem, this was not as succseful as my plaster etc but it has a worn feel to it that I idendify with.
Above images small etched Fibrocem test piece
Above image test piece of steel in plaster
I tried setting steel in plaster but I don’t like the finish and feel the plinth will be to brittle and pale, so I’m going to buy some fibrecem
I like how durable this material is, it’s colour is not so stark and the texture can be altered to appear like marble, stone etc.
Setting etched steel in Fibrocem
I’ve mixed the fibrecem, I put it in the steel moulds I made and filled it then embedded my tall piece of rusty etched steel inside and left for 24 hours, in the hopes the rust would transfer to the fibrecem and it also gave the plinths extra time to set.
I really like this piece and can envision it being 6ft plus and installed outside.
I want people to feel they could touch the work and sit on the plinth. I’ve made several small maquette’s, the next step is to talk to the plater technician Gay to ask her advice on increasing the scale.
Above images Sketches and etchedRusty steel in fibrocem
Above image etched steel in plaster testing out different shapes
Gay suggested I work up to my 6ft piece. So my next one will be 3ft and I'm going to try a hollow form and a solid form, in Crystacal plaster because it’s lighter but tougher than normal plaster and not as heavy as fibrecem
The largest I can etch my plates is A1, when Justin is back I will see if there is a way to increase the scale?
Gay and Alex have suggested joining the plates once they are etched.
Above images Sketches to plan out my design
I’ve ordered the materials and I’m sketching out ideas.
I’ve drawn out and planed the dimension for the new sculpture
I bought my steel 33x10 inches and it’s 0.9 thick, which is surprisingly flexible at this height, so I will need to increase the thickness for the single steel plate sculpture so that it stands tall and is secure.
I also need to increase the thickness for the 6 ft sculpture, I will seek Alex’s advice.
Above image prepping etching plate with hard ground
I started working on blocking out areas of the steel to protect it from the acid on the 3 ft steel plates. I was blocking it out with fablon and wax & litho crayon, I Decided to do some small test plates using this method before covering the whole plate, and I discovered this was not going to give me the ascetic I wanted, there would be to much going on, so I simplified it and used fablon and hard ground, this gives me clean lines.
I cut the fablon into geometric shapes inspired by architecture and the shapes and angles I find most challenging.
I then covered my plates in hard ground, once the plate had cooled I drew more geometric shapes into the ground then I peeled away the fablon.
Because I didn’t have a large enough etching bath but my plate does fit in the Etching trough, I decided to spite bite my plate and paint the acid on. After trying for four hours the plates barely etched, they had rusted more then etched. It turned out that the acid had spent and had been contaminated at some point with another metal.
So another batch was mixed, this time a 10-1 mix but I’m still not getting the deep etch I want but I am getting some interesting marks. I may have to wait for the bath but it was worth experimenting.
Laser Etched portrait and Print
So whilst waiting for the bath to turn up I started working on re working an old image, I have turned it into a Laser etch so that it can be touched by peoole and I then printed it with extender and a small amount of ink.