Unit 3.2 — Caryatid casting process (humbling journey)

My piece is based on the caryatids found at the Athens Acropolis, specifically the one that is no longer in Athens, but was taken (controversially) by Lord Elgin in 1801 and now resides in the British Museum.

The brief for this project is to create a ‘flatback’ that can be hung on the wall. I wanted the piece, when hung, to show the back of the head of the caryatid because I feel this is an evocative perspective as we are often looking AT women rather than alongside them, plus her face against the wall creates a feeling of being stuck.

This is the mould I created, it took me two full days of work and is a four part mould.

CAST 1

Disaster. Gallons on slip leaked rather quickly because I didn’t seal the bottom well. Hellish nightmare to clean up. Took over 3 hours and getting the thin cast out of the mould was painstaking.

I had prepared coloured stains that I added to the slip. I noticed the chrome green stain is pretty fussy and I need to use the stains pretty soon after mixing because they will separate.

The mess. The thin cast.

I do still wonder how it would look with the slip marbled with the stain but dont really like that the slip can’t be repurposed, unless I mix it up again, stain it again etc — but out of the question to add it to the slip machine — makes it a bit complicated and time will be a factor.

CAST 2

Also a bit of a disaster but at least no leaks.

The cast tore when we eased it open, there’s clearly an issue with part of it sticking at the bust area. I sealed all joins well with clay and used brown tape Rich gave me. This takes a while and oddly quite hard work, the plaster mould is very big, awkward and heavy to manoeuvre and as I move it around it shifts around a bit, one section of it I forgot to add keys. Learning a lot about how not to make a pain in the ass mould.

I DID make use of it though as I took the largest part and put underglaze on it and added a hanging hole (wish I didn’t make it so big) and looking at the remnants I do like the idea of using the bits and reconfiguring it a bit — the two shoulders with the hair in the centre…I think I may still have some of those pieces, for the future I would like to explore this more.

CAST 3

Again, the set up takes a while and is actually quite tiring. Looking at the cast with Ian and Rich, we discussed timings and a few other techniques. I smoothly filled it with slip using a measuring jug so there were no glugs and so I could check for leaks (Bri helped!).

I dusted on talc, let it cast for an hour and 15, longer so a bit thicker so nice and robust (the hair is giving me no problem thanks to all the prep I did on the plaster). Rich tipped it because it’s too heavy for me. We sat it upside down for 20 minutes, then flipped it and watched it like a hawk.

Because of the shape of the mould it will dry, not away from the mould, but shrink onto it which means I can’t let it get too dry before I ease it out. It’s a bit of a dance, easing the mould off and we needed the air gun for the bottom problematic bit. I could not have done it without Nicky’s help — like I would have destroyed it without her. I got a bit scared of it and went a bit stupid with nervousness.

The bottom was pretty mangled, I made slip ‘bandaids’ on plaster, fixed her up a bit and left her in a plaster box until the next day when I packed her bottom full of plaster bandaids and was finally able to stand her up and refine the shape so she sat (mostly) flush to the wall. A LOT of tinkering.

Straps, tape and clay — it leaked, but only slightly and we were able to stop it with more clay.

Air gun and bandaids

sorting out the shape so she lays flay, she finally goes upright

I want to hang her from the corners between her hair and the volume on her head — need to talk to framer! I’d rather not put holes into her.