Personal Work Update 2

At the end of the last post (here) I wrote that I had made a plan for what I wanted to make. This needed a lot of testing. The following photos show the process so far and where I am. I worked on a lot of these different tests at the same time. 

Above: Trying out making a round structure on a smaller scale to test out mod rock. I tested out cutting the mod rock after it had set as I would be cutting the pieces out to create the layers. The results where not promising.

 Above: The first papier-mâché test, using a medicine ball to cover. This held it's shape pretty well considerign it was only 3 layers thick and it was also light. It took quite a lot of time to make as the layers took a while to dry.

Tests with cut out shapes from the papier-mâché:

I thought that pasting might be a good idea so I tested that out. This was pasted directly onto the news paper which slightly morphed the original shape.

I painted another segment, this also made the sides curl a little.

I covered one segment in mod-rock, which was then painted, this worked a lot better than being painted straight onto the news paper. This actually worked very well, it made the segment more solid but also kept it quite light.

At the same time as the segments above I also started making a cast out of mod-rock. This is 3 layers. It was a little fragile when I took it off, not strong enough to cut up, just like the first test. I put my head in this and I thought that maybe this could work on it's own. It's very light and the surrounding sound gets cut off a little. This was a little quicker than the papier-mâché test. 

I also found some helpful tips on how to use mod rock properly, see here.

As a third test, I tested celotape. I had seen that models had been made in this way and this would save a lot of time. I used a few rolls of tape and realised that it still wasn't keeping it shape and as I am not comfortable using this amount of plastic, especially if it won't work, I decided to ditch this idea. However, this was a good opportunity to test out other ways that the viewer could engage with the work, such as putting their head in at an angle.

Above are some tests as yo how i could do the sky and how parts could be cut out showing the environment outside the globe.

I had been thinking about how to cover the outside, I think doing something that doesn't distract from the experience within the globe would be the best thing. I tried out black paint, both acrylic and spray matt black. 

After seeing the piece The Pain of Other (No.3) by Idris Khan at the Summer Exhibition (see post here) I have been thinking about how I can incorporate writing onto the outside of the globe. I don't want it to be overly obvious so am thinking about black on black and using gloss to show the layers, or perhaps bring in a grey or blue. So far I have tested what Posca pen might look like and am going to test letter press printed onto thin, grease proof paper which will be pasted on. With this I would probably need to scan in, layer on Photoshop and screen print to make the process quicker.

Bellow is the first test to see what the painting might look like within the globe. 

After seeing it like this, and actually wrapping the image around myself, I do not think that this works. It is too separate. I painted it as though they are different layers, but they are too separate. I also don't like how I have painted the clouds in this but it was just an experiment. 

I think it might be a better idea to do one full globe with a more flowing painting within. I will test this out further.