Priley Riley, Cyanotype, 28th March 2014

I tried cyanotype printing today for the first time. I am slightly disappointed with the outcome as the drawing that I did for it has not printed very clearly in some places, so it looks a bit more abstract than what I would usually aim for. It was still enjoyable learning how to do this type of print and I might give it another try in the future to see if I can get a clearer result from it.

 

As it is now the Easter holidays for 4 weeks, I will not have access to the university’s casting facilities during this period. I will therefore continue with my ice sculpture project using the chest cast after the holidays. During the holidays I will draw onto 2 copper etching plates that I prepared today, and I will make prints from these when I go back. I also intend on painting and drawing over the holidays.

Priley Riley, New body cast, 26th March 2014

This morning I had another cast of my chest and hand taken. I kept my fingers together for this one to reduce the chances of them becoming damaged when I make a positive cast from this and separate the two.

Priley Riley, Bookbinding, 24th- 25th March 2014

I did bookbinding yesterday and today using the cut binding technique. To finish my A5 size sketchbook I added patterned card that I bought to the inside of the cover for decoration. In future, I might try making my own inside covers because I think that the inner covers add to the charm of the book and it might be nice for the designs to be more personal.

Priley Riley, An update on the chest cast, 24th March 2014

Today I made the positive cast (shown above) from my original body cast. Unfortunately my left shoulder and little finger were damaged as I separated them so, as the positive cast isn’t to the standard that I want it to be for my final ice sculpture, I am going to repeat the process from the beginning. I hope to be cast again this week and I’m determined to make this project work!

I also started making a new sketchbook today using cartridge paper and the cut binding technique. I hope to finish this tomorrow as the glue on the hinge should be dry by then.

Priley Riley, Hand cast and an update on the chest cast, 21st March 2014

I have been working on the cast of my chest today to make a positive cast from it. I did this by scrubbing soft soap into the original cast and cleaning this off before adding layers of oil to it that were also removed afterwards. I then mixed water and fine casting plaster together before dipping hemp mesh into this and applying it to the inside of my cast. I built up 3 layers of the hemp mesh before leaving it to dry for the weekend. The cast that I made today using the plaster and hemp mesh will be separated from the original cast next week. It is difficult to get the two to separate; the soap and oil that I rubbed into the cast to start off with will help with the separation, but it can’t guarantee that one of the casts won’t get damaged in the process. If this did happen, I would start the process again with another body cast, but hopefully the two will separate without problems.

As I had to leave the chest cast to dry I made a cast of my hands today as well. I made the cast using dyed green wax, shown in the top photo. The finger tips were then pierced with wire so that when I poured a mixture of water and fine casting plaster into the wax cast the air wouldn’t get trapped inside and stop the mixture from reaching the finger tips. This does mean that there are small holes in the cast’s finger nails but overall I am happy with the cast as it’s so detailed that even the texture of the skin and a vein can be seen. The two photos of it show different sides of the same cast.