brief update of current work in studio

Having reminded myself of this here's a brief update of how my grave-forms project for the presentation of some street cutlery is coming on. I really must give it a title.

Of the four photos here I think three have already been published previously on the blog. However they're here to demonstrate the development of the piece.

After a few initial arrangements and sketches I came up with something that seemed satisfactory. It felt right for the scale I would be working with:

The next stage was to create the actual grave forms. After considering a variety of materials I decided that given my inexperience and lack of tools it would be best to use papier mache over a chicken wire armature. You can see part of the armature below:

Initially recording which of the grave forms would hold cutlery using barbecue skewers, I later recorded the same information on a sketched plan on a post-it note:

Finally over the last couple of weeks I have reinforced the back of the armature to prevent it bending (not pictured), and added several layers of papier mache. Surprisingly, the piece (pictured below) is beginning to look quite similar to the way I envisaged it.

Having taken advice from a couple of friends on materials etc. I think the next stage is to begin to complete the piece by first stabilising the back so it can either sit comfortably on the floor or a tabletop, finishing the surface probably by coating with plaster soaked cloth, painting the piece in a neutral colour (but not white), fixing the street cutlery in place, and adding written and drawn marks as though the piece were a plan of a three dimensional space, as well as being three dimensional in itself.