10/14/14, morning

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman and Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 10/14/14, 09:00-10:50
LOCATION: Chandler 260
SUBJECT: Plaster casting for portrait medal

I put the finishing touches to the plaster cast - adding the year and my initials to the medal's back, completing the circle with the rest of the inscription.
We continued by making the sand (see field notes for sand casting).

10/13/14, morning

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman and Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 10/13/14, 11:30-12:30
LOCATION: Chandler 260
SUBJECT: Plaster casting for portrait medal

The plaster had set over the weekend and was ready to be taken out of the mold. The clay broke away easily. A small part remained in one of the lion's outstretched legs (lower), but this too came out easily shortly after. The (now negative again) image of the lion was almost as detailed as the wax model, but could use some refinement. Furthermore, the plaster model was too thick to cast as it was and it needed to be trimmed down and rounded on the sides also. Tonny Beentjes used a sharp knife to carefully cut away most of the excess on the plaster model's back, after which I continued to trim the medal to its desired size using sanding paper in the fuming hood. I then started refining the imprint, smoothing out the design and upper surface, and adding detail to it. I then went back to bringing its size to the desired thickness and diameter. Finally, I carved an inscription (LUCTOR ET EMERGO) into the back of the model.

In general, the editing/reworking/carving of the image in plaster was perhaps easier than in wax, but also more unforgiving. Whereas you could add wax to your model, there was no adding plaster to it. The wax-working tools were efficient for carving the plaster. For most efficient results I blew onto the model after every modifications to get rid of the excess of - now powdered - plaster. With one of the sharpest tools I carved details into the design - in order to experiment with the level of detail that could be reached when casting it in metal.

RL_wax+plaster.jpegRL_plaster_clay1.jpegRL_plaster_clay3.jpegRL_plaster_clay2.jpegRL_wax+plaster+clay.jpeg


RL_plaster_front_finished.jpegRL_plaster_back_almost_finished.jpegRL_plaster_side.jpeg

10/10/14, morning

NAME: Rozemarijn Landsman and Jonah Rowen
DATE AND TIME: 10/10/14, 9:00-11:00
LOCATION: Chandler 260
SUBJECT: Plaster casting for portrait medal

The nearly finished wax model was pressed into the clay to see whether the negative image of the lion emerging from the water would give the desired result - which it did. Some finishing touches added to the wax model, including the refinement of the manes and the smoothing out of its tail and lower front leg/paw. Than I took a good handful of clay to create the proper mold to press the wax model in and than fill with liquid plaster of paris. This impression, however, was far less detailed than the tester made previously. After consultation with Tonny Beentjes we decided to use this previous impression and just build a 'wall' of clay around it, which would together create the container for the plaster of paris. After building this wall the plaster was made ready and poured into the mold, on top of the impression (the now positive image of the lion) of the wax model. This was then left in the lab to cool and harden.