Plaster Carving 1

Before diving into carving the plaster mould I poured the day before, I watched several videos about carving plaster and tried to get an idea of how to approach a reductive/subtractive sculpture and learned to try to map out the carving by sketching. I traced the outline of the photo of coral I liked, then sketched a block around the coral to imagine the different planes I would have to carve away, then I focused on the exterior form of the coral.

After sketching the coral and pouring the moulds, I took the mould out and started to just observe the different qualities of the mould. I tried to envision where to begin, which was difficult to imagine in the beginning. I found referencing the traced sketch helpful and started with the tallest piece of coral. I drew some rough lines on the side of the mould, marked front/back/left/right on the bottom of the mould (which eventually became arbitrary), and slowly began experimenting with the different carving chisels I have.

After exploring the different chisels, I found the utility knife and a straight chisel to be the most effective for what I was trying to achieve at this moment. After slowly carving away at the tallest piece of the coral, I started to see the other forms revealing themselves. When I would see the imaginary lines, I made sure to stop and sketch what I was seeing to use as reference lines. I found that after sketching the lines I could mark the different planes of the forms with the chisel or utility knife so I knew what material needed to be carved away.

I started carving at around 5:30PM while the sun was still up. However, once the sun went down and I had my living room lights on, I started to see how important the lighting is when carving. It’s hard to photograph, but I tried. I found that I could use the different planes carved by the tools as guidelines because of the shadows the different lights were casting onto the object. In a way, you can draw reference lines with your tool and see how the form is being shaped as you go. This is SUPER important. This is very similar to surfboard shaping. Shaping bays (where surfboard shapers shape their boards) typically have lighting specifically placed in order to see the different contours of the object. Carving this mini plaster sculpture is the first time I’ve experienced the use of lighting and I think it will be an ever-evolving practice to assist my carving.

This carving is still a work in progress, however I have really enjoyed the process. I found the carving very intuitive and engaging. I kept finding myself staring at the piece just looking for something to reveal itself and a new plane would always emerge. I think I have done a fairly good job at rough shaping the material but we will see what happens in the final outcome. This is also my first time carving a reductive/subtractive sculpture so I cannot get my expectations too high. I think regardless of how the object turns out, I have learned a lot through the process that is worth investigating more.

To be continued….

Also, there is a lot of waste, which is a bit problematic. So far, I’ve saved all the shavings in a safe place to try to re-use the excess material.