Critique # 6: Materials and Methods - Final Critique

Nature Forms #1

Nature Forms #2

Nature Forms #3

For this last critique I decided to incorporate photography with my last material which was wire. Working with the wire was really time consuming cause no matter how long you spend working on the piece the progression was unnoticed. I combined different materials such as wire, wood, paper (shred paper, photographic paper, watercolor paper) and fabric for this last piece. I decided to include photographic images to the sculpture to combine my major (photography) to something unknown and with zero experience (sculpture) to see the possibilities and opportunities these two mediums can contribute in my art making. Even tho at the beginning I was really frustrated and I was about to give up with the wire as material I feel happy with the final result . 

This semester I used so many tools, techniques and materials that I had no idea how they work but at the end I figure out a way to make something, I feel proud about all the things I learn even though no all the time I had successful outcomes. 

Process: 

The start of the wood piece

Evolution of wire and fabric

Evolution of wire and fabric #1

Evolution of Wire and Fabric #2

Incorporating wire and photographic paper on the image transfer

For Nature Forms #1 I fix the hanging crochet yarn cause it was weak to support the weight.

For Nature Forms #2 I make a one of all the felt/ wax pieces

Critique # 5 : intentional play (wire)

For this critique I was trying to understand wire, I had never used wire before so it was  challenge to know how long will take to do what I had plan in my head. Crotchet wire was really meditative but the progress is really slow, I want to continue with my nature forms to have a consistency between the three materials I been using this semester. 

Also, for this critique I decided to work in a different way to know what method works better for me. Usually I experiment a lot and then decide but with the wire since the time is constrain and is the material that I know the least I decide to give all the time remain until critique #6 to have my piece resolve.

Not all gauges of wire can be crochet, so I decide my piece is going to grow by manipulating different gauges of wire in different ways and increasing the gauge while my piece increase in size.

Other elements that I am planning to add are fabric and maybe wax. I will love to experiment with the roof flashing and the torch and I appreciate the suggestion, I am going to do my research to find out if can help me achieve the desire result.

Process

 

Critique #4: Materials & Methods - Directed Production (Wax)

For this critique I focus to apply the techniques I learn in the wax experimentation/ intentional play. I knew I want to continue with the "Nature Forms". Also, I wanted to mix the fabric with the wax to understand and use the research on these materials. 

At the end I choose to work with paraffin wax and felt for the flexibility of this fabric.

I pick the pattern of colors because I wanted these pieces to match somehow with the  nature forms of fabric.

I will hang these pieces to decide the way I want to present them in juries and maybe add wax to the hemp as well. 

I enjoy to work with these pieces because it was manual work, because I learned a new way  to manipulate the felt, because it took me out of my comfort zone, and because made me work in a different scale (quantity).

Process:

Step 1

Melt the wax carefully

Step 2: forms made in felt

Step 3

Form nature forms with felt

Step 4

Forms been  Package 

Final Display for "Nature Forms" 

Critique #3: Materials and Methods- Intentional Play (Wax)

My first experimentation with wax was at the beginning of the semester when I quickly test my 3 materials, at that moment I decided to melt crayons into a fish mold. 

My experimentation continue with Micro Crystalline Wax: melting this material and mold it with my hands to achieve the desire form. I am constructing nature/female forms. This material was very fun to handle but using only the hands was not enough to spread the material evenly, the form is too thick looking similar to a male form. Carving was successful using appropriate carving tools. 

The next step include dripping candle in a piece of wood, I enjoy working with that process but was not successful for the idea I had in mind. 

I tried  melting similar materials such as crayons, paraffin wax and wax warmers with help of a heat gun to see the final results.

* The crayons were really fun to melt and to see how the start mixing and giving more texture to the original candle drip.

* The wax warmers were the worst because they were to oily and start to separate the material making it to light and causing the wax to loss deepness. Also it makes the dripping from before get a horrible dirty look and contaminated all the wax.

* The paraffin wax worked good but was a slow process and you had to realize how much you want to melt it so it did not disappear in the mixture of wax.

The next step was to test if it was possible to mold these materials with my hands.

* Crayons, wax warmers and paraffin wax did not fulfill these requirements, they break after manipulate them a little bit. 

My next step was to melt the paraffin wax in a pot

I wanted to keep working with my female/nature forms so I decided to used a remaining piece of my fabric bowls to test the wax on it!

It was too flat for me so my last step was to carve the female/nature forms into the wax to make the forms more notable. Is the first time I used carving tools, I enjoy the process but now I know I have to be very careful about how deep I have to carve to avoid losing the material with the technique. 

For the upcoming two weeks I am going to focus on the last process, making this combination of form using fabric and wax. I am going to work larger not  in size but in quantity, My goal is to fill a good amount of a wall with these forms using different textures and colors putting to the test the knowledge I got during these weeks.