Multiples: Plaster Moulds Part 1

As part of our multiples brief we have a 3D workshop just to teach us more sculpture stuff and help out if we choose to make something 3D for our brief. The first moulding technique we are doing is plaster moulding, which gets started off with a clay sculpture of what we want to mould. At this point i wasn’t really sure about what i wanted to make but going with my sex work brief i chose to do a kind of Henry Moore style reclining woman. I know i don’t want to make anything with womens bodies but it’s a pretty basic little example for the technique.

So you don’t use up a bunch of clay unnecessarily you start by planning the shape of your little sculpture and working out where you can put wood blocks to make the bulk of the shape before covering it in chicken wire and stuffing with paper to get a relatively solid structure. The chicken wire is such a pain to work with so wear gloves!

The basic outline of my sculpture covered in chicken wire for the clay to stick to.

After you have this outline you just cover with a bunch of clay making sure theres no jaggy bits of wire sticking out and you  can start smoothing the clay down with a damp sponge.