Part 3: Plaster Pea Pod Sculpture

This sculpture is turning out to be a heck of a lot of work, a huge learning experience (in that I'm working with a new medium) AND quite time consuming.  After another 3 hours of work today, I think I may finally be ready to change the pieces direction to try applying plaster to another area of the work.  After today's application of plaster I believe I have the one side thick enough to bare weight without worrying that it will crack.  Most of the progress made today was on the inside, ends and the peas themself.  

When I worked on this piece a few days I ago I discovered that as the studio warmed up...solely from the sun shining in the windows, the plaster began to set too quickly, leaving me either in a hurry...or wasting medium (which I only prepared up to about a gallon at a time).  Today the studio was FRIGID...not by choice mind you, but the plaster seemed to set less quickly; allowing me a bit more time to make choices about where and how it would be applied.  

Not quite as many images this time as most of the work was layering: but documentation has become a huge part of the process while I work.

Part 2: Plaster application to pea pod armature

Process photos: adding plaster to the wood/wire armature

For those of you who enjoy seeing the process, the following is a series of photos of the first stages of adding plaster to a wood/wire armature...the piece is the pea pod I've been working on...

Pea pod plaster sculpture armature process photos

Process Photos of the armature for my upcoming plaster sculpture.

This piece is special to me...symbolic of my siblings...my two brothers and my two sisters and myself.  The missing pea represents my sister who was born prior to me and did not survive long enough for me to know her.  I love my siblings, but life has taken us all in different directions.  This piece is just to say that we may all be in a different place now, but will always share a special bond.  I'd like to dedicate this piece to my sister that I never had a chance to meet.  While she is a mystery to me, she is still in my heart & mind...and if she is watching over me...I hope she knows she is loved and not forgotten.