Sculpture week 9

The "legs" for my rickety steps come from three old paper blinds that I'd hung on to for a few years "just in case". It's rather tedious to free the slivers of bamboo from between the layers of paper, but the tiny bits of paper that remain on the sticks do add an important quality.Class time was about trying out supports for the assembled steps. Foamcore was easy to pierce with a bradawl, and finding positions for the legs wasn't too difficult, in fact it was rather random. The foamcore seemed to hold the steps quite steady - but might get wobbly over time, so I'll be using panels of (thin) MDF with holes drilled in it after painting - about 400 holes! - which will be put onto a base of (thin) MDF, which will sit on a set of rigged-up tall legs ... well that's the idea for the infrastructure, but it hasn't quite become reality yet...
I also made some steps out of handmade paper dipped in wax, to see if some could be added for "similar variety" - spot the difference! In contrast to the scrumptious white-chocolate look of the porcelain, the embossed,waxed handmade paper looks deadly dull. Perhaps some obvious wrinkling or layering, and using off-white candle wax, would improve it. If not, the porcelain has enough textural variety - these are just a few of the hundred or so needed. About half are made, so far -
The waxed "steps" are much easier to put in place than the porcelain - the holes can easily be made any size. The size of the porcelain holes is fixed, and the sticks have to be sharpened carefully to fit the smaller ones. I don't look forward to sharpening 400 sticks, nor should it be necessary - the holes in the next batch are bigger, and there are still further batches to come.

The final show will be Weds 24 March to Saturday 27 March; it closes at noon on the Saturday and we take all our work home ... and that's it. Over.