ROCK
Quick solidifying cement, by a brand named Rockite.
Explorations of the use of pouring, design in molds, and a new type of craftsmanship.
Explorations of the use of pouring, design in molds, and a new type of craftsmanship.
FORMS
The first part of my exploration with Rockite, this quick-drying cement, was to create beautiful forms that I was earlier making with foam board and wood. This was my next new material. I made the molds with foam board and an inverse mindset.
These were first attempts in the process, but they didn't come out of their molds like this at first. I sanded them down with 100 grain paper, and even wet the new surface before drying them after. They were good objects, but I also wanted to incorporate these compositions with space, and so I set out to remold pieces in the search for spacial elements, and architectural form work. |
SPACIAL ELEMENTS
My first move was to create indents and subtractions within my already well proportioned forms. I added objects that were beautiful to the inside of my molds and found good ways to create spacial forms.
These were my new sets of forms, but they had a little trouble in the process. The creation of these forms in which there are subtractions opens up problems such as chipped edges, and problems with removing the mold from within the object.
However, they turned out okay for what I expected, and I sanded them down so that they looked a little better. After I had made these, I was compelled to make more, but I sat back and asked myself more questions as to what I could achieve with this project. |
I was playing around with the original shapes and the new forms that I had created and to my surprise two of them had locked together pretty well. It gave me an idea so I decided to create two forms with separate forms that I could have interact with each other or connect/lock together.
LOCKING FORMS
I made my first set of locking pieces, and with close resemblance to the objects I had created earlier, I created a successful locking mechanism, in which one slid on top of the other and was held together with the angled planes.
|
The first two were my individual pieces, and they came together with the original form and the second piece to slide on top of the pyramidal side.
These were a good pair of Rockite forms, but I realized that the two new forms together, were lacking space themselves, and lost supposed interest in to piece. |
LOCKING FORMS + SPACIAL ELEMENTS
My new experiment resulted in a very good new pair, and this I had settled on as the best outcome of the project. The two locking forms came together, were beautiful as objects on their own, and when put together, created something beautiful with an interesting use of space.
The first two to the left are the separate forms that locked together.
I found a way to lock these forms by wrapping one, and including it into the other mold so that they would fit more precisely. They were both sanded. The third picture is their interaction. |
|
The final set was a good example of the space that I was looking for, and their locking mechanism was the same in which one form picked the other up due to the diagonal slant and undercut.
EXPLORATION OF CONCRETE FORMS
I made other forms with aggregate concrete with wooden molds. I recreated the same mold over and over so that I could get a tessellated type wall. It was inspired from Tetris, and was unique in the way that it could be stacked in any fashion.
The dimensions were 12 inches long, 9 inches wide, and three inches in depth. They are cubic in the sense that they are almost comprised of "6 cubes" like a Tetris block. This would mean 4 cubes long, and 3 cubes wide, at 3x3x3 in. cubes.
As said earlier, I made about 16 molds and stacked them in a fashion so that they were random, but allowed light through for shadow play.
The finished product was a standing wall as shown below.
As said earlier, I made about 16 molds and stacked them in a fashion so that they were random, but allowed light through for shadow play.
The finished product was a standing wall as shown below.