Casting using Modroc



I was really excited to be doing more casting as i want to learn the basic skills and techniques to then start trying different things and make it my own. Some of my favourite artists use different forms of cast or just use plaster to get a raw effect, such as Folkert De Jong who replicates the human body without casting but sculpts foam and materials into people then uses materials such as plaster to make a raw and messy effect. Also David Altmejds 'The Healers' takes casts of different body parts that are rough and not precise casts they are left messy and parts are broken, all of the different casts are interconnected within the scene in explicit poses and some how make one creature that looks quite disturbing after looking at the bright colours of the casts. I first saw his work on a trip to London when we visited the Saatchi Gallery, I refernced his work a lot last year in my course after briefly trying casting by pouring plaster onto a mannequin head.

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/david_altmejd.htm?section_name=shape_of_things

 

 

We started with casting the face to get use to casting from another person rather than from ourselves. First i wrapped cling film around the top of Chloes head making sure i didnt fasten it at the back of her head incase she felt clostrophobic and needed to take it off. Then i put strips down the side of the face and over the top of the nose leaving her space to breath through her nose. Then last i cling filmed over her mouth, i put a few layers all over to make it stronger and keep its shape a bit better.

 

Next i cut strips of modroc and criss crossed them over her face so it would be strong and cover all the areas. I didnt cast all the way around her head just to half way so the cast can be removed.

The modroc dries quite quickly so as it was drying i made sure i got as much detail as possible and pressed the cast onto the face to fit it properly. After that we could take the cast off to let the rest of it dry. I felt it worked well for my first attempt! I like that the features of the face are kept quite vague but can also distort the persons identity from the cling film or too many layers of modroc in areas. Its also strange to see detail of someones face infront of them and allows you to look at yourself in a different way.

I made a cast from my own body which was difficult as i couldnt get very good detail or a true shape as the modroc wouldnt fit to my hand properly. As it was drying i was trying to squeeze it around my hands and i think it made my wrist look more realistic rather than being the same width as my arm. I put the cast a bit too far around parts of my arm and fingers but that was only to get a better shape and to hold on better but it did make it hard to take off.