Plaster Houses

While doing my Hand-Formed Sculpture class with the inimitable Miss Stephanie I made a ton of samples... mini houses and cast ornaments, hearts, stars and a few shriney-type things. As time has gone forward I've been incorporating some of those starter pieces into finished assemblages.  Or shrines. Or maybe, shriney-type assemblage things.

This first one, appropriately called "Welcome Home", a hanging piece incorporating both Houses & Crows for my 2015 theme. About 6"h x 4"w x 1"d(tops) it's a combination of plaster cloth and finish plaster with a box as the base. I added a plaster cast disk at the top and used my metal letters to punch in the words "welcome home".

I also fashioned a little crow with Apoxie Sculpt, sticking in wire legs before totally dry. Added metal bits'n'bobs ... the top starry-type thing which works as hanger, a piece of spring plus rusty tin for the doors.

I added a couple of twigs and some old man's beard ... at least that's what I call it... not sure what the botanical name is.

I find the process of painting plaster such a pain and a pleasure. My usual method ...watery wash, wipe off with paper towel; rinse repeat... doesn't quite work with plaster. Stephanie mentioned in her class that the plaster HAS to be really really REALLY dry for the paint to stick. I'm finding that for me, it doesn't much matter. I can always wipe right down to the plaster if I'm not careful. That worked phenomenally well for my mouse head as it gave the aged vibe I was shooting for. In these pieces, I couldn't quite get to the place I'd hoped so the final result is a little rougher than anticipated but am okay with that.

The one below, called "Skewed Beliefs", had a plaster casting attached at the house peak and I was able to eventually get the paint to reveal the relief...SO many wipe on/wipe offs!

The niche interior houses a set of old rosary beads with the medallions showing at the top and bottom. I used a combination of pouring medium and Diamond Glaze to keep the beads from falling out. While nails + wire do the rest of the restraining.

I knew I wanted this one to be a standing piece and tried a myriad of legs and bases but something about how precarious it balances on these thin brass wire pieces appealed to me. And ultimately created its name.