No Clever Plaster Pun, Sorry.

I finished this one a while ago. This was the second assignment in my 3D Design class: plaster sculpting.

Bow Wow!

I didn't mention in the previous post, but at the start of 3D Design we each had to pick an animal to theme all of our projects off of. I picked dog, simply because of the wealth of possibilities for dogs as a theme animal. I mean, my actual favorite animal is the Honduran white bat, but there's only so much inspiration you can get from fluffy flying cotton-ball critters that sleep in leaf tents.

You can't really tell from the photo, but the sculpture is sitting in a wagon. Plaster is HEAVY, especially when you've got about 10 gallons worth of it, and I couldn't lift the thing! Don't even ask me how I got it up the stairs to my second class which was on the second story of a building with no elevator...

Plaster sculpting, though, is pretty fun if you want to make something sturdy and permanent. I'm pretty sure this thing here is going to be a family heirloom.


Plaster Sculpting for Beginners
[Done the way my class did the project]

• First off, take caution! Plaster dust is harmful if inhaled, so get a dust mask. It doesn't have to be the super-expensive kind, if just has to filter air effectively.
• You'll need:
• Plaster powder
• Water
• Dust mask
• Rubber gloves
• A large bucket
• Trash bags
• Cardboard
• Duct tape
• First, decide what you're going to be sculpting and how big. Bear in mind that my project--about a 1.5 feet tall, and a foot wide at the base--took about 10 GALLONS of plaster. The faint of heart or the faint of wallet may want to make something smaller.
• Create a fold-up box out of cardboard, roughly in the dimensions you want your work to be.  Like this:
• Duct tape all over the outside of the box. Tape it as neatly as you can, to avoid leaks and air pockets in the plaster.
• Next, put on the rubber gloves, and (if you want to make sure they don't fall off in the plaster) tape them to your wrists. Place a trash bag in the bucket and secure it around the rim somehow. Try to push out any air between the bag and the bucket or you won't be able to see what you're doing.
• Pour water into the bucket--don't fill it all the way up! Then slowly pour in plaster powder, a little at a time, mixing it constantly with one hand. Crumble up any chunks of plaster so the finished product doesn't have unsightly bumps.
• Trust me, the plaster will take a while to start setting. When it has the consistency of thick mud, pour it into your cardboard mold.
• Now you'll need some patience. My plaster block took 6 days to even START to dry. Don't get frustrated!
• Now, after 6 days is when I started working on my sculpture, but you might want to adjust how long you wait for it to dry based on the size of the work.

Now we can focus on actually CARVING!

• You'll want chisels and scrapers for this part. The art store I frequent doesn't carry chisels, so I made do with screwdrivers, hammers and other plain tools. You can do this too if you can't afford or don't want to get chisels, but it will make carving small corners kind of difficult.
• Carving plaster is pretty messy. I worked in the garage so I wouldn't get plaster all over the house. If you have room in your garage, I'd suggest doing that, but anywhere that the mess isn't as much of an issue is good. Wear old clothes that you don't care if you get plaster on. Set a ripped-open trashbag or an old sheet under your work area to make cleanup easier (I wish doing this had occured to me at the time!)
• Keep an old paintbrush on hand too. Bits of plaster will be all over the place, and if you have an easy way to get the bits off of the sculpture, you'll have an easier time seeing what you're doing.
• Carve the basic shape before doing tiny details--that way you won't put lots of effort into carving a piece that's going to be hacked off anyway.

Well, that's pretty much it for plaster carving. Once you're satisfied with your sculpture, give it a few more days to dry and display it! Take pride in having a knickknack you can say you made! =]


Daisy