Stephani Stephenson on sun 25 aug 02
I have used the following , to preserve the positive impressions of
leaves and bark( and other) textures .
With this technique you are not preserving the leaf itself but a
'negative' impression of the leaf, which , when clay is pressed into it,
will give you a 'positive' impression on your clay.
There is a product called 'flexible slip', sold by a company named
Douglas and Sturgess
. Note: the word 'slip' in the name of the product is somewhat
misleading for a ceramist. This slip is not a clay slip, though it does
contain clay, probably as a thickener.
. It is more like latex, only 'beefier'. You can paint a single thicker
coat onto leaves, tree bark etc., then let it dry and pull it off. it is
flexible like latex. Though it stiffens somewhat in the ensuing weeks,
it remains pretty flexible for a couple of years at least.
. You can either roll clay directly onto it, or run it through slab
roller with clay, to get impressions of leaves. it picks up the finest
details. For deeper relief objects such as treebark, you can backup
your flexible slip mold with plaster and use as a press mold. This
product is often used as a 'positive' medium rather than a moldmaking
medium.
I once made some large scale , plaster molds of heads and faces out of
clay. Later , I painted flexible slip into these molds, let it dry,
pulled it out and had lightweight versions of the clay pieces. I
painted them with gesso and other paints and used them for an
installation and even incorporated them into some theatre costumes.
FLexible slip can be painted, and releases from plaster readily. When it
is not painted, and left in the open air, i have found that it
deteriorates and becomes somewhat brittle after 4-6 years.
I looooove this stuff!
company address, website listed below:
cheerio,
Stephani Stephenson
steph@alchemiestudio.com
Encinitas/Carlsbad CA
Douglas and Sturgess, Inc.
730 Bryant Street - San Francisco, California - 94107
1023 Factory Street - Richmond, California - 94801
Phone: 1-888-ART-STUF - Fax: 1-510-235-4211
From their catalog:
"FLEXIBLE SLIP
This is a great product and it's low tech too.
Sometimes called mannequin rubber, flexible slip consists of a mixture
of
latex rubber and clay and is slip cast into plaster
molds to create hollow, light weight , tough parts. This material air
dries
to the consistency of hard leather. May be painted with
acrylic paints. It's fantastic for making things like puppet heads,
and display items. Because of the danger of freeze
damage we won't ship outside of California from the end of October
through the end of April (unless you're willing to take
the risk and pay for it first).
1 quart...............................$7.50
1 gallon.............................$20.00
2 gallons...........................$38.00
5 gallons...........................$90.00
25 gallons.........................$420.00
50 gallons.........................$800.00
COMPANY WEBSITE:
http://www.artstuf.com/
FLEXIBLE SLIP FOUND ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE:
OTHER SCULPTURAL MEDIA & ODDS `N ENDS
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