OUGD603 - Brief 6 - Research Brief - Indoor Gardening - Production

Production

Each of the designs was rastered into 3mm plywood. This was done twice so that the rastering was deeper within the design and therefore better for pressing the design into clay. The void was cut out from each of the designs.

To create the tile designs for the bottom of the moulds the lasercut designs were pressed into clay. To do this the clay was rollered to around a centimeter thick using wooden blocks on either side of the rolling pin to create a consistent thickness. Cornflower was dusted over the top of the clay and rubbed into the surface to stop the clay sticking to the clay 

The designs were then laid underneath the rolled out clay and re-rollered to press the design into the clay.

Pressing the designs in this way allowed the detail to come out of the designs well, however the rollered surface wasn't flat because it had been done by hand which affected the top of the test design. Instead it was decided that the designs would be rollered using the industrial roller as this would give a more even and flat surface to the tile design at the bottom of the mould. There was varying success with this as some would print cleanly and others would stick to the lasercut design which meant the clay had to be re-rollered to create another one which was a time consuming process.

   

Once the tiles were made for the bottom of the mould the voids within the designs were created by slab building and adding a lid ontop to seal the void.

Wooden blocks were then added around the design to create a cube shape. These were sealed with clay to prevent any jesmonite leaking from the mould.

To mix the Jesmonite the liquid parts and powder parts were measured out separately on scales. Gloves and masks had to be used. The powder was then added to the liquid and mixed in so there were no lumps.

Concentrated colouring was added to the mixture with only a little dab needed to colour the whole batch of Jesmonite. This was stirred in to completely mix the colouring and prevent any marbling.

The design was left to set for around an hour, then the mould and clay elements were removed from the design.

The test design came out quite successfully. The slight irregularity to the top of the design was rectified within the others through the use of the industrial roller.

Leaving some of the clay within the designs actually allowed the designs to stand out more.

The sides already had smooth surfaces but the rest of the design was filed down to get rid of and extra bits of Jesmonite and the surfaces cleaned of clay.