All the materials arrived so I started some tests. I did some 10×10 cm test pieces, as well as wrapping a glass bottle. Some early thoughts while the test pieces aren’t even fully hardened yet:
- This shit is messy! No way will I be able to do 5 gram test pieces; at least that much material is stuck to my hands every time I put it on the tulle fabric
- I made some calculations errors. 50 grams of gypsum gets me about 3 pieces of double layer 10×10 cm, not one. This is good. If I want more texture, of course I could use more
- It sets quite slowly, I was still able to put some texture into it about 1½h after mixing. I think even for larger pieces I can just mix a single batch without having to worry too much about the setting time
- I think my fabric is not ideal. The tulle is a tad too “open”, it doesn’t absorb the gypsum material as nicely as the gossamer used by the guy in this video. Still, that doesn’t seem to matter so much – it spreads out easily after applying the layer
- I’m not sure yet how much top layer I will need. The texture of the tulle fabric comes through in spots where I don’t have much material on it, I don’t know how bad that would look when it’s set. Perhaps it’s fine after wet brushing
- Colour:
- The gypsum plaster material is not pure white, it’s actually a nice beige even if I don’t add pigment
- The brown is great. Mixed at 4% it gives a warm light brown colour, at 8% it’s not much darker though
- The black pigment is not as powerful as I had hoped. Mixed at 4% it gives a light cold-ish grey. Also, a little granular – doesn’t mix as easily as the brown
- It is possible to put a pigmented layer directly onto an unpigmented one, and unless the first layer was very thick it won’t mix through much. This saves some pigment
- I haven’t tried painting yet. With how the pigments are working, I think I should aim for a nice light brown base colour, wet brushing with a dark colour and perhaps some dry brushed highlights
- Thinking of how to use this material for our festival decorations:
- The original idea is to make trees. Depending on how strong it hardens, I think it will work!
- Perhaps we can also use it to make 2D mascots, which we currently saw out of thin plywood. This material is easier to do indoors (no loud/dusty sawing)
- 3D mascots and objects other than trees could be possible too!
- If it’s strong enough with thin layers that still let through light – perhaps make a really cool lamp shade?
Next up:
- Testing colour
- Getting the main colour right: testing a few different percentages of brown, as well as mixing in some black with the brown
- Getting some brushes
- Trying some diy dark paint/paste out of the black pigment
- Wet brushing dark (shadows)
- Dry brushing light (highlights), e.g. with corn starch
- Perhaps adding some green flocking powder or some other way to simulate moss
- For fun: trying my blue and red pigment powders
- Testing texture
- How thick should the second layer be?
- Wet on wet, or second layer onto dried first layer?
- Different techniques of applying bark texture
- Testing construction / backing
- Different backing materials (paper towel, paper, cardboard, plastic..): how strong is it?
- Trying 3D shapes: how strong is it?
- Vaseline to go backing-less?
- Making “hinges” for folding tree design
To be continued.