Wk B1 – Art Experience – Plaster Casting

An amazing day @ the beach!

About half the class of ART 110 arrived at the beautiful Seal Beach for this week’s project: Plaster Casting!

Anthony, Andreas and I worked together and helped each other out during our activity.

Speaking of the activity, it went great! It was extremely fun, I felt relaxed; after having 3 classes prior, and was a great bonding opportunity with fellow students from my class! When we first arrived, we were unable to reach Andreas. Calls wouldn’t go, but we found him eventually; along with the rest of the class.

Firstly, we marked our territory and began to dig up one hole per person. Our first try failed as we burrowed too close to the blue waters of Seal and it filled itself up after the 3rd wave.

We moved away from the shore and started digging up for our second try. It worked out and after the 3 holes were ready, we began to mix our first batch of plaster. At first I commented that it looked a lot like ‘pancake batter’, then as it began to thicken, I decided that I shall try first. So, I placed my hand inside the chilled earth as the two of them began putting cold wet sand around my right hand.

As I felt the wet sand had started to set, I quickly yet slowly removed my hand . We then poured white plaster inside all of our designated spots and went off around the beach, talking and clicking pictures while waiting for it to set.

I have never done anything like this before. I would even describe it by saying “everything was a first timer!” Playing around with plaster, making molds, going to the beach for class activity, making sand castles (while the plaster set).

As I mentioned, it was my first time playing around with plaster, so, we were all really confused and Glenn (our instructor) had to explain the process to us multiple times.

It was fun, we successfully created 3 perfect (plaster) molds of our hands in different poses.  I think its fantastic that I got the opportunity to talk and bond with people who I hadn’t talked with inside our class. I look forward for more activities like this in the future.

Plaster casting felt like a great way to decorate my house. My family members could do molds of our own and decorate it at various locations in the house. It would also result in more family bonding time and home activities.

Another great way I felt I can adapt Plaster Casting would be to use as props for a movie! As a film major, it seemed interesting to use this technique for props and/or decor purposes while making a movie.

What I would like to try next time? Next time I would like to try Graffiti Painting. That too is something I have never done before, and since its already an upcoming part of our course, I am very excited about that!

Thanks for reading!

O.U.