Initially I thought using stones and rocks would allow me to get a more organic shape, in theory this should have worked a treat, but in reality this was a bit of a disaster. In order to get the casts of the forms I had to cut through them. In doing this the form lost shape its and the fragility meant that it was almost impossible to rejoin them without making it obvious. I am glad I tried this but I don’t think it is something worth exploring further.
Debbie creates vases using paper pulp, cast using a mould. Using upcycled, recycled or natural materials found. to make these forms practical and usable as household items she coats the inside of the vessels with resin to make them waterproof.
I like the simplicity of the forms as well as the concept behind them, using old or discarded materials to repurpose into something rather beautiful.
the visible joins in the work break up the forms and create interest, could I make a feature of joining my work? this is something I have struggles with, because I am working with hand made paper once it is dried I am applying the paper onto the forms to allow for the forms to be slightly opaque, this causes the forms to be extremely fragile and thin once dried so when it comes to casting something i have to cut the forms and rejoin them, but this is challenging when they are so thin, so this could be something for me to consider.
I am extremely interested in the way things grow over on on other things within nature, this is what inspired this experiment. I really enjoy the way that the texture adds to the form. I think it makes it very visually pleasing and making them delicate.
Moving Forward I want to continue to develop this idea of things “growing” over or within my spherical forms. I want to continue to explore this further with using colour and combining collected materials. I am visualising these forms large scale as a collection, within a woodland or gallery setting. If these forms where then left in a forest they would decompose and return back to nature.
These images are inspiring my development of my sculptural forms, I am particularly interested in the way the organic matter is growing off something else.
I collected gorse petals to dry out for use within my paper, this is a bush that has long spines and yellow flowers and is found growing wild in abundance around the Forest. I wanted to find ways of combining colour into my works alongside the naturally coloured papers
Talking with Pip, we discussed biodegradable designs. I came across Capsula Mundi. This is an ongoing project with a group of designers in Italy whose focus is on making greener and biodegradable coffins. The concept behind these egg like forms, is that once you pass away you are ben buried in a pod and the biodegradable pod allows for a tree to grow. The concept of this is really interesting for me as he pod is made from plant matter to limit the amount of trees cut down in the coffin industry. I enjoy how organic these forms are, almost quite sculptural. These have extremely limited environmental impact, and the Cradle to Cradle Concept in evident within the ideation of this design. Due to the legality of burials this is illegal in some countries and is still in the developmental stages.
I am extremely pleased with how the corn flour glue paper turned out. i replaced the pva glue you would usually add to the paper to strengthen it with the cornflour glue and this resulted in stronger paper with more rigidity whilst having all the fragile qualities of artificially strengthened paper, the paper feels softer and less crunch and hard like the PVA glue. I am going to continue to use cornflour as an alternative as I am still able to get the variation in thickness and opacity. This paper was made with 50:50 abaca fibre and recycled cartridge.
I wanted to experiment with my forms being placed within a site specific location, to see if this changes the context of the work. Making me create and form installations around nature. Placing my work within the context of nature doesn’t change the work, but working with the location I grouped the experiments together as a dispersed collection of spheres (experimenting with different locations), experimenting with them both facing up and upside down (do I keep the hole within the forms?). I found that by placing them within the forest it highlighted the fragility of the forms as the light passed through the thin handmade paper.
Reflecting on this I really enjoy how the forms work as a group, I could imagine them to all be different and slightly unique, even formed on a larger scale, spread amongst trees, fallen trees or within trees. These forms become very diverse as I could also picture them within a white gallery space placed on a found gorse wood (tree like bush that grows in the New Forest) although these are only experiments it is interesting to picture them as a group, to visualise how something might look. If these were to become a sight specific work, they would have to be a temporary ephemeral installation as they are very fragile, although these pieces are fully compostable, due to the material choices I had made. I wanted them to work in unison with the environment, to compliment it, keeping the forms neutral colours.
As part of this project I have been using what is available to me in my locality, this has resulted in collecting natural materials for use within my sculptural forms. I came across naturally formed skeleton leaves as a result of decay, and have found many other leaf types that are at similar staged of biodegrading.
I also find the leaves rather beautiful. The way they curl and shrink, I can see similar traits within my own paper making process.
I have also found a way to speed this process up. by submerging leaves within water. fingers crossed this works as it would be beneficial because many of the leaves I have collected are not fully decayed. this process if it works will take about one week. I used rain water to make the process as authentic as possible.
Lara Hoad Artist Designer: Maker 