Metal and knitting, trial set up in the studio, 29.7.20
Body cocoon 2, with metal sculpture 1, hanging
Obviously, I haven't yet cast my feet so the sculpture isn't yet freestanding. The plan is to set a steel cylinder into each concrete foot so that the metal body can be easily slotted into the feet. Consequently the metal form I've made is about 25cm shorter than me. I wanted to check that it would work as an armature for my knitted Body cocoon 2 so I decided to suspend it in the studio, thus:
I am trying to research ways of making and displaying my work that don't involve hanging, but I actually do think that this adds something discomforting to the knitted form. It appears to be hovering, which is disconcerting, and it also began to spontaneously move, in quite an uncanny way. I have observed this with many of my other free hanging sculptures. It seems to be caused by the tension in whatever I've used to hang it (string, in this case) and sometimes by the air conditioning!
29.7.20 Body cocoon 2, with armature, hanging and moving spontaneously:
Fortunately, I was able to cover the armature with the knitted Body cocoon, although it was harder than I'd thought it would be. Obviously, the metal figure isn't flexible in the way that my body is.
My initial reflections on this so far are as follows:
a) It's very flat. I thought I would need to fill out the Body cocoon form to make it more realistic, but what do I want? I could maybe use cloth, stuffing and stitch, insulation foam or something like expanding foam, depending on the result I want. I'll try out ideas. My instinct it to use cloth and stitch, partly because I am confident with those materials but mostly because of interesting contrasts and aesthetics. Using perishable materials will obviously have implications on placing the forms outside....
b).....but are they sculptures or armatures?
c) To hang or to stand? I need to make the feet to see how they look and then think again.
d) The metal form stretches the knitting so that it's quite translucent in places. If I don't want this effect I'll need to bend the arms to change the pose and make the next forms narrower.
e) To move or not to move? I did discuss electronic animatronics with Si, but he wasn't sure who could support me with this now as Sonny has left. I've had some experience with Arduino, but I'd definitely need help. And what would it add to either the Body cocoons or to the forms as sculptures?
I need to think all these things through before I start work on the other metal forms.
My initial reflections on this so far are as follows:
a) It's very flat. I thought I would need to fill out the Body cocoon form to make it more realistic, but what do I want? I could maybe use cloth, stuffing and stitch, insulation foam or something like expanding foam, depending on the result I want. I'll try out ideas. My instinct it to use cloth and stitch, partly because I am confident with those materials but mostly because of interesting contrasts and aesthetics. Using perishable materials will obviously have implications on placing the forms outside....
b).....but are they sculptures or armatures?
c) To hang or to stand? I need to make the feet to see how they look and then think again.
d) The metal form stretches the knitting so that it's quite translucent in places. If I don't want this effect I'll need to bend the arms to change the pose and make the next forms narrower.
e) To move or not to move? I did discuss electronic animatronics with Si, but he wasn't sure who could support me with this now as Sonny has left. I've had some experience with Arduino, but I'd definitely need help. And what would it add to either the Body cocoons or to the forms as sculptures?
I need to think all these things through before I start work on the other metal forms.