Barbara Landes 3/30/20 Barbara Landes 3/30/20

casting on edge

Crumple some copper sheeting with a rubber mallet and set it on edge. Drape a long sheet of wet paper over it. Dribble in some pebbles in the valley to sharpen the peaks.

Crumple some (gifted) copper sheeting with a rubber mallet and set it on edge. . .

Zig zag the distressed metal back and forth, duct taping the bottom edges of a few of the zigs to zags to keep it from getting out of control.

Next, seam several lightly pressed, wet sheets of 5 hr abaca paper end to end to make a sheet longer than the coppery mold in order to have lots of material to drape between edges.

A long sheet of abaca paper is prepared by overlapping the edges of wet 12” x 18” sheets. This will then be draped on the scraggly edges of crumpled copper sheeting.

Drape a long sheet of wet paper . . .

into position on the copper. Gently press/massage the sheet to smooth and round the valleys between the copper edges. Leave the paper taut and sharp over those edges. Those edges will dry crisp and thin, giving the sheet a staccato rhythm of choppy waves and a remarkable structural stiffness.

The damp abaca paper has been laid onto the copper edges. With finger pressure, the paper was pressed down on the edges to increase the crispness of the impression in the dried paper.

Dribble in some pebbles . . .

to keep the abaca taut and from shrinking up flat between the copper edges while it is drying. They also slightly dimple the paper. Took 4 days to dry.

Pebbles provide the weight needed to keep the high shrinkage abaca from losing its deep valleys between the high edges.

Try it again bigger. . .

Green and white sheets were stacked and then cut in a wavy decorative line down the middle. Then the sheets were unstacked and rearranged to get the pattern above.

The overbeaten abaca is carefully draped over the copper sheeting to allow for deep valleys.

The pebbles hold down the abaca in the valleys. They will also subtly dimple the paper.

Compose with it. . .

Here, a compositional sketch uses the copper edged cast piece to connect wall and floor.

the finished abaca cast holds the curvy mountains of the copper edges as well as the pebbled valleys, contrasting well with other cast forms. for more see studio sketches

Jumble the copper a bit . . .

The copper sheeting crumbled with a rubber mallet is ready for the abaca sheet.

to get off the pier and into a roiling sea. Notice copper’s color is pretty nice too.

Holes in your soul help you breath out 2018 cast abaca and cotton papers 3’ x 4’ x 1’ see recent work. about the blue object see Holed’er post. — *Holes in your soul help you breath out* 2018 cast abaca and cotton papers 3’ x 4’ x 1’ see recent work. about the blue object see Holed’er post.

The abaca has darkened and tightened over the edges as it shrank and dried. It’s ready to be popped off the mold.

LandesSullivan at gmail.com

Barbara Landes 6/21/19 Barbara Landes 6/21/19

Heftier coils - part 4

The next step for our coil evolution - making them heftier and more resilient to studio and composing wear and tear. Without losing the linear drawing in space feel, we also want to make them more sculptural.

Bathroom/window sealant became our medium for cores. We tried several. The one we went with cured the fastest, retained a nice rubbery feel and was the strongest when tugged on.

some non-silicon sealant coil cores ceremoniously curing outside the studio

finding a suitable core for coil among sealants

Bathroom/window sealant became our medium for cores. We tried several. The one we went with cured the fastest, retained a nice rubbery feel and was the strongest when tugged on.

3 beads of DAP sealants - latex, non-silicon and silicon on wax paper.

Use freezer paper for the non-silicon sealant. On wax paper, it managed to melt a gouge in the insulation foam board without damaging the wax paper. Compare this photo taken 2 days after the one above when it was first squeezed out.

the perfect sealant other than being a bit pricey

We tried 3 sealants - latex, non-silicon and silicon.

The latex bead at its fattest never really felt fully cured and stayed squishy soft. It seemed weak when tugged on.

The silicon didn’t offer any manipulation while still uncured. Just a recalcitrant stickiness. It also doesn’t feel very strong in its cured floppy ropey state. Afterall, it is designed to stick and fill a rigid surface.

The DAP Ultra Clear non-silicon worked best for a couple of reasons. We could more easily squeeze out a wonky, fat then thin bead. It’s somewhat workable when “wet.” It felt the strongest of the 3 when ready to wrap with abaca.

It also cured the quickest - about a week. After several days, we could remove it from its backing sheet. It felt strong enough to support its own weight, so we hung it up to finish curing more quickly. We wore nitrile gloves when handling it even after it seemed well cured and not tacky. We also kept the studio well ventilated.

We rolled the core up the same way as we did for the other (coreless) coils. We lay strips of wet abaca sheets attached end to end. Then, it’s one long rolling wrap, completely sealing the core.

comparing the first beefed up, hefty coil @ 3’ long and a coreless coil.

Wrapping the core with abaca

The next sealant core coil has a fork in it. We thought to mummy wrap it, but it was problematic. Even with a lot of overlap, it tended to hinge along the spiraling seam. We re-enforced several places, but the problem still remained elsewhere. Next time, we’ll go back to the longitudinal wrap and use it in several overlapping sections.

mummy wrapping the core requires a lot of overlap to keep the wrap stiff. apologies the clear sealant is hard to see.

We added in more elaborate fences, skewers and lengths of duct tape to keep the coil in its 3 dimensional pose as it dried.

We thought if we left some of the sealant uncovered it would give us a bending and stress-relieving point. We later covered it. We decided the coil was resilient without the “tendon” showing.

The 2nd sealant core coil. It’s about 5’ long and weighs maybe half a pound.

LandesSullivan at gmail.com

Barbara Landes 6/12/19 Barbara Landes 6/12/19

These Coils change planes - part 3

Up to now, the coils have stayed on one plane, fabricated and dried on a flat table top. When we used them in compositions, we liked that when they were under load they lost their flatness and twisted into 3 dimensions.

We decided to make them 3 dimensional from the get go. Recently, we had some bright white rope piled on a work table. We wondered how we might make a coil act more rope-like and loop about in space.

Thinking about how to make an abaca coil act like the white rope, changing planes as it moves in space

making the abaca coils 3d from the get go

Up to now, the coils have stayed on one plane, fabricated and dried on a flat table top. When we put them under stress while composing with them, they twisted into a more interesting and 3d shape.

We decided to get some of that third dimension into the casting stage.

Recently, some bright white rope was piled on a work table. We wanted the coil to look and act more rope-like and loop about in space from the get go.

Putting the new coil into 3 dimensions, using a stuffed seamed form.

The skewers and fences cut from flashing adapted well to lifting the coil up and around in space while restraining it.

A nice first effort, at right, seems to be stiff and tough enough to hold up to the rigors of composing. Still, it is fragile being so thin. We really liked the delicate line it introduced into our work. We wonder, however, how a thicker coil might work.

So, fattening up the coils became the next challenge. . .

LandesSullivan at gmail.com

Barbara Landes 1/31/19 Barbara Landes 1/31/19

Coils racing around flashing - part 2

Carving grooves in pink insulation foam board to cast coil designs seems clever, but impractical.

Our next idea is to use strips of aluminum flashing held in position with kebab skewers. They may have a miniature race track feel to them, but they work really well.

Abaca racetrack: These fences made from flashing, insulation foam and skewers worked well to realize our design.

The flashing was bent to fit each curve of the rolled abaca coils and held in place with skewers.

flashing and skewers hold the abaca coils in position

Carving grooves in pink insulation foam board to cast coil designs (see previous post) seems clever, but is impractical. You would have to gouge a busy road map of grooves to have much flexibility of design. Or go through a lot of pink foam.

Our next casting idea is to use strips of aluminum flashing held in position with kebab skewers.

coil design considerations: girthy is good

Here are a couple of design sketches of the several we made. The second one is the one we went with. While the other one seems good, we wanted a girthy design with large open spaces since that would allow us to connect other elements by pulling things through the openings.

Sketching with overbeaten abaca coils allowed us to get a feel for what would work aestheticly while being useful in composing with other elements.

After making lots of sketches with the abaca coils, this is the design we eventually decided to use.

Another consideration is fragility. The first image has a neck that sticks out without much support. It probably would bend and permanently crease with the amount of abuse we give our inventory. Abaca coils are pretty strong in tension. They don’t have much compression strength, so they fold without much load. Once folded, all you have then is a loose hinge.

fencing in the coil design

Below, the coil is walled in and ready to dry. Where the coil design has an opening too small to be fitted with a flashing fence, we used taped clumps of thicker skewers to guide the drying coils.

This detail of fencing shows the use of the pink foam for setting the fences in place. Rather than taping the skewers to the fence, this allows us to place and adjust the fences more precisely and quickly.

The flashing fences couldn’t accommodate tight turns in the design. Taping bamboo skewers to hold the space is used instead.

The detail image below shows the strength of 6 hour abaca as it lifted the flashing and pulled the skewer through the pink foam floor. To adjust, we removed the skewer, repositioned the fence to allow some shrinkage and then re-skewered.

Yank! The abaca was strong enough to actually displace the fences, as can be seen here, so we had to keep an eye on it to make adjustments as it dried.

The finished abaca piece holds the curves well.

LandesSullivan at gmail.com

Barbara Landes 1/3/19 Barbara Landes 1/3/19

Coils in the groove - part 1

We use a lot of hidden wire, velcro, tape and nails to attach our paper objects to each other, but we don't like hiding things. We prefer making connectors part of the work.

So we rolled overbeaten abaca into coils and figured out how to cast them into linear forms. An attractive length of stiff abaca "rope" seemed useful for cobbling things together.

Afternoon, November 29, 2018, waiting on a coil to dry.

visible connectors - coils of abaca

We use a lot of hidden wire, velcro, tape and nails to attach our paper objects to each other, but we don't like hiding things. We prefer making connectors part of the work. Along with their physical chore, they need to shoulder an aesthetic role.

coils of rolled abaca paper are ready for use. Paper has 5 hours of Reina Beater time. Each coil is - pre-rolled - 4” x 96” of 2x couched sheets.

Abaca is pretty strong when rolled into a coil.

As such, an attractive length of such stiff abaca "rope" seemed useful for cobbling parts of our sculptures together.

We rolled some 96” x 4” strips of 5 hour double-couched abaca into coils. Once dry the coils have some flex but they will permanently crease pretty easily. The restrained position you dry the coil in is what you get.

coils made from sheets of overbeaten, pigmented abaca fiber. They are sheet formed and couched western style. Then the 12” x 18” sheets are cut into three 4” strips laid end to end. A 90”+ long strip is then tightly rolled into a cool coil like the …

We moved the coil around on a sheet of pink insulation foam to find a design that would look good hooking parts of a sculpture together. Then we traced the design on the foam board and put the coil aside.

We used the tracing to cut and gouge out a track in which to lay out the coil for restraint dried casting.

We used a cutter and carving tools to gouge out a groove to serve as a mold for the coils.

As the coil dried, it naturally tried to straighten the curves hugging one side of the mold or the other.

With the ends tacked down with T-pins, the coils shrank taut and stiffly structural. Even with a fan blowing across the surface, it took 12 days to dry - about 2x as long as expected. Foam board does not breath or wick.

Even pinned up by one point, the dried coil holds its form well.

The coil as part of a composition. It gives us a wonderful linear element to contrast with the volumetric paper elements. The coil will permanently hinge if bent too far. This can be repaired with a wrap of fresh abaca. After a couple of years of co…

If the dried coils are too thin, they lose some of their visual punch. It also makes them more vulnerable to hingeing which leaves a permanent crease in the coil.

LandesSullivan at gmail.com