Plaster Lathe Fun Times (or Why Can't I Use a Saw?)

As I mentioned previously the aim of this project was to turn a form on the plaster lathe. What plaster lathe I here you say? The departments newly working one, hooray!

Just creepin' around, castin' some plaster.

During the first week of the project Geoff gave us a demo which at the time looked absolutely impossible but once we started (Gemma and I decided to team up as we had really similar ideas) it wasn't too bad at all- in fact we thought we were amazing. However we very quickly learned that it required a lot more precision and attention then we had originally been giving it!

Centering the plaster.

Our first shape- a tallish cylinder- still had grooves in and wasn't fully smooth and we had prematurely sawed it off. The second- a smaller, squatter cylinder- looked good but unfortunately we sawed it off wonky. So much so that Geoff decided it would make the whole rest of the process a hassle. Third time though- another small, squat cylinder- was thankfully a charm. A badly sawed charm.

(Unfortunately this fell fowl of the next stage; taking a plaster mould of the plaster form in order to get waxes. Not wanting to go into too many painful details but it's tragic demise involved a mallet)

Starting to shape.

Eventually we went our separate ways as our ideas had developed differently and I ended up making a tiny cylinder with an added cone to give it some movement. I really enjoy using the lathe, there is something very satisfying about carving away at the plaster. Hopefully I am going to be able to find time throughout the rest of the year to practice some more- especially at the sawing!