This morning I planned to make a mold of a sculpture I
worked on for a long time and have big plans for. This is not a test piece, or something I was
just goofing around with, but a sculpture I’m counting on turning out well and
that I need for shows immediately. I’m
also running out of time. I have a solo
show coming up, I leave for the East coast in two months and I need to get this
cast and finished.
So, I opened a new bag of plaster, which I ordered at ridiculous expense from a big sculpture supply place in NY. I figured it would be worth the extra money
to have good plaster shipped if it was the right stuff, since I ran into
problems last year with some plaster that wasn’t sculpture grade casting
plaster. That's a whole other story. This morning, I was horrified to find that my new plaster was full of lumps. I don’t
mean one or two, but lots and lots of big horrible chunks. I decided to go ahead and try to make the
mold anyway, and break up the lumps the best I could. I slowly sifted the plaster into a casting
bucket of water, crumbling up the lumps. I ran into some lumps I couldn’t even break up with my fingers, so I set them aside. When the batch would
accept no more plaster, I let it sit until small cracks formed on the plaster
on the surface. All textbook plaster
mixing. When it seemed ready, I plunged
my hand into what should have been a thin batch of silky smooth, runny plaster,
but instead the plaster was already thickened and setting, grainy and
lumpy. Bad plaster! Old plaster!
Aaaarrrrgggg! I washed my hands,
wrapped up my sculpture and called NY.
I’m so proud of myself.
In a twenty minute phone call, I didn’t use any foul language. I’m getting a refund or a new batch of
plaster, I don’t know which. At this point I don't even care. I have no idea how I will get everything done on time, but I'm thinking maybe I’ll
send the sculpture supply place my bucket of plaster. I’m
going to go water the tomatoes.
Never was there a tale of such woe
As this of a sculptor and bad plaster, Oh!
As this of a sculptor and bad plaster, Oh!
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