Relief Form

Recently we have been studying the unique artwork of Cara Barer, in more detail. Cara Barer is a photographer who uses old books in her art.  The specific type of her work we are looking at is her photographs of 'wet'-books.  Here are some examples of the work we have been inspired from:

'Whirlgig' by Cara Barer

Cara Barer's artwork is very original and her work is very unique and distinctive.  The black background that she mounts most of her sculptures on is very effective; when I look at some of her work, it can be imagined floating through space, or wildly waving about underwater with the pages spread about in all directions.  There are many variations, so the viewer is left to decide the setting for themselves.

'New Century' by Cara Barer

     This was made out of a hard backed book, and that makes the piece look different to some of her other work, because the book cover stays straight.

     Now the piece looks like a women in a red cloak; and her hair is billowing out in all directions; which again might be because of being underwater, or there is a lot of wind.
















Cara Barer thought of this style when she saw a yellow pages telephone book in the rain, and noticed the way the pages had moved, she photographed it, and then decided to make her own.  She started with dictionaries and then moved onto books.  She studies the books she uses very carefully, and said  “Because of the fact that I must begin thinking about handling the book as sculpture first, I am very attracted to its physical properties—the size, the quality of the paper, whether or not it has only text—is there any colour?”.  She usually soaks her book for hours and uses things such as hair rollers and Velcro to position and curl the pages.

How I made my version of Cara Barer's unique work


Equipment and materials that I used:

• 1/4 of a thick magazine (it should have the thickness of the whole magazine, only cut into 4 rows horizontally from the spine).
• Strong PVA glue.
• About 20 paper clips (you might need more) 

Here is how I did it:

• Step 1:  First find the spine of your magazine and bend it vertically down the middle to make it more flexible.  
• Step 2:  Once you have done that, get two or three pages at a time and bend them into loops, and secure them with paper clips. 
• Step 3:  Repeat step two, putting the pages into loops similar to the way Cara Barer does it, until all of your pages have been used up.
• Step 4:  Now you need to replace the paper clips with glue.  One at a time, take off a paper clip and where the paper clip was put some glue.  Make sure to put plenty of glue on or the pages won't stick and will become loose.

My final piece was successful as it was able to stand on its own without the use of paper clips.  The technique of using paper clips was effective, but it was difficult because the glue took a long time to stick.  Also, getting the right shape for the loops was difficult as well; I was trying to do more raindrop shaped loops, but they usually came out as circles.

Recycled Paper Flower Making

Here I am going to tell you how to create two different types of flowers, made with recycled materials.

Flower Number One:

The first flower is the bigger type of the two.  You will need about 10 or 11 double sheets of newspaper, about 3 double pages of a magazine, a pair of scissors and a small amount of masking tape.

• Step 1:  Lay out 5 sheets of newspaper on top of each other (vertically), but so that their actual height is about 65 cm.  Then lay the remaining newspapers on top to strengthen it.
• Step 2:  Roll the sheets of newspaper up (still together) from the corner (rolling diagonally across), trim the weak ends off, so you get a pole of newspapers about 70cm tall.  Then secure it with masking tape.
• Step 3:  With your magazine sheets, cut horizontally towards the centre all the way along.  Stop cutting about 3cm away from the spine, and have the cut about 2cm-3cm away from each other, so you form strips.
• Step 4:  Attach the cut magazine onto the top of the newspaper pole, and attach it with masking tap.  Make it secure so the the strips are facing up, but then let them bend down.  If you wish, then attach more cut magazines further down.  And that is your flower finished!.

Flower Number Two

This flower is smaller than the previous one, and is again made of recycled materials.

Materials and equipment you will need:

• One double page from a magazine (preferably the cover because it will provide more strength, but it doesn't have to be).
• A small amount of masking tape.
• A pencil.
• A pair of scissors. 
• 6 strips of cardboard; all about 1cm wide, then a mix of 20cm and 35cm in length.

Step 1:  Similar to the first flower, roll up your magazine cover, starting from a corner (rolling diagonally across the page).  To start the rolling, place the pencil on the corner and roll around that, because the thickness of a pencil is the recommended thickness of this flower.  Then make sure it doesn't unravel by securing a piece of masking tape. 

Step 2:  Get your cardboard strips, and start rolling them around the pencil so they create spirals, but make sure you leave about 5cm at the end.

Step 3:  Once you have you rolled up your strips, insert them into the top of the magazine tube.  Try to vary the lengths and spiral sizes.

Clay Demonstration

Here I am going to tell you how to make a mould for bottle slumping in a kiln.  Bottle slumping is when glass bottles (preferably wine bottles, because they are a good size) are put inside a kiln until they start to 'slump'.  They are very decorative and practical and they have many uses, such as trays for food, and are also very good looking and decorative.

A decorative slumped wine bottle

These are the materials and equipment for making the mould:

• Clay ( in a plastic consistency state)
• A Clay mat
• A few paper towels and a bit of masking tape
• A rolling pin
• A knife (it doesn't have to be sharp) and fork
• A beaker of water
• A wine bottle

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• Step 1:  If you wish, take off the label- you might not want to however, and it isn't necessary because the label wont melt all over the bottle.  Cover your wine bottle simply around the main body with the paper towels and secure it with a small piece of masking tape.

• Step 2:  Flatten the clay with your palm- EVENLY!.  Then use the rolling pin to make sure they thickness is 1cm all over, and use the rolling pin to help make it even.  Make sure both sides are flat. 

• Step 3:  With your knife, cut around the clay to make it fit over about half of the bottle, then place the clay onto the bottle to make sure it fits.  Remember to roll all the edges pointing up, and that your bottle will slump roughly into the shape of your mould!

• Step 4:  With the excess clay, make 4 small balls- these will act as the legs of the mould.  Once they are made, use your fork to cross hatch the bottom of the balls, and cross hatch the main frame of the mould in each corner.  Place each ball onto the main frame (make sure you put the cross hatched areas touching each other, and secure it with slip (a glue like substance which is a mixture of clay and water).

• Step 5:  Wait for the mould to go bone dry (keeping the bottle in it).  Once the mould is bone dry then place it in the kiln at 1100 degrees Celsius.

3D Projecting Form

This week in our art class we were creating 3D sculptures from books, which if weren't used would have been thrown out.  However, there was a twist.  Our sculpture had to be based on what our book was about; for example my book was about ancient Egypt and "Tutankhamun and the valley of the kings", so I made a 3D pyramid and an Egyptian 'mummy'.

Here are some artists' work that my work links to:

I haven't yet found out the name of the artist of this 3D sculpture, but I think that the book is 'Alice in wonderland', and a table has been made, similar to the one on the opposite page.  This links to our sculptures because you can see that the sculpture on this book was based on the picture on the opposite page.









This piece is called 'Billy Goat the Counsellor', by Sachiyo Yoshida.
Unfortunately I obviously cant't tell what this book is about, but you can see that it is 3D, and popping up, out of the book