I came to this workshop with an idea of what would be involved. I’d done aluminium casting at school. Although it was obviously some time ago!

Again, like the maquette workshop, I really enjoyed working directly with the materials. The foam was really easy to cut and carve. I chose the blue foam with the tighter structure and cut it into 3 pieces to create 3 small blocks.
I still had the idea to make some sort of building like structure. The process of thinking and making decisions whilst holding and turning the piece in your hand is very different to digital fabrication. I am so used to planning my work using Illustrator or Rhino3d and then the results are very predictable. I liked the real time aspect of this and having to think on the fly.

I started by cutting the small blocks into thinner slices with the intention of glueing them back together. Unfortunately one of them didn’t come out at all.

My buildings made of aluminium. I particularly like how they have gone from being blue, prototype, foam things to looking like ancient derelict buildings.

Above: Finished blocks. I particularly like the high shine of the polished areas and the contrast with the blackened areas.

Reflecting on the process

It felt similar to printmaking in the sense that a long time is spent on a lengthy manual process - preparing, with an intention of a result. Until you master these techniques, the result is not often going to be as you expect but if you’re lucky it exceeds those expectations. Casting is a magical process.

I am interested in techniques which can create iterations of objects and I can see that potential with metal casting. Most of my work develops through iterations, whether I’m using Illustrator and photoshop or making things with paper or other material.

I am also interested in the permanence of metal pieces. The objects that come out of the process this way have a strong sense of groundedness and literally a weightiness, in contrast to the foam pieces which went into the sand.