Workshop
March 12, 2020, Rietveld Academy Amsterdam
Focusing on the surface made of plaster, the students explored their own expression. The workshop had a limitation of 5 millimeters height for the plaster model. There was tin casting part at the end of the workshop, after the students molded their plaster models with silicon. The tin casting would be pure metal. It means heavy. And we should think of wearing the work and making works with limited materials.
Plaster has characters that is fragile and difficult to manage, on the other hand, it shows different types of surface like stones, a rock mountain, corals, liquid and so on. It seems like landscape. It was necessary to focus on the change of the surface during and after solidification.
Students picked up some images from natural surface and tried to find their own expression in the plaster model, observing the surface. After making their own mold, the students could develop the mold in their own way. This workshop showed us everyone had a different point to feel something from materials and that there were different ways to express our works, even if it would be limited. 13 students participated in this workshop.
Thanks to Sonja Bäumel, Head of Department Jewellery – Linking Bodies, and Pieter, workshop assistant.
Preparation
This time I would like to do the workshop making plaster’s model first and molding the plaster with heat resistant silicone. If the silicone can harden (congeal) in short time, students try to pour tin into their own mold directly.
The students made models with plaster, paying attention to the surface. The students made surfaces with chisels, gravers or sharp tools. The next phase was making a mold with silicone, which can endure the temperature about 300℃. It takes over 1 or 2 hours till the silicone mold harden. After it’s completely harden, we rejected moisture of the mold (using hair dryer of something), we tried to pour tin to the silicone mold. That’s why the silicone need the heat resistance. The students could file and sand the tin for finishing.
About Hitomi
From the 1st of March till the 31st of March, jewelry designer Hitomi Hashimoto will participate in the Deshima AIR program. She will visit Amsterdam to do research on her work, give a workshop about her way of creation and presenting her work in the City of Silver Schoonhoven. During het stay she wants to exchange her expertise and knowledge about jewelry making with the Dutch community. She also wants to research on her series ‘world map accessories’; about how residents of the Netherlands see their neighboring countries compared to the Japanese perspective.
I am interested in reconsidering the unique character of Japanese arts and crafts and the Dutch perspective on Japanese arts and crafts.
The program will be organized in collaboration with Rietveld Academy Amsterdam, Vakschool Sieraden Schoonhoven, Atelier Passi, Zilvermuseum Schoonhoven, Atelier Dubbelop.
More about Hitomi Hashimoto Website
