Spikes on a planet, an unusual concept even for my way of working. The idea stemmed from “The spikes” nearing the end of the project, what I wanted to do originally was to give the spikes a home as in the time I was working with the spikes I felt that they were orphans as they didn’t really have a home. So the idea came around to give them a home. The idea started, as most ideas do, as a sketch (see Planeta Spicula 1 (2012) this idea was only a drawing till I had the urge to make it, so from that endeavour “The little planet (2012)” was born (this can be found in “the tests” section of the website”). I’m ashamed to say that this spent a little time on the shelf as I focused on other projects. Once returning to university after Christmas break the project given to us was to carry on and develop anything we wanted from the previous project.
So as you can guess from where this is going I jumped at the chance to develop the spike planets. The first development was to try the idea of the spikes “bursting from the planet” there was a greater opportunity to try the idea of the spikes bursting from the ground. I was limited with “The spikes” as they had to be movable. Whereas the “Planeta Spicula”can still be movable but I’m essentially moving a little planet so I can add as much detail as I chose. The first course of action was to redesign the sketch to show what it would look like if the spikes were bursting through the surface. (See “Planeta Spicula 2” (2013).
"Planeta Spicula: the insides" (2013)
Further development looked ways of trying to give the effect of the spikes bursting through the skin on the sphere. The original idea was to sculpt the effect of the “skin” being broken by the spikes. This worked reasonably well apart from a few minor problems. One of which is that the sculpting material I used wouldn’t stick to the plastic sphere, so I had to be careful when adding the spikes.
The project developed to make the pieces stronger so I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the pieces during transport, as well as finding a way to make the spike look like they are bursting out of the skin. From the development I have come up with this concept (image to the left). The core is created from moulding plaster into a sphere to create a strong foundation upon which to work on.
On top of this a reasonable layer of latex is applied, this becomes the “skin” from which the spikes will breakthrough. The nature of the plaster and the latex means that they willnever stick together so it is easy to peel the skin in order to place the spikes. The result is the latex reverting back to the shape it has taken. From this the spikes get trapped and held in place, and achieving the “bursting from the skin” effect I’m looking for.
A further development was to coat the spheres in my favorite material, stone effect spray, to add a more planet like effect to the spikes. As well as adding a stronger contrast to the white of the spikes. From the previous project i found that the spikes produced a interesting range of shadows, so with this one tested out using direct lighting to force the shadows onto the roof/wall and using colour filters to add different tints to the spikes and creating a different mood to the piece.
The project developed to make the pieces stronger so I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the pieces during transport, as well as finding a way to make the spike look like they are bursting out of the skin. From the development I have come up with this concept (image to the left). The core is created from moulding plaster into a sphere to create a strong foundation upon which to work on.
On top of this a reasonable layer of latex is applied, this becomes the “skin” from which the spikes will breakthrough. The nature of the plaster and the latex means that they willnever stick together so it is easy to peel the skin in order to place the spikes. The result is the latex reverting back to the shape it has taken. From this the spikes get trapped and held in place, and achieving the “bursting from the skin” effect I’m looking for.
A further development was to coat the spheres in my favorite material, stone effect spray, to add a more planet like effect to the spikes. As well as adding a stronger contrast to the white of the spikes. From the previous project i found that the spikes produced a interesting range of shadows, so with this one tested out using direct lighting to force the shadows onto the roof/wall and using colour filters to add different tints to the spikes and creating a different mood to the piece.