concrete drawing 2 - foam stencil

for our second concrete drawing we need to make a stencil from styrofoam. using an overhead projector we copied the pattern we made to scale on the foam.

 

we need to make sure that the thickness of the lines and the gaps stay ideally 20 mm wide, or 10 mm at the thinnest.

 

once we have the pattern drawing we can use our foam cutters

 

the foam cutter, is a hot wire that cuts through the foam at a steady but slightly slow pace. it is the perfect left hand task while my newly cast right hand has a break.

 

as we cut the pattern cut we tape the pieces in place so it all makes sense to us.

this also makes it easier to transport it to the site where we are casting the concrete.

our casting surface has been sealed with 3 layers of sealer and the coated a few times with a release that will stop the concrete we are pouring on it from sticking.

we place in one half of the pattern, and start to glue down the image pieces one at a time.

 

then we remove the background and check that we have them all stuck down and in place.

 

we line up the sections from the other side and set them in place.

now we are ready for the concrete pour the next day.