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plaster over styrofoam

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From: Christene Sandeson (c.sandeson_at_TeacherArtExchange)
Date: Thu Jan 24 2002 - 13:19:15 PST

Hi all

I use plaster for several HS carving activities and am
intrigued by the posts in Thursday's digest which refer to the
building a styrofoam base and then finishing it with plaster, thereby
creating a light weight sculptural form that has lots of process
activity.

Thinking ahead to art 10/11/12, I would want to teach a
carving lesson as we worked with the styrofoam, but I have not
considered the teaching an additive process of gluing on more 'foam
to create the finished understructure.

The next step also intrigues me: teaching students to apply
wet plaster to these carved/added forms: if the plaster is thinned
with water, could it not be painted on? If the plaster were "knifed"
on, wouldn't it dry too quickly & cause waste?

I do not have plaster gauze strips as Bunki suggests, so here
is my thought: can I make plaster gauze strips from worn out cotton
bed sheets (I have several)? Might I cut the sheets into 1"* 3"
strips, dampen them, lay them in a flat dish of plaster, and then
apply to the foam base? Would that work?

Great topic - processing is my strength

christene in N.S., where we are promised another winter snow advisory