Wax working for the lost wax process.

by Katie Louise Surridge

On the second day of my residency I have been starting to think about making moulds of the Steel shapes to allow me to cast them in wax. I will be be using the lost wax process to eventually cast Bronze sculptures.

I used alginate to make the moulds as it is more economical than silicone . However these moulds can only be used a few times. They are also a lot more fragile.

On a few of the first round of moulds I opened them too fast which distorted the surface of the mould. However I was really happy with the results! I really liked the surface detail this added to the shapes. I spent the rest of the day purposely distorting moulds to create surface texture…. a really happy accident!

Making the second wall totem.

by Katie Louise Surridge

On the first official open studio day I have been working on the second wall sculpture. There will be three of these in total each comprising of three enlarged shapes.

I have been rusting the steel with salt water to achieve the aged finish. Now this is dry I am gold leafing the smaller shapes which will be the decorative element to this piece

Installation day – unloading at the residency.

by Katie Louise Surridge

My first day at the museum was spent unloading and setting up. As my work is very sculptural I had a lot of stuff with me !! Good thing that I have a huge van.

I worked with the museum team to install the first work which consisted of the cabinet and the poems.

To support my work in the gallery visitors will also be able to see the original items and the packing that stores them. This packaging is where I took the shapes from that for the core basis of my work.

Bret , the head of archeology, helped me organise all the original objects in to three cabinets. These will be a permanent part of my exhibition. A few of the items are not allowed to be out however as they are very fragile. They need to be in a temperature and humidity controlled space to prevent further degradation. In this case we used photos.

Developing work in the studio before the residency . Part 3 – shape totems.

by Katie Louise Surridge

I had nine of my favourite shapes cut out very large in to 2mm steel. Originally i was going to make the archeology tanks with these but when I saw them I decided to change my idea and make wall mounted sculptures with them.

They stand at over 2.5 m high and will add a totemic feel to the space. There will be three of these totems ( made up of three shapes) and each with a different finish – hammer textured , rusted and one with vinyl marble transfers.

Developing work in the studio before the residency. Part 2 – rusted relics and writing poems.

by Katie Louise Surridge

One full set of the actual sized shapes were rusted in salt water. I wanted to do this before the residency so there was something for the visitors to see on arrival, and to help them get an understanding of this new commission.

These shapes will go in to a lovely old museum display cabinet given to me by the V and A in london. It was locked shut when I got it , the key missing. As the locks were so well made (prehaps it once held royal treasure!!) it took a couple of locksmiths trying before we could open it!

The rusted shapes in the old cabinet will form part of an installation with 45 framed paintings and poems about the history of each original object. I’ve have only just started writing poetry and this residency has been a great opportunity to try new things.

Developing work in the studio before the residency. Part 1 – making the tanks.

by Katie Louise Surridge

I studied at the National School of Blacksmithing for three years as a means to gain skills to use in my own art work. I enjoy being able to fabricate all my own work.

The cast bronze new “relics” I will make will be hidden in tanks shapes like archeological trenches for the public to dig in and find the art them selves.

These images show the making of these tanks and adding on the cast iron feet that support them.

Preparing for the residency in my studio.

by Katie Louise Surridge

My workshop is outside of London so the first job was to organise all the different pieces. I had the shapes laser cut out in mild steel .

To do this I had my tracings of the packaging holes digitalised, this then allowed me to also scale them up and down.

I had different sized “sets” of all 45 shapes cut – original size ,30mm , 50mm , 80mm, 100mm and 120mm. The first job was to try and separate hundreds of shapes in to some kind of order!