My barriers and final outcome...

My barriers!

The processes I chose to construct my final prop didn’t come without they’re barriers. In fact so much so that I do not think it will be complete by hand in. My issues included:

1. Complications with processes

Plaster is a little awkward once it begins to solidify it becomes a lot less easy to manipulate. I found myself struggling to keep my rotating device moving and keep a precise and equal plaster form. I feel I  made the mistake in sometimes mixing too much plaster with water… this made the consistency lumpy, quick to harden and quite bubbly- which ended up being my downfall in the process. Once hardened my forms had cracks, holes and lumps and I spent a lot of time making them “vacuum form worthy”, sanding and filling with polyfiller.

2. Lack of knowledge on more complex tools

I feel, had I known how to use the Lathe this process would have been a lot more controllable, quicker and easier to manipulate and correct if an issue arose.

3. Indecision

It took me some time to decide what I actually wanted to make and how I was to make it. I was torn between three different possibilities and how I’d go about making them, whether it’d be aging and transforming an already existing project or making something from scratch using what I’d learnt the last few weeks.

4. Time management

I feel my time management could have been better. I should have presumed something might happen to complicate the construction of my prop just in case it did. Time restrictions on the workshop also meant i couldn't correct an error later in the day and i needed to leave more time for things to cure and dry.

My final prop...

...will be a chamber candle stick holder, based on a 1900s white enamel example I found on the net... http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/256091/candlestick-holder-enamel-floral-pattern-circa-1900. This site seems to be a legitimate Australian website specialising in antique, cultural collections. I have found a few other examples of enamel candle holders but their time origins are a little ambigious. What I have noticed with enamel objects (which i personally find very aesthetically pleasing) is that most tend to have a "lip" of metal on the rim, curled under and coloured a dark shade of blue or black. Here are some examples...

Candlestick Holder - Enamel, Floral Pattern, circa 1900

Antique German Enamel Candle stick holder

Antique French enamel candle stick holder

Examples of other enamel objects from the same time period…

To produce my chamber candle stick holder I decided to make it from the beginning. My task was to create a lightweight prop, which hypothetically speaking would cost less to produce then buy an original, once made I could reproduce the same design. I also have to give the illusion that it is enamel and old/used.

A vacuum form came to mind first and stuck. Complications with the vacuum form are that my design would have "undercuts" preventing me from separating the original mold from the plastic, so three different molds to make up the final form would be necessary: the base, the neck and the handle. The process I have chosen to use is the same as the one we used in our first practical seminar on making WW1 helmets. I need to:

1) Design my candlestick's shape and size. Make a cross section and then half it. 

2) Construct a rotating device that cuts a symmetrical shape into plaster that is solidifying. 

3) Once formed and primed the plaster forms go into the vacuum former and then I have 2 parts of my candle holder, the base and neck.

4) The handle would be made of heated and bent thermoplastic. 

5) I can paint a design or the rims of my pieces on the matt side of the plastic to create the desired affect.

* Using a workshop machine called a Lathe (a wood turning tool) would have been beneficial in creating the candlestick holder shape rather than plaster. It would have been quicker than the plaster process but unfortunately I am not fully trained on this machine and this tool demands more skill and experience!