Masses cheap mixtures | emilydriver

Experiments with dough and my hair 2019

A piece made from paper pulp, cardboard, plaster and the abandoned house-plant found on my street - later to be modelled into Awkward silence.

Playdough is a simple concoction of flour and water. It's accessible and cheap to make. Just 80p for a bag of flour.

After my first experiments working with playdough, I added some salt, baked the dough and ate it. Playdough can be sustenance for my belly as well as my soul.

Playdough feels good in my hands.

Playdough is a protest of consumer/waste-culture.

I have incorporated my own hair into the dough, as well as dried flowers, clothes pegs and food dye. I have also experimented with wax and varnish.

I consider my research into this specific material as on-going.

Collages in my sketchbook using images of my playdough work 2019

Playing with dough and dried lavender 2019

Playing with dough and food colourings 2019

Experiments with dough and my hair 2019

Notes on potential dough mixtures 2019

Digitally edited and manipulated images of dough 2019

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Collages in my sketchbook using images of my playdough work 2019

Using mixtures to create mass 2021

Making mixtures in my bedroom 2021

Making paper pulp mix in my bedroom 2021

Experimenting with food packaging molds, making paper pulp bricks 2021

Keeping a record of mixture ingredients

Paper pulp bricks 2021

I started working with paper pulp during the second year of my degree.

I collect the paper waste I generate; letters, notebooks and food receipt's and I tear it up. I also use paper I find - mostly newspaper.

The process of tearing paper is time-consuming and meditative. A good time to non-think.

I do eventually develop an ache in my hand: a repetitive strain from the repeated action of tearing.

I soak the fragments of paper in water for a day and then I mush it up with my hands.

Sometimes I add other ingredients to the mix, coffee grinds, plaster, paint and clay. When I apply the pulp to surfaces I add some glue.

Sculpture made of cardboard packaging, plaster paint mixture, paper pulp and melted soap and crayons 2021

Edited image of the mixture once it had dried out 2021

This mixture was made using a soap bar and crayons from the a local chain restaurant, melted in a biscuit tin above boiling water on the stove - 2021

Image of the soap and crayons before melting them

Image of the melting process