After studying and making my own stone cairns I wanted to take them further to be the subject of a sculptural piece by crafting my own 'stones' out of man made materials.
I began by breaking polystyrene packing down into blocks. Once I was happy with the size of the pieces I coated them in clay by working the clay into thin sheets and then moulding it around the polystyrene. I then built up certain areas and edges to try to make stone like shapes.
I then allowed them to dry and I observed how cracks began to appear in the clay. I was happy with these as they were organically formed and I felt added to the texture of the objects. However at this stage I felt that it appeared too natural and clichéd of the real Cairns therefore I wanted to cover the clay with a finish which would disguise it.
From that I decided to use iron paste, as it is easy to work into the clay and can be rubbed into the cracks and built up to get a good depth of colour and coverage. I also liked how it then darkened the 'stones' and the metal appearance created a contrast between the natural and artificial and man made intervention.
However as more time passed and the clay became dry and brittle the clay began to fall away from the polystyrene. At first I deemed this to be a failure but then I was interested by the imprint the polystyrene had left in the clay and how the hidden structure inside the objects began to be revealed.
