Playing With Plaster (Santos Sculpting with Stephanie Lee)

When I was a little girl I remember making mud cakes.  I would dig up the earth adding water from the garden hose, mixing the two elements like I was conjuring up a splendid feast.  I would gather things of nature...pretty leaves and flowers, anything I could gather with my small hands to decorate my muddy pies and cakes.  Although I loved making them my mom told me I would come home crying because I didn't like the feel of the crusted mud on my hands....Oh to be a child again!  

It's been a LONG time since I've played with mud, but this past weekend I gathered with a group of sweet women, and we played with a different kind of mud.  We played with a mixture of calcined gypsum, sand and water which we call plaster.  You can purchase the plaster at your local craft or hardware store.  Our lovely teacher, Stephanie Lee guided us through the steps and techniques required to construct a plaster and wood sculpture and with these simple materials and a few found objects we conjured up from our imaginations a personal Santos.  Way more fun than making mud cakes and I didn't even cry when the plaster crusted my newly manicured fingernails!

And this sweet girl, our teacher for two days,  truly she is as lovely as can be and is a wealth of infomation and artful goodness.  Stop by Stephanie's beautiful blog and sign up for her new e-WORKSHOP, Off The Chain that begins October 6th.   

Ta Da!  Here are the Santos that were created.

(Jackie Cate)

(Heidi Nebeker)

(Brookie Smith)
Check out Brookie's blog post about Sculpting Santos.

(Courtney Bird)

(Kellie Lewis)

(Ally Lewis)

(Julia Nebeker)

Our yougest student- only 10 years old!

(Carol Swallowcliffs)

(Diana Camomile Peck)

(Mine- not quite finished)

As you can see each Santos is very different- personal to each artist.  I love that.  It was good creative fun.  Stephanie taught us several things that we can create using the plaster and a few simple on-hand materials.  Plaster is such a fun medium.  Give it a try, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!

xo Lorraine