Working with seaweed has proved interesting. Many of the sculptures I had planned, simply fell apart once dry. Some became mouldy and smelled rancid and others were incredibly delicate and fragile. I somehow felt that is symbolic of current state of our oceans and the story I want to tell. Our oceans are fragile, beautiful and should be handled with care
Seaweed ‘baskets’
Found charcoaled log on beach and dried plants – loving the shadows
Hand sewing seaweed into a ‘garland’
Seaweed coated with epoxy resin
Seaweed with epoxy resin coloured with PVA and red ink, highlighted with guilding wax.
I used a selection of bones found at the waterside as a base resin coated seaweed. The seaweed was further resin set into the crevices of the bones
A large seaweed ‘leaf’ was coated in resin and moulded around a frame to create a canopy effect. It was then resin set in a bone found at the waterside.
Pieces of seaweed were placed in muffin tins and set in epoxy resin. The resin disks have been attached to a sheet of glass. I want to be able to suspend the pane of glass so that you can appreciate the transparency of the seaweed
I took a selection of seaweed plants and set them in resin
The two pieces are set together (oops I need to clean my windows)
A selection of works together
This is still a work in progress. I am sewing strips of seaweed onto a canvass bag. I have stuffed the bag with cardboard. Once the seaweed is dry I will remove the cardboard leaving an empty ‘shell’ through which I hope to be able to shine light through. I then plan to varnish the work to enhance the luminosity and increase strength
Sewing strips of seaweed onto a canvass bag
As the seaweed dries it contracts. I will sew more seaweed into the gaps.
Hi Tracey I am trying to use epoxy resin and seaweed for the first time to create a sculpture for college. Can you give me any advice please. Kind regards Mairéad