Planters – Take 2

Justin couldn’t stay too long today since he had to leave for a Media City engagement.  So he set us up with the things we would need then left us alone.  He was showing Josh how the new design I started last week held up better and works with the magnets better too.

The previously-made planters work very well with our rare earth magnets and are actually difficult to pry away from magnetic surfaces, a good sign for working with heavier planters in the future.

We quickly laid out the necessary items to complete our mission: make 25 planters using the durability-tested paper mache technique. We filled each of the yogurt containers with 2 parts water and 1 part white flour. Next, a few shakes of salt were added to deter mould growth. The watch battery-sized magnets which will be used later are shown on the top left.

Next, we ripped the newspaper into strips roughly three to four inches wide. It helps to make sure that at least one of the edges is fairly straight: this straight edge helps to ensure that the top of the planter is flat.

Using a paper mache technique, we basically used the same basic molds from before (the cassette tapes now wrapped in duct tape), and used the newspaper with a basic wheat paste mix.

Josh, Talitha, Owen and I began working on the new simple design and we soon were building them at a very fast pace.

Hopefully nobody has claimed that paper mache is a clean process. Here Talitha is making sure the layers of newspaper are smoothly wrapped around the cassette tape.

Soon Nicole showed up and we had about 25 done in what seemed like just an hour.

We laid the planters out on a drawing board we found in the Green Corridor room. We later decided that they should be placed with their openings down, otherwise the openings may dry as large ovals.

Then we sat the 25 or so of them outside to dry in the sun.  They were almost dry in about an hour or less, but we decided to wait till next time to fill them with soil.

Carefully they were lined up to dry.

The sun would help the planters start to dry faster, as they’ll end up sitting in the dark of Justin’s studio until they’re completely dry.

All the planters laid out and soon to be filled at the next meeting.  Thank you Nicole for coming all the way out today for such a short meeting.

After things were done, Owen and Nicole played with some of the Rare Earth magnets to relax and have fun.