Jasmine visited us again for the casting demo that began at lunch and ran into last block for those who could stay. We had about 25 students in attendance. Jasmine brought with her the components to make rubber molds of "mini lockers" that students constructed. These were basically cardboard pieces with low relief objects glued to the surface like wrappers, pennies, pencils etc. Jasmine was careful to structure the workshop so that everyone understood how the process would work and we as teachers took note and discussed how this kind of casting might be employed in the classroom.After gluing items down on the cardboard, students were asked to coat the items and the cardboard with a very thin layer of petroleum jelly to act as a resist. Jasmine then asked that they "build a dam" of plastercine around the objects to prevent the casting material from flowing off the edges. We carefully applied a thin layer over the top of the surface with a soft brush being mindful of bubbles and being thorough in order to get the best detail. After the first layer stiffened up we added a more liberal coat that was poured on. We were cautious of bubbles again and either popped ones we could see and tapped the table to bring embedded ones to the surface.
In between coats, Jasmine lead the students in a discussion about ways they could extend the design (she suggested a weather resistant canvas to provide shade for example) and students continued to fine tune their ideas.
