Collections

'Borrowing' a few pebbles from Kilve Beach on the north Somerset coast gave the most wonderful rounded forms around which to wrap and melt strips of found plastic materials - a collection of coloured plastic bags gathered over the months and not found on this treasured stretch of rocky coastline.

Making the plastics 'special' by sanding, perforating  with machine stitching and rubbing with gold crayons to make more interesting surfaces.

Strips of plastic were loosely wrapped around the pebbles and with careful melting with a hot gun, the plastic shrunk and gripped the pebble shapes. Judging the timing allows you to control the amount of 'shrinkage'.The plastic looked as if it was gripping the pebbles so tightly as if to strangle - which I found a very appropriate symbolism as you might imagine.

 

 

 



The pebble that 'escaped'. The pebble used to form this shape was gently slipped out from its strangulating plastic: an idea from nowhere and an exciting discovery that meant that several pebble shapes could be made from the same pebble and without stealing it permanently from its home on Kilve beach.
The hollow form added very apt symbolic connections with 'disappearance', 'skeleton', faded existence - perhaps alluding to the disappearance of the planet or, more hopefully, the disappearance of discarded plastic materials.