A Clockwork Trilobite
Cold-cast from a soapstone carving using primarily urethane resin, powdered bronze metal, dental cement and sand.
Sold to the SA Museum shop, and part of the PETROFICATION exhibition at SALA Festival in 2014.
Crotalocephalus is a genus of extinct marine arthropods that lived from the Late Silurian to the Early Devonian, around 430—400 million years ago. Remains have been found in Australia, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Process
I carved the original trilobite from a block of soapstone, which ended up as a gift to a friend. I took a mould of the carving and then cast it using urethane resin, powdered bronze metal, dental cement and sand.
Variations
CROTALOCEPHALUS SP.
The South Australian Museum was interested in buying a realistic version so I modified a cast to include the back segments and part of the rock. This was also cast with urethane resin, powdered bronze, dental cement and sand.
PETROFICATION
An exhibition at SALA festival, 2014:
Fossil fuels are formed over millions of years when large quantities of dead organisms are buried underneath rock and subjected to intense heat and pressure. These fuels — coal, oil, and natural gas — bear fingerprints of their creation, depending on the organisms that went into them — where they lived, how they died, where they ended up, and what kinds of temperature and pressure they experienced. Petroleum by-products are useful materials derived from crude oil. There are thousands of such products, including plastic, paraffin wax, ink, resin, soap, and even Aspirin.
