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The Location of the new installation

The first pig head has been casted! the second is in the process of setting and drying in the mold as we speak. success!

We began the molding of the Pig Head a few days ago but didn't have any photos until now. This is the Pig Head as the molding plastic from Smooth-On dries. Now we just have to cast the heads in wax.

We just received our casting materials today from Smooth-On. The plan is to cast figures with either Fish or Pigs heads in order to represent the inhabitants relationship with the urban environment, the Pig being a symbol of blight. More pictures tomorrow when we collect a couple pigs heads from the Butcher at Cross Street Market in Fells Point.

In the meanwhile, here are some demonstrative videos on the casting products we just bought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y2-MRL8cAg

The Opening was fantastic! Thanks to everyone who came!

Installation under way

The bridge is done!

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In order to integrate the print with the piece, we printed the portrait on a skin of plastic bags in a subdued blue. The face was layered in sewn and melted bags of varying colors to accentuate the tones of the face.

Install Sites

We have been thinking about doing an installation in Baltimore along the Jones Falls in addition to the final install in LA. We are shooting for an opening on Friday the 7th of November, there is still a lot to do, but it be good to hear some feedback about locations and if people would be interested in attending. Here are some photographs of the sites:

Dyeing, materials, inspiration

Using the beautiful line structure of the scales in the fish skin we've prepared as inspiration, I've been researching different dyeing techniques that replicate the surface of the fish skin. So far I've tried a wide variety of procedures: Arashi shibori, immersion dyeing, potato dextrin resist and thiox dye-removal. Most of these techniques I've tested on silk organza, china silk, and muslin. In our research about fish skin and life cycle I've found some interesting information on other cultures that use the typically wasted fish skin in innovative ways, mainly the Hoche people of the Heilongjiang Province in Northeastern China. The way that these people used fish skin (up until the urbanization of rural areas in the 1950's) made me reconsider the way in which I consume food encased in it's own packaging or skin.

Screen Printing

Sorry we've been so slow with uploading posts. A week ago we finally started screen printing the collage and dying our fabric. We printed the fish collage by using a four layer CMYK process. The prints on the silk were very difficult to register and we may simply digitally print on  the fabric. But more on that to come.

Today we received the dried anchovies from H Mart, which by the way is an amazing korean grocery right outside of baltimore. We were thinking about sewing the fish together to create a canopy for the installation. We bought these fish on a whim without any prior experience to working with anything of this sort so hopefully everything works out

Capt. Don

Yesterday, Rachel picked up two bags of flayed fish skin from Captain Don. We met Captain Don by searching Baltimore charter fishermen on the internet. It seemed as though he was a little confused as to why we needed only fish skins but he was more than happy to provide us with the excess parts. Rachel baked a batch of peanut butter cookies, this seems like a fair trade for half frozen fish parts. If all goes well with the preservation process of the fish, this won't be the last time such a barter is made.

After two days in the fridge, we scraped all of the meat from the skin in our back yard and salted each piece. Huddled in the dark back courtyard of our apartment by the glow of clamplights the whole operation seemed very clandestine. It turned out that Captain Don provided us with quite a lot more hides than we expected and honestly, it wasnt nearly as disgusting as we imagined.