Hot Sand Paper Casting

Monica Wapaha

Hot Sand Paper Casting
Processes of papermaking have a variety of techniques in creating paper art. Creating work out of something that is traditionally used as a two-dimensional surface for drawing, writing, and painting has caught my attention. I am drawn to paper taking the form of solid objects and became very interested in techniques by the artist Roberto Mannino who incorporates this in his art. He is an artist from Italy who is very attuned to processes of papermaking as well as sculpture and creates new experimental printmaking techniques. Through his amazing styles of paper art, I was most interested in his hot sand paper casting processes.

Roberto Mannino’s art is primarily made with handmade paper and techniques such as rubbing with graphite, papermaking, sculptures, hot sand paper casting, pulp painting, creating huge sheets of paper and experimental printmaking. In a dvd titled Paper Relief, Mannino took his fresh wet handmade paper to the beach and used the hot sand that was at the beach for his casting technique.
 
The hot sand paper casting comes from pouring sand on the wet paper. The paper needs to be freshly made or wet. The sand creates weight that can take the shape of the mold or object. The hot sand speeds up the process of drying and keeps the paper in contact with the relief mold and prevents the paper from shrinking. The surface can be basically whatever you desire that can with stand the paper and hot sand. The process is fast and your project can be done within a few minutes depending on how hot the sand it heated. There can be multi castings going on at one time.

If you are not on the beach, it is preferably to work outside because the sad get everywhere. Heating sand can be done in a heat proof tray, pot or pan on a stove, oven or microwave. Make sure it’s not a pan used for cooking and be sure to wear heat proof gloves to prevent any burns. The sand will also need to be mixed because the sand closets to the paper will get wet. If the sand is went the paper will not dry.  It can also be put outside to dry fast. Once the paper is dry it can be taken off the mold. Through my experiments, it is good to use objects that are bigger than little plastic army toys. Super small objects tend to get stuck in the paper and can cause unwanted rips and tears.

The processes of hot sand paper casting is a very fast process once the processes have been successfully executed. It can get a bit messy so keep that in mind. A rigid surface is an ideal object to cast and can be made at the beach on a hot summer day, at home or in your studio. It will be a great project to work on in the summer especially here in Tempe.

References
Landes, Barbara. Sculptures of Handmade Paper. http://www.barbaralandes.com/roberto-mannino.  Accessed 28 March. 2017
Roberto Mannino, Ariel Genovese. Paper Relief]: A Review of Papermaking Techniques : Roberto Mannino, Officine Video, 2005
Mannino, Roberto. http://www.robertomannino.it/contact.html. Accessed 9 March 2017