gradation of green
medium
1100mm x 1100mm x 395mm
Clear casting resin, painted mdf, toughened glass & fluorescent tube lighting. 2002
I first used polyester resin to fill gaps in furniture created from reclaimed timber. It gave a flush finish without detracting from the beauty of the grains and knots in the wood.
I loved this cleanness of surface and translucency and wondered if I could create larger, more geometric, coloured shapes that would bring out the inherent qualities in the material itself.
process
Resin was poured into 100 holes drilled into 25mm MDF in precisely measured ratios of green, blue and yellow dye. This was clamped and cured in a jig.
With no margin for error, peeling off the covering, after the curing process was a nervous moment, but seeing the result I felt like I had discovered gold. The finish, clarity and colour progression were exactly what I had hoped for. The resin top was mounted on the finished table base, covered with toughened glass and lit from below with fluorescent tube lighting.
This design represents the end result of months of painstaking experimentation and exploration in terms of size, shape and colours that were achievable.
I had to devise methods that used different materials and surfaces to combat problems of leakage, colouration and shrinkage, to achieve the perfect finish.
Once I had mastered the various processes, I devised a complex colour gradation along two axes.
result
I still remember, 10 years on, how excited I was to have created a usable, solid surface as colourful as this.
It has been loved, admired and abused. More than a hundred people must have danced on it over the years, but it has stood the test of time, and the techniques I devised to create it have led to many other innovative uses of this fascinating material.
