It became pretty hectic the last week of casting and installing Daphne so it was hard to get to the blog. I am now at home but will finish up the story of my wonderful residency at Lotusland.
My strategy when I started to install was to first create an inventory of the different tiles and colours of the beeswax. I had a beautiful brown wax and a bright yellow wax plus colours in between that once melted became the colour of caramel and butterscotch… food analogies! The different colours are a result of the plant life in the realm of the bee and also oxidization. Here are images of my stock piles. The lotus pods I decided should have a monochromatic look while the colour of the tiles, objects and succulents I wanted to vary to allow for randomness in my installation.
lotus pod mounds ready for installation
various sizes and colours
succulents on the table waiting to be placed on the wall
After I had an inventory I began to work steadily on the back wall which I had decided would be the site for the lotus pods. I made a decision to frame the door with the pods encrusted the way Ganna Walska had used the abalone shells at the clam shell pool.
the building of the lotus pod wall
Of course while I was installing I was also madly casting tiles to keep the inventory high.
the encrusted abalone shells around the clamshell pool
pattern and field tile moulds full of beeswax
pattern tiles
succulent moulds cooling
Raj carrying in the last shipment of beeswax.
Raj and Robert were amazing and helped with many aspects of my installation. From carrying in the wax (30lb blocks)and helping each morning to put the wax into the large pot.
Raj gently placing the beeswax block into the large pot
lotus pods
pod wall almost complete
The wall was almost finished and just needed more lotus pods. I began the baroque tile wall next.
Raj drilling holes into the objects before we put them on the wall
tile wall building quickly
the pinapples and candelabras and doorknobs are being added
I was happy with the combination of the tiles and the objects
love this view
finally the succulent wall
The succulent wall carpet was heavy and I used green masking tape to hold things in place until they had set.
I also added pattern tiles which I loved the texture of
the colour variations are lovely
Daphne is complete. In tomorrows post I will unveil the whole thing with images of the opening too.
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