Art 'n Tartan Wearable Arts: update

I've had to write a bit of a blurb for Art 'n Tartan Wearable Arts which briefly explained my concept behind my design and the materials I've used. This is what I wrote...

“Honouring my Scottish Roots – My Family Tree”

By Julia Prentice, first-time entrant

Section: Dressed to Kilt

My creation is in honour of my Scottish Ancestry and I have chosen to make a tree to represent family and the connection with life, history, strength and growth.

Trees are symbols of physical and spiritual nourishment and growth, transformation and liberation. They also represent stability, shelter, security, sustenance and fertility. All of which are essential in life.

My “tree-trunk” is handmade paper using flax, kauri leaves and banana palm (abaca) grown in my backyard. The leaves are made from tartan fabric which is similar to the Clan Davidson and Clan Cameron of my family ancestry.

~Size of item: 6ft high (max) by 3ft wide~

~o0o~

Plaster-casting 

My niece is going to me my model. I purchased a plastic half body (front) from Trade but still needed to take a plaster cast of Katie's back which i can work the paper pulp on to.

 Layering the plaster bandage...

 ...then applying plaster I'd pre-made and had
 "cooking" while I applied the bandage.

 Finally, another layer of plaster bandage.

It wasn't too long before it had "set" enough to carefully remove.

Ta-da! My first time plaster casting someone's torso.
 I've been the model when I've done plaster casting
 (at TLC campus October last year) so it was quite
different to be doing the casting this time.

Paper pulp Preparation

I've cooked up to large batches of plant fibres

There's a mixture of flax and banana palm in here.
My neighbour has a kauri tree in their back yard and had a
 branch drop the other day. She knows I use kauri for my soap
and paper-making so that branch will go in the next lot of pulp.

Inspirational ideas
I'm always on the hunt for visual inspiration. Here's a few images I found on the internet that I'm like and thinking about incorporating them into my design.

I love the laced-up effect and from a practical aspect think this will get around the issue of putting on the tree. I'll need to reinforce the edges for the eyelets and plan on using a binders tape for strength. 

 I'm looking at making a mask for my model to wear.
It'll be my place of starting/warming up before
commencing on the main trunk and branches.

I could incorporate my model's arm's as branches.

 or I could have roots/branches off my models arms

...or I could make a wrist cuff like this one.

 I definitely plan on extending roots
 from the base to the trunk...

and want the paper to resemble bark.

Now to work out my hours
 I've spent on this project to date..

Time: 7 hours (24th - 26th May)