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Procedure: The base is made by mixing plaster powder and a solution of hide glue and water. This is done not in a container, but directly on the tabletop, where it is mixed and kneaded, making a dough. Various specks of inorganic matter, colloquially referred to as pigment, are added in, and the dough is folded, mixed, new colour, etc. Then the dough is cut into slices, revealing the strata produced by the mixing and kneading -- it’s almost like a miniature of geology! Each colour delineating its own minute era of that micro¬cosm… The slices are laid out on the table, arranged into a complex in the shape of a rectangle, then melded into each other. When the plaster sets, the glue sets into it, creating a surprisingly tough surface, not at all like plaster. To make it smooth, sanding and polishing follows. A layer of varnish brings out the colour, completing the desired quality.

Excerpt from essay written by Eirik Senje.

Image: Detail of work in progress by Thomas Bremerstent