Tuesday 6 October 2020

The Skulferatu Project

I often go walking, either in my locality or on trips and travels around the UK.  On my walks I like to explore the places I am passing through and will often end up on paths with no idea of where I’m going or what I’m going to find.  Mostly I find dead ends or industrial estates, but sometimes I find real gems of places.  These places need not be beautiful or even of any historic significance, as I have often found inspiration in the decay of old industry, in the brittle stone of crumbling graveyards or the low hum and concrete landscape of a nuclear power station.  However, sometimes it is good just to lose yourself in the beauty of nature - on a beach, on a cliff walk, in a woodland, on a moor or up in the hills and mountains.

 

During the time of the Covid 19 pandemic, I got to thinking about the places I have walked around and the places I have visited.  Many times, I have picked up a pebble or a shell or something else as a memento of that place, as many others do.  What do I leave of myself in this landscape though?  Nothing other than the passing shadow of my having been there.  But how often is what we leave behind us the toxic trash of the brief time we enjoyed in that place?  The plastic water bottle, the crisp packets, the sandwich wrappers, the juice cans, etc.  The detritus we are all use to seeing on our beaches and in our beauty spots.  I wondered if there was a way I could leave behind a little of myself, something I had made, something neutral that would become part of that landscape, decay back into it, or even become a memento for someone else who had visited that spot.  I then came up with the idea of leaving behind something made of clay.  Something small and unobtrusive.

 

I was pondering on what I could make, especially given my limited skills, while I was out for a walk along the coast.  My route took me past an old church and there I wandered through the graveyard.  Many of the graves dated from the sixteenth century.  As I wandered around, I noticed that several had very primitive carvings of skulls on them that were really nothing more than an oval head, two round holes for eyes, a triangle for a nose and a line for the mouth.  Even I could make something that basic.  Thus, the idea for the Skulferatus was born.



Skulls decorating gravestones at Cramond Kirk and Melrose Abbey


The Skulferatus are all made of clay using a few simple implements to create the eye sockets, nose and mouth.  I experimented with a few looks and found the one pictured below worked the best. 


Skulferatu Design by Kevin Nosferatu
Skulferatu design


Batch of Skulferatus made by Kevin Nosferatu
Batch 1 of Skulferatus left to dry

 

Once made the Skulferatus were left to dry before being fired in a kiln at 1200℃.  This hardens the clay and means they are now basically stone.


A batch of Skulferatus in a head waiting to go into the kiln to be fired
To be fired the Skulferatus were placed, rather aptly, inside a head by Ronnie Fulton.

 

A Skulferatu after being fired in the kiln.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu
A Skulferatu after being fired in the kiln.

 

Now that the Skulferatus have been created I will be occasionally leaving them at places I visit.  When I do this, I will take a photograph of the area, a photograph of the Skulferatu and a screenshot from Google Maps, showing the location it was left.  These photographs, along with the GPS coordinates will be posted on this blog and also on Instagram.

 

Thanks to Esther Cohen and Ronnie Fulton from Tantallon Arts and Crafts Studios https://tantallonstudios.com for providing support in creating the Skulferatu pieces.


All articles and photographs on this blog are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.







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