I jumped in on a colleagues youth workshop today. They were casting foraged objects from the community garden into plaster tiles. A moment of inspiration hit and I foraged for my own supplies in the store cupboard.

A sharp knife and a pencil sharpener made light work of grinding charcoal and graphite into powder. I added it to a Perspex sheet we were casting on in much the same manner as I add it to my canvases before I wet them.

The plaster was extremely wet so I took the idea to dampen the materials before pouring to discourage floating.

The outcome was satisfying; caverns lined with graphite opened up as we lifted the set tile off. It was still damp and heavy and took another 3 days to dry completely.