Five Media, Six Weeks, One Ventilation Problem
A candidate is six weeks from submitting a media and techniques sample for a project on 'fragmentation'. They have tested five processes: oil paint on board, spray paint on paper, torn-paper collage, digital pigment print and two-part epoxy resin. The resin samples have trapped bubbles and one has cracked; the spray-paint samples have bleeding edges because the studio has no extraction and the door was kept closed. The oil tests are still wet after four days. The candidate wants to combine all five media in a final 80 x 120 cm panel because 'mixed media looks more experimental'. The studio has limited ventilation, a sink, drying racks, and a designated outdoor covered area. The teacher has asked for a risk assessment and a materials list before any further resin or spray work. The candidate has 18 hours of studio access left.
1. Which media should the candidate continue with, and which should they stop or substitute? Justify your decision using control, safety, time and conceptual fit.
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Combining all five media is not automatically experimental; it is more likely to produce weak control and an unresolved surface. With 18 studio hours left, the candidate should apply four criteria: safety, control, drying time and conceptual fit.
The resin should stop, or be radically reduced. The samples show trapped bubbles and cracking, which indicates poor control, and the studio lacks extraction. Resin can also cause skin sensitisation, so it requires gloves, eye protection and a proper risk assessment. If the candidate wants a glossy fragmented layer, a safer substitute is layered acrylic medium, glassine or sealed collage. Spray paint should also stop indoors because there is no extraction and the bleeding edges show poor control. If spray is essential, it must be used only in the designated outdoor covered area with a suitable mask and supervision, after a risk assessment.
Oil paint is still wet after four days, which is a time risk. The candidate can continue with oil only if they work in thinner layers or use a faster-drying underpainting. Collage and digital print are the most controllable and can carry the fragmentation idea through torn edges, repetition and layering. A final panel using collage, digital print and limited acrylic or ink is more likely to show refinement than five competing materials.
2. How should the candidate document experimentation so that failures, substitutions and control are visible as evidence?
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The candidate should make a labelled sample board rather than a set of anonymous scraps. Each sample should record the substrate, the material, the ratio or dilution, the drying time, the application method and the result. For example: 'acrylic medium over torn newsprint, 3 layers, 20 minutes between layers, edges lifted at layer 2'. This turns a failure into usable evidence.
Failures should be kept and annotated. The cracked resin sample should be labelled with a probable cause, such as too much hardener, trapped air or a thick pour. The bleeding spray sample should be labelled with the ventilation and distance problem. The wet oil test should be dated and measured. The candidate should then show one controlled change: re-testing the same idea with a safer or faster material and comparing the results.
Control is demonstrated by narrowing variables, not by adding media. The sample board should show at least three iterative tests of the chosen final materials, with notes on what changed and why. The final 80 x 120 cm panel should be visibly connected to those tests through edges, layering or surface quality. That evidence is stronger than the claim that mixed media is experimental.
3. What should the candidate include in the risk assessment and materials list before continuing?
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The risk assessment should identify the hazard, who is at risk, the control measure and what to do if something goes wrong. For resin: skin and eye irritation or sensitisation, poor ventilation, mixing errors, waste disposal. Controls include working in the outdoor covered area or a well-ventilated space, gloves, eye protection, no eating or drinking, supervised mixing, following the manufacturer's ratio, and allowing full cure before handling. For spray paint: inhalation of mist, flammable propellant, overspray. Controls include outdoor use only, a suitable mask, covering nearby work, and keeping away from ignition sources.
For solvents and oils: skin contact, fumes and drying time. Controls include gloves, ventilation, closed containers and a drying rack. Waste should be separated and disposed of as instructed, not poured down the sink.
The materials list should include quantities, substrates, drying times and storage. It should also name the substitutes, such as acrylic medium instead of resin or brush-and-stencil instead of spray. The candidate should submit the risk assessment before any further resin or spray work, as the teacher requested, and keep a signed copy in the portfolio evidence.