This was the initial "proof of concept" assembly. The question I had to address was how the movement of the individual plates would interact with each other.

The plates are held in place with pairs of angle "L's" that are able to move in all directions. This allows the entire diamond pattern assembly to move like a heavy steel "blanket" of sorts. It can be molded into just about any shape, including complex curves.

The thorns are fabricated from casting a custom formulated high-fire black porcelain slip. There are eight primary thorn shapes that I turned into 16 plaster molds. Here, I'm pouring the slip into the top of each mold, all timed perfectly to ensure a consistent wall thickness.

After the slip has been in the mold for 20 minutes, the plaster has absorbed the moisture from the walls of the mold leaving a 3/16" thick wall of the thorn. Here, I'm blowing out the excess slip from an upside down mold.

After 2 hours, the thorn is firm enough to be removed from the mold. After it is fully dry, the spout is cut off and the separation seam is sanded off and wiped down ready for firing in the kiln.

Here's my casting setup.

The thorns fire at cone 6.

After the steel came back from the plating company, all shiny with its triple layer of zinc, my partner Frank and I do the initial assembly.