The purpose of this project was to commemorate my crumbling 2001 pair of the Black Cement III’s and transform it into a statue. The casts were made from plaster, with each shoe weighing over 10 pounds. A silicone mold process was used to construct the cast; it was something that was completely new to me and I’ve never made a mold before. This process took weeks of research, frequent calls to the mold manufacturer, and over 30 hours of drying time and patience. I wanted to make sure that everything would work out, because I only had one shot at this.

The mold stayed true to the qualities of the shoe ― capturing the elephant print, tumbled leather, and the Nike Air heel tab. I placed the plaster cast next to my DS pair of 2018 Black Cement III’s to show the deterioration of the 2001 model with all of it’s imperfections.