Miniature Thickets Experiment with plaster and string

 Unsure how to approach the miniature thickets, I decided to start with plaster soaked string and see what happened. I split cotton string into bundles of different strands, and threaded them though a cardboard 'lid' cut to the size of one of my cubic silicone moulds. I tried knotting a few bundles along their length. I think dipped the whole lot thoroughly in plaster, poured a bit of plaster into the mould to form a 'base', then put the 'lid' on, with the plaster soaked string dangling down into the 'base' layer. The strings were held quite well-apart at the top by the holes in the lid, but being soaked in plaster, naturally started to clump together.

After it had somewhat dried, I tried to remove the cardboard (which was quite sodden) to allow more air circulation. I immediately discovered that strings were very brittle, but I managed to remove the 'lid' in pieces, and left it to set completely.

I was initially quite disappointed - the plaster had formed 'plugs' against the cardboard lid, given the tops of each string a clubbed appearance, almost like a flower. The strings were also quite sparse in places where they had clumped together. The strings all looked the same - the plaster coating had hidden any differences from knotting or thickness.

Having had a bit of time, it's grown on me, but it reveals a broader problem - it's quite hard to create a structure that is open enough to look into, but dense enough to feel 'enclosed'. I also would like more of a branching structure. 

My next move is two-fold - I want to experiment with real twigs, and I also want to experiment with some sort of 'building' or structure. I started mocking this up in balsa wood, but I couldn't really cut and think... So I've extracted the dimensions of the balsa and the mould into Blender, and I think I'll model it virtually and then cut it when I have a design I'm happy with...