Hello there! I am a lead praxis photo!

Pay me no heed!

Step 1.

Start with a glass of cold water.

Step 2.

Put a candle over the water, balanced on two chopsticks. Make sure the candle does not overhang the edge of the glass.

Step 3

Light the candle.

Step 4.

Watch as a pool of melted wax forms around the wick.

Step 5.

The wax puddle grows until it is right up to the edge of the candle.

And the chaos begins.

Eventually, the wax melts a notch in the side of the candle and spills out, flowing into the water below.

Close-up

The wax spilling into the cup.

Natural laws.

Wax drips into water, freezing.

Dripping

Melted wax caught in mid-drip.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

When the candle is almost out of wax, the flow stops, the bowl starts to fill up again, and the whole thing happens another time.

Emptying the candle.

Each time, the liquid wax all flows out and into the water, until there is very little wax left that isn't solid.

You can do it again.

You can put an identical candle on identical chopsticks over an identical cup, making the conditions as similar as possible.

Coulage is a chaotic form.

Try as you might, you can never make the same coulage again.

Sometimes you get something pretty.

I like the sense of motion in this particular sculpture.

Sometimes, you don't.

I don't much care for this particular coulage. But like any aleatoric form, you never know how it will turn out.

This one looks like a pile of clams.

Some people interpret the shapes of coulages as a form of divination. It's called "ceromancy."

If ceromancy works, though, I'm in trouble.

Because I'm pretty sure this one is a xenomorph.