Puppet : Casting, Seaming, Painting

During the of making the puppet there are often times more than one process going on.

One of these processes is the armature.

Here are the freshly welded feet, pelvis, and torso that will go inside of the puppet.

These pieces are cut down to size and braided wire is epoxied in.

 A coat of paint is put on top of the final armature to prevent the brass from eating away the foam.

 The armature is made to fit perfectly into the mold.

Mold release is applied to prevent the foam from sticking to the mold.

After whipping up the foam and baking it for 5 hours the puppet comes out of the mold with flashing.

This flashing is then trimmed down.

 Then a wood burner is used to assure that there is no extra flashing.

 Prosaid paste is used to smooth the seams and fill in an holes in the foam.

 Finally the puppet is primed and painted.

Laundry starch is used to set the paint and cut the shine factor.

Meanwhile the head is sculpted and a mold is made. This was the sculpt after it came out of the molde.

Finishing touches like hair, eyes, and mouth are added to make a final puppet. This head is a 3D print from the new 3D scanner our school has blow up a little larger. Curio is the first film on our campus to use the 3D printer and scanner. 

Mold Making

Here is my process for making the mold for my puppet.

First I take the sculpt and bury it halfway in water based clay. It is sprayed with a coat of crystal clear.

 Next I begin building up layers of ultracal on top of the sculpt and clay.

 Wait five minutes and add another layer.

 And another.

Burlap soaked in ultracal is added in the next layer to protect the mold from breaking.

 Finally a super layer of ultracal is added and a few hours are given to let it set up.

 Then work on the second half of the mold starts. The water base clay is removed and then cleaned off. The edges of the first half of the mold are filed to remove the sharpness.

 Channels for a tight seam and being able to pry the mold apart are made out of water base clay.

 A coat of vasoline is put on any part of the first half of the mold exposed and crystal clear is put on top.

Then the whole building up process of ultracal happens again.

 Until finally the mold is set up and pulled apart.

 The original pattern usually does not survive this process.

 The last step is to clean up the mold, rinsing out the water based clay, pattern, and vasoline.

Gallery

Right now I'm getting ready for my Senior Gallery.

So far I've got my stuff set up in the gallery and my Business card and guest book.

My business card (missing contact info)

My guest book

We had our reception and I took some photos of my space in the gallery.

My podium with molds, banjo pig, and my self portrait puppet.

Some of my illustration, Fine art, and theatre work.

Common Ground Set and puppets back from last year.

Curio: Puppet - Pattern

My Sr. Project is well underway and I'd like to catch everyone up on it. I focused mainly on the puppet for this project. 

Brittany our actress.

The body of our Brittany puppet.

This is only the first step of many in the puppet making process. Stay tuned for more.

Four

I'm currently in a costume design class for theatre.
Here is what i recently did for they play Four.

Four by Christoher Shinn is a challenging play that explores human relationships and desires with the backdrop the fourth of July fireworks. They all are interconnected without necessarily being physically connected. It's their differences and inability to accept each other that make them feel alone and separated from everyone. The play builds up to the point where everyone stops and watches the fireworks.

The first Character we meet is June, who is described as a young white boy wearing a t-shirt.
He is very conflicted with his sexuality, hiding from his family and peers that he is gay. He is the type of teenage trying hard to blend into the background and not be noticed.

 Next we meet Abigayle, a young black girl, who is specified as wearing a pink nightgown. She very involved in her studies and thoughts. She has a passion and strive that no other character posses. From this fact she is the only character to dressed in mostly warm colors. She later changes when she leaves her house and requires a costume change.

After that Joe comes into the play. He is Abigayle's father, but is never in a scene with her. In the timeframe of the play Joe is with June, lying to his family about where he is. He is very happy man on the outside, but is really very troubled on the inside. He is detailed as wearing a sweater and slacks and being a middle aged black man. Since he talks so much about america and being patriotic his outfit is the only one that has all three elements of red white and blue.

Finally we meet Dexter, who is a half white half puerto rican boy, who is said to be wearing baggy clothes and a baseball hat. He loves basketball, so his shoes are a bright warm color to match that passion. His clothes are a reflection of his want to be accepted by anyone, so he tries to dress like everyone in his neighborhood.