props

Windmill prop

Posted by hil

The windmill prop I mentioned previously was made for the National Museum of Australia‘s July school holiday program Little BIG Things. It ran in conjunction with the museum’s new Landmarks exhibition, which explores a broad history of Australia through stories of places and their peoples.. The kids visiting the Discovery Centre drop-in activity area could make small sculptures of a big thing from where they came from, and then write a story about it to place on the blades of the windmill.

Against the huge windows in the foyer of the museum the windmill looks quite small despite being 3 metres tall. At home when I did a trial assembly of the windmill outside my studio window, it looked enormous! There are some more photos of the windmill in my Flickr photoset.

Windmill prop in progress

Posted by hil

I’m working on a windmill prop at the moment. I made the base structure a month or so ago, but am now back to making the blades. The windmill itself is very simple, but it’s size – it will stand 3 metres high – makes it logistically tricky to work on in my studio. It’s coming together nicely, though, and I’m enjoying it.

 

Giant garden fork

Posted by hil

I made this giant garden fork prop for  The Fool Factory recently. There are some making photos in my portfolio at Flickr. Before I handed it over we had fun posing with it like the farmer couple in Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting and various other silly things. It definitely invites comic scenarios.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Posted by hil

lighthouse island set

Earlier this year I made the set and props for Flotsam and Jetsam, a production for children which tells stories about living on Australian lighthouse islands in the past. The script was written by Greg Lissaman, from recollections gathered by Chrissie Shaw, the actor. Catherine Roach is the director.

The set is an island, panels painted in a pointalist style, which can concertina into different shapes and be dismantle for touring. The lighthouse is modelled on the historic lighthouse at Cape Otway in Victoria, and Tasman Island in Tasmania was among other sources of stories and images, such as the flying fox access to the island. There were numerous props – seaweed, wooden chests, a porcelain doll, an albatross, and a sea buoy. There are more photos of these in my  Flotsam and Jetsam photoset.

Touring dates and booking details for Flotsam and Jetsam are listed at Chrissie’s site. On 19 – 21 August it has a short season at the Maritime Museum in Sydney, and then it will tour coastal community venues in NSW. Chrissie also performs The Keeper, an adult play also based on lighthouse stories.

lighthouse

flying fox
seagull skeleton
porcelain doll

Bird skeleton

Posted by hil

Seagull skeleton

This suggestion of a seagull skeleton is a prop for a new play I’m working on, but I rather like it as an object for itself. It’s given me some ideas for making some stranger ones when I get some time later.

By coincidence, today I happened across Chris Jordan’s photographic collection Midway: Message form the Gyre, a photographic documentation how albatross chicks on Midway Atoll ban in the middle of the Pacific Ocean often die because they end up being fed heaps of plastic junk. It’s shocking – only look if you are feeling strong.

Cross-section wheat seed

Posted by hil

Cross-section wheat seed

I have some catching up to do on posting about my work projects.

First up is the cross-section wheat seed that I made for CSIRO Plant Industry, for their annual display at Floriade in September. In other years I’ve made a caterpillar and cross-section flower for them.  The wheat seed is carved out of polystyrene, and surfaced with a mixture of materials: fabric, paper mache, paint and latex. There is a photoset of the process.

I was pleased when I realized I could use a strange stretchy and very synthetic fabric for instant and variable cell textures.  I had used this fabric for skin texture on a goanna puppet in a TV pilot years ago.  At the time the pilot program was taken to a childrens’ program market in Cannes, and there was hopeful anticipation of it being sold to China. Someone with dollars in their eyes advised buying up extra fabric against the day when we went into full goanna and other animal puppet production, but there I was ten years later cutting into it for the first time!

The unlikeliest thing about the wheat seed was how cute it was. Everyone who picked it up cradled it like a baby, and admired its cute little tuft of bristles!

Special baby!

Puppets for Canberra Youth Theatre’s TANK

Posted by hil

I had a really enjoyable build recently, making a swag of zany puppets and props for Canberra Youth Theatre‘s production TANK, which is playing now at Canberra’s spring flower extravagaza, Floriade.  TANK is a rather Pythonesque look at our relationship to water, written by Adam Hadley, directed by Pip Buining, and designed by Imogen Keen. It’s told in six 6-minute stories, played to an audience of six per story. Performances are free and run at Floriade on 12,13, 19, 20, 26 and 27 September 2009. Later, on 23 – 28 November, it will play in Garema Place in Canberra CBD, at 11am and 12noon.

Here are some of the puppets and props; check my Flickr portfolio set for others.

The meercat and the meercat hat:

Meercat puppet

Meercat puppet and hat

Yiying Lu in the meercat hat!

Yiying Lu in the meer cat hat :)

I got rather fond of the hat…

Meercat hat

The pirate captain (finger puppet):

Pirate captain

The rat (rod puppet):

Rat puppet

Kevin, the polar bear (worn on shoulders):

Polar bear

Hans and Donaldine, or the other way around… (glove puppets):

Hans and Donaldine

The shark (worn on shoulders):

Shark puppet

The amoebas (glove puppets):

Amoeba puppets

The eggbeater time machine! Love this great design idea!

Time machine

Two rockets:

Rockets

The multiple eyes of Veruna, the water goddess. In motion.

Veruna's eyes

Desirée, my dear dead manta ray

Posted by hil

Manta ray

This is the big dead manta ray prop that I made for the Street Theatre’s production of Jacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris.  Sadly Desirée – my name for her  – was cut from the final production, but I loved making her.  Manta rays are such awesome creatures!

Because she had a wingspan of over 2 metres, I decided chalk on the floor was a good way to start drawing up a pattern. I also bought myself a little plastic model of a manta to refer to, which turned out to be useful.

Manta ray

From this I traced a pattern onto butcher’s paper and from there onto sheets of polystyrene which were then built up and glued into a block.

Manta ray

I also decided to insert a strip of thin plywood into the underside right across the width of the wingspan, so that the wings would be protected from breaking, especially at the tips. I also did that with the fins that I added.

Then much shaping with a really sharp knife, a narrow power belt  sander, and sandpaper. I decided to keep the surface a bit rough, which often makes it easier for an audience to read.

When I use polystyrene that will just have a painted finish I skin it with muslin first. Here you can just see some of the muslin draped over the spray adhesive can on the right.

Manta ray

I usually add a little bit of latex to the first coat of paint to help make everything stick to the styrene.

Manta ray

Then it’s on to colouring; for the final shading I used spray paint so that the colours merged softly. It was tricky to seat in the eyes (painted and glossed wooden door knobs) and get the shape of the upper eyelid right.

Manta ray

There are a few more in-between photos in my photoset at Flickr.

Messy

Posted by hil

Studio

This is what my studio looks like at the moment. I’m making a large dead manta ray out of polystyrene. I wish it wasn’t so messy and that I didn’t have to wear a respirator all day, but it works nicely.