Because my last post was a long one, I'll just post a few silly clay creations I made recently! I couldn't find a picture of my red clay dragon alone, so he is joined by three of my mom's first dragons. All the little guys are made out of polymer clay. It's an easy and fun way to get creating! (I've always included my pumpkin even though it's December now. Can you tell what character it is?)

Paper Mache Mischief

Over the summer I stumbled across this site all about creating paper mache masterpieces. I decided I had to try it. I grabbed some tape, newspaper, tinfoil, a picture and set to work! I wanted to make a dinosaur and a seahorse (because I'm obsessed with seahorses and dinosaurs are just cool). These are the images I worked off of.

           

In retro-spec, I probably should have picked another picture for the dinosaur, it isn't your typical t-rex type deal, the shape isn't the same. Most of the body is newspaper with tinfoil to define the shape a bit more where it was needed. My dinosaur turned out a little derpy as far as his shape goes, his body is a little too fat and his neck too short (I love him anyway). But the seahorse is pretty neat. The pictures here are unfinished, the dinosaur is missing his arms and the seahorse needs a finished tail.

 The next part of the journey turned out to be a hilarious almost-disaster. I wanted to make homemade paper mache clay from the site, so I gathered the materials which included:

• Cheap toilet paper (measure the wet paper pulp, and use 1 1/4 cups – some rolls contain more paper than needed)
• 1 cup Joint compound from the hardware store (get “regular,” not “fast set” or “light”.) (Not sure what Joint compound is, or what it’s called in your country? click here.)
• 3/4 cup Elmer’s Glue-all (PVA glue)
• 1/2 cup White Flour
• 2 tablespoons Linseed Oil or Mineral Oil (vegetable oil can be used, too, if you want)

That doesn't sound so bad right? Wrong. As you may have already gathered, my mom is very artsy with an art room to match. When I asked her for Linseed oil she pulled out an old can she used when she was in college and painted a lot. I wrinkled my noise and immediately worried it was old, but she shrugged and went back to playing computer games (She is an avid online gamer). So I opened the can and dumped it into the mixture I had created. Immediately an intense smell similar to dead skunk started to drift throughout the kitchen. I again started to panic that it was old and I began to feel rather dizzy, so my mom finally goggled it. Sure enough, Linseed oil can skunk. Who knew right? I started to wail about how many brain cells I probably killed in the process of mixing my new paste, but my mom wouldn't read me the hazards, which was probably the right choice. We rushed outside to wash everything off in the hose and bagged the bio-hazard can. We lost a few of our good measuring tools and bowls, but had lots of laughs along the way. Still, I should probably replace those...

The next day I tried again with vegetable oil instead. The clay turned out...chunky...at best. But I convinced myself it was all a learning process anyway so I slathered it on the dinosaur and tried to smooth it out. It wouldn't smooth. It wasn't working at all, which was frustrating since I followed the directions so carefully. Anyway, the only saving grace was that I happened to be doing a dinosaur, so leathery, cracked skin was perfectly acceptable! So in the end, the clay was an awkward success. I forgot to take a picture however.

I did my seahorse in normal paper mache, a much better idea.


Next, I painted the seahorse in white acrylic paint. I was afraid the homemade clay would rot or something, so I sealed the clay with wood sealant because...it's what I could find? After fretting a lot that it would no longer accept the acrylic paint (I fret a lot) I painted the dinosaur white with no problems


The next step was what I was dreading the most. Painting. I hadn't painted anything before. I found a picture of a dinosaur I liked best (pictured above) and started to paint away!...until I hit a point to which I thought there was no return.

What is that?! What are those green blobs?! THAT'S NOT WHAT THE PICTURE LOOKS LIKE. In a huff I asked my mom what to do. She starred at it for a moment before saying "Use a stipple brush!" A Stipple brush is a glorious, glorious tool. Armed with my new brush and moms words of wisdom "Nothing in nature is perfect. Don't try to make anything perfect, then it will look realistic" I created this little guy!

Isn't he just the cutest little derpy thing you've ever seen? I'm really happy about the way the painting turned out, considering I've never painted anything ever. I've sense pulled his eyes out (yikes!) and am looking for a better solution for them...

My next adventure will be to paint the seahorse!

Happy crafting!

A Love For Sherlock

Over the summer I was inspired by my love of the show "Sherlock" to make a collage of the man himself. I started the project the same why I start all my projects: "Mom, how do I make this idea I have in my head?"

Luckily, our ideas weren't too far off this time. We went off to the second-hand bookstore to find an old copy of a Sherlock Holmes book. We found a new copy instead, which prompted my mom to have a moments hesitation about ripping apart a new book. It was overcome.

I went home and found an image of Sherlock, blew it up and printed it out. I cut it out and traced it. From there is was just about piecing together the pieces of pages! (And I lot more messing around). The hardest part was deciding on the background...at first I wanted to do a solid brown background, but by chance my mom and I tried text in the background instead and - bam!

I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. It is my favorite thing I have ever made in fact! But that could be just because it's Sherlock and he is...well...Sherlock.

His hair is a picture from the book, and his tie and face are quotes from the show.

The photo isn't too good, I will replace it after I get it back from the Art show.

The Start

Hello! My name is Julie and I'm a theater major and a public relations minor. This blog is about my graduation project in prop building! I will also post random art projects, as well as articles and sites about props that excite me. Maybe this blog will serve to inspire you, but just reading the blog for enjoyment is good too :)

Freshmen to Junior year in college my emphasis was acting. I traveled to London for a semester to act at the Rose Bruford College of Theater and Performance in the U.K, and I also studied at the Gaiety school of acting in Ireland. Although I loved acting and found success in it, I started to explore the field of props more and more each year.

It is now Senior year, and after a wonderful role in Necessary Targets I decided to drop acting entirely and focus on props. This was a weird decision, considering my main skill and talent lies in acting, but I find props to be so much more rewarding and enjoyable. While I have been properties master for some prop heavy shows, I haven't had much experience building or set dressing; that's where this blog comes in!