ALICE IN WONDERLAND - SET DESIGN PART 1 (DRAFTING AND PRIMING)

For a drama production this spring, I was asked to paint the sets. I could barely contain my excitement when I found they were doing Alice in Wonderland (one of my favorite stories). I knew it was going to be a rough task because I'd worked on the same sets the year before for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (another favorite of mine), and was familiar with the construction design. 

Six flats, each one roughly 8x4.5 feet, two flats for each scene.  

I was ecstatic!  

Mixing up some of my home made primer, and downing my
mojo juice (a.k.a. COFFEE).

The director dropped four of them off at my house. One of the drama students had already started and decided the project wasn't for them. The scrawny little attempted rose bush was killing my mojo, so I had to set them up and prime over the offending image as quickly as I could. Next, I drew up the draft for the scene, and when approval came back, I jumped right in.      

Queen's Garden Draft

When it comes to set design, I prefer to work in the basic colors.  This makes buying paints a heck of a lot easier, because if I run out and can't buy it myself, it's a simple matter of asking for "red" rather than "bright scarlet" or "midnight poppy."  (And no, lipsticks are not the only things to get weird color names.)

The only downside to this is that, if you mix a very specific color, you'd better paint EVERYTHING that uses that color, or risk not being able to mix the same tone after it dries. 

For the Queen of Hearts' Rose Garden scene, I mixed original green tones, but because I was painting bushes, it was alright that the tone kept changing.  It allowed for the foliage to have a more organic look, rather than it all being just one or two shades of green.

Gonna wait for this to dry.  Meanwhile, I'm going to start sketching a draft for the second scene and have that done for when this scene is finished.  


This is going to be the best next few months!!

-Chimmy

BEANIE MASK - PART 2 (*SPOILERS* if you watch the anime Bleach)

Primer dried and I got painting, going off of several photos of the mask I found on Google and a rough sketch I did of the mask beforehand. Unfortunately, I'm new to this whole blogging thing, and I was REALLY excited about painting this thing, so there isn't a whole lot of documentation of the process of painting.  Give me time...I'll get the hang of it.  

Keeping the mask in pieces allows
for it to stretch when the hat is worn.

ANYHOW, this is how it turned out.  I was super happy with it, so I wasted very little time in preparing to attach the pieces to my hat base.  I found a rather ordinary beanie cap at Walmart that's sturdy enough to hold the weight of the rubber, but light enough that he isn't going to feel like he's wearing a ton of weight on his head.

But before I got hot-gluing, I realized last minute that I needed a way to keep the paint fastened to the rubber.  Sure, it'd stay pretty well on its own, but I wasn't sure if unforeseen circumstances (i.e. 80mph winds, volcano spelunking, the zombie apocalypse, etc.) would ruin the piece.  SO! I grabbed my handy-dandy, gloss-finish, rust-protection enamel spray (as shown) and gave the mask several coats. 
I use this spray quite a bit, which is why I keep it close at hand while working on my projects.  Its uses branch far beyond the suggestions on the can (some, for good reason, but who am I to be barred by mere warning labels!  Bah!), from quick around-the-house fixes, to a form of adhesive, to a waterproof coating for some of my up-cycled shoes (a post for another time).
  
All that to say, I loved the outcome. It was fun and comfortable, and the glossy finish on the mask made it pretty legit.

Upcoming Apology:
Now, I need to confess something.  I finished the hat just the day before I met up with my friend for his birthday (because I procrastinate), and gave it to him, and then proceeded to COMPLETELY FORGET TO POST THE FOLLOW-UP, PART 2 OF THIS BLOG ENTRY.  So it's been, like, five months since I did this project.  And I had pictures of the final product, but because of an unfortunate incident with my phone involving the pavement, combined with my chronic forget-to-up-load-my-photos disease, I have no evidence of its marvelousness.  

Someday I'll get a picture of him with it on.  

Until then, I shall attempt to do a better job at documenting my artistic process.  (I really do suck at this...)

-Chimmy