The Hundred and One Dalmatians

So once again I have been a very naughty blogger and worked on lots of wonderful things without telling you. So I have decided that now is the time to crank the laptop into motion and bring you all up to speed. So here we have a little glimpse into the design process for Baroque Theatre's The Hundred and One Dalmatians, directed by Adam Morley. 

Emergency Cheese!

I recently had the task of making some emergency cheese for Baroque Theatre's production of Kindly Leave the Stage (the real cheese had started to smell). So I hurriedly set forth with some card packing from my ill-fated headboard (more of that in another post), a toilet roll tube and a pile of junk mail to make a paper-mâché edam, brie and a cheddar. Of course, if I'd had more time I would have smoothed them over with some cotton flock, but overall I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!

Have a look!

I also did an emergency masking cloth for Kindly back in February.

You can still catch Kindly Leave the Stage at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich on June 5th, at St George's Theatre, Great Yarmouth on June the 7th and 8th, at the Trinity Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on June the 13th, and at the Hawthorn Theatre, Welwyn Garden City on June the 15th. See here for more details!

Head over Heels- Oscar Nomination!

So the stop motion film that I did some model-making for and blogged about here has been nominated for an Oscar!! How exciting is that? Read more about the nominations here.

Here's the trailer (My shoes and chairs are in it!):

Oscar Shortlisting!!

Well, that got your attention.

It would appear that I film I did a little bit of model making for last year has been shortlisted for an Oscar! The film is Head Over Heels and its designer was Eleonore Cremonese.

The trailer for Head Over Heels can be found here here

 

1:6 scale 'Gabor' shoes. This photo is a little larger than actual size.

 

 

1:6 scale 'Ravel' shoes. Photo a little larger than actual size.

 



 

 Retro 1:6 scale backpack. Photos a little larger than actual size.

 

Spot my shoes?



 

I also made this set of dining chairs.

 

Backpack..

 

 

Over the next few months, the final nominations will be picked... fingers crossed!

Properties!

When you have numbed all the nerve-endings in your fingers with an accidental layer of superglue... when you are desperately trying to remember trigonometry in order to sew a triangle of fur over a cat’s arse... when you are chasing what appears to be the last twelve gold beads in the whole of Germany around the props room floor... when all your colleagues are giving you grief about the tiny rubbery over-cooked chicken that you left on the doorstep a week ago (If I had found the bio-bin, I would have dealt with it earlier)...

... frequent blogging whilst at work doesn’t seem quite as attainable a concept as it did before you started working.

So let me show you what I have spent the last three weeks working on

Edgar The Spider

 

Edgar (fondly named after Edgar Allen Poe) started out in life as a joke-shop spider. He was a bit too small and plasticy to have much impact on stage, however, so I cut his legs off and extended them.  I created his new legs from wire (to add rigidity to the upper part of the legs) and lightweight chain (to add that satisfyingly startling jiggle-factor). I then covered him in tarantula-coloured fluffy wool, and attached a couple of yellow beads to created home-made-looking eyes, tying in with the slightly crafted look of the rest of the play.

 Edgar in the scary haunted-house scene in 'Lizzie and the Pirate'.

Mina the Cat

Mina (as in Harker, as in Dracula) also belongs to the haunted house sequence wherein she jumps out of a chimney! I vaguely made her pattern from scratch. She has a rigid tail, weighted feet to give her that extra leaping quality, and button eyes.

The Skull

The Skull (un-named, I've already proved I can read) rather unsurprising also belongs in the haunted house. For this, I rather excitingly devised an Indiana Jones-type contraption, whereby the skull sprung up out of a box!



The skull is activated when the actor sneakily nudges the end of the pole through the handle of the box. The weight of the large washers causes the skull end to flip upright and into view! I am a little bit obsessed with automata devices, so this was a very satisfying prop for me to make, even if there were a lot of chisel/washer/fulcrum-based adjustments needed!

The Crown

The crown was a central plot device in 'Taradiddle' and was somewhat challengingly required to be gold and silver and red and yellow and green and blue with diamonds and rubies and emeralds!!! I overcame this with feature-coloured gems at equi-distant points around the crown. The crown was created by wiring and glueing lots of beads to a pre-existing crown structure, and creating a new rim to fit the actress's head.

I love to solder!

The Mirror

The mirror was also in 'Taradiddle', and like everthing else in that play, it required bling! I created it from a plastic photo frame and cut it a new wooden backing and handle. I then covered it in gold paint, gems and glitter. I very much felt like I was working at the Mattel factory. Isn't it hideously wonderful?

...and that's all for now. I also have all my scenic painting to show you, but my computer is currently 'unable to find a destination'... hmm

A Rumpus in the Forest

Myself being the disruptive timber in question and you lot the eerily silent forest. Do tell if you can hear me.

In the meantime, here is a selection of photos of some 1:25 model-pieces that I made. They are currently on exhibit on Pip Nash's stand at the SBTD's Transformation and Revelation exhibition at the Royal Welsh College. The Exhibition is open until the 16th of April, I believe.

All copyright Daisy Plackett