Phew, What A Day.

Phew, what a day.

I finished painting Marion (she's fully sighted now, thank you very much) and actually managed to make one latex puppet today. YES. I KNOW. I was thrilled, too. It's far from finished--there's all the patching and trimming and fur-gluing and skin-painting to do--but at least I've proven that my molds can actually create puppets. So there's that.

To illustrate how time-consuming this process is (3.5 hours, just to do the part shown below), I've made a little photoseries:

After the figure is sculpted, the mold made and dusted with mold release, and the latex mixed (according to the particular warmth and humidity of your studio), you can finally pour the mix.

When both sides are full and the armature is in place, take a deep breath and squish the two sides together before it hardens/spills out the side.

Let it bake for 2.5 hours, then pry it apart with a crowbar or a screwdriver. Or, if you're hardcore like me, your bare hands. Before waiting for it to cool. (Ouch.)

Gently peel the latex off the mold. Swatting your friend's hands away when she tries to help is optional.

Trim off the excess latex with a pair of mustache scissors. Yes, that's really what those are. Yes, the latex fumes made that a lot funnier than it should have been.

And then you're done! Haha, just kidding. You're never done. But you do have something resembling the photo up at the top. Voila!

World, meet Mina.

Or some semblance of Mina, anyway. Those aren't her glasses (hers will have eyes on them). And she needs a haircut. But still--!

As of 3:03am, I am officially considering myself done with these puppets. Am I actually done? Technically, no. But the remaining work is all non-essential touch-ups and about ten minutes of construction that I couldn't do tonight. So, for all intents and purposes, done.

Phew.

Remember the frog prince from this post? I decided to clean him up and give him as a gift to the boy who inspired him, so I popped him in the oven a la Rhonda's R2D2. Unfortunately, unlike Artoo, he came out a little burnt:

So I painted him. But rather than go to the store for some new acrylic paint, I used some hand-me-down tubes of paint from my grandmother, who bought them for an art class maybe 40 years ago. I can't find a date on the box anywhere, but it looks like it's from the 70s at the absolute latest. When I tried to twist the cap off the tube of white paint, the tube itself split down the side.

This is my way of explaining that the paint came out a little...funny.

But after the first, somewhat chunky coat, I started thinning the paint with water (I was also using those rainbow-colored dollar-store brushes with the black nylon bristles; classy) and the texture improved. Anyway, here he is in all his whitewashed glory. Enjoy!

Just FYI, she does have a head.

I've been up late sculpting every night, so forgive the lazy photo. I'm halfway through a couple of monsters, some other heads, and assorted other puppets, but they're not cool, "wow, the process is so interesting" works-in-progress...more like "wow, someone should teach Cari how to sculpt." So I'll refine a little more before I post those.

And now...a nap.

Hooray, we're in the studio! I spent the better part of my Sunday listening to the Beatles and coating a headless, eight-year-old boy in Vaseline. See?

Because of all the time I spent unpacking the 8,000 boxes of puppet-making supplies we ordered from Burman, I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked. But I did make the first half of the boy body mold (this week I'll finish the mold and hopefully pour some latex before the weekend), and that's a start.

Here he is after a layer of hydrocal:

And after the first half of the mold is complete:

The west side of the studio, just for kicks:

There were three things John Watson loved in this world: a good pipe, Sherlock Holmes, and their bull-pup Gladstone.

Super Sculpey, ~30 min.