Creaturiste's Laboratory

Free Sculpting Tutorials & backstage

2011-12-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Sculpt by Ray Villafane

Some of my favorite sculpting artists take the time to share with the world.

This list will grow as I remember or get exposed to more tutorials and sites that I can wholeheartedly recommend. A trend that I noticed and partake in: Facebook pages are being used by artists to showcase their works, and quite often, they include work in progress shots, and answer people's questions.

FREE SCULPTING TUTORIALS

http://www.absculpture.com/tutorials.htm

Sculpt by Andy Berghotlz

BEHIND THE SCENES & WORKS IN PROGRESS

https://www.facebook.com/adambeanesculptor

https://www.facebook.com/Ray.MasterofPumpkins

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andy-Bergholtz-Sculpture/251052568242450

http://philippefaraut.com/video.html

Sculpting DVD Library

2011-12-22T18:14:00.001-08:00

by Philipe Faraut

Hey!

I was just sharing a list of my favorite DVDs with a colleague, and realized I haven't compiled it before. Let's share it with the world!
Happy Holidays world!

I consider each one of the following a precious resource in enhancing my skills as a creature designer.
I learn as much by observing as by doing. Books are neat, but video is better for immediate clarity, at least for some of us.

Working on new designs as I watch these videos is almost as if the instructor was right there with me, helping me with details and approaches. I can even rewind and pause them!
Additionally, I love to watch those videos as a work on repetitive tasks that don't require me to problem solve. The techniques get absorbed further into my memory.

I hope these will be of great inspiration to you, like they never cease to be for me.

The Art of Sculpting, by Philippe Faraut.
Definitely the series that will make every motivated person into at least a decent head sculptor.
His method takes you from the total beginner to the advanced results in just hours.
I'm eyeing his books too, especially volume 2.
I wrote an article about the series here.

Creating a Faerie Figure, and
Creating a Character Figure, by Wendy Froud

Sculpting Movie Monsters, by Mark Alfrey
this one has a lot less step-by step clarity, but you learn a lot by listening to his comments, and watching him work. Not a first choice for a total beginner seeking total clarity (Faraut's method is perfect for that), but still a useful resource, and I'm glad to have it.

Sculpture with John Brown.
First series of DVD I tried. It is and will remain a great learning source. I own volume 2, but saw other volumes as well, and it's all top quality. Judge for yourself, each product's page has a video sample.
I want to own the whole series someday.

Pumpkin Carving Tutorial, by Ray Villafane
It's been a really good tool to help get more comfortable carving subtractively, even in clay.
Learn by carving on pumpkins, and the skills are transferable to other media.

The Ama - Soft Sculpture Body Construction, by Lisa Lichtenfels.
I thought I could use this for puppetmaking, but found it difficult to adapt to moving puppets.
Still, I use some aspects of her method, and the set is worth the price for the anatomical lessons on the first DVD. She shows you with illustrations, then color codes everything, then re-sculpts it all in clay, then does it with her polyester batting on an armature of wire. Fascinating! I'd love to see her other video!

On my Wish list:
http://www.adambeane.com/sculpting-tutorials/

Félix Mirbt

2011-12-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

Woyzeck & Marie, photo: Nir Bareket

Last night I went to see the finale of the show "Die Reise ou les visages
variables de Félix Mirbt"
by Théâtre de La Pire Espèce and Marcell Hudon.
It was happening in Montreal, but I hope this show will live on a bit longer and performed elsewhere.
For the credits, see this page, in French.
http://www.pire-espece.com/diereise.html

The show was complemented by an exhibition of puppets, masks, props and
photographs of the career of Felix Mirbt. I wish there had been more to see, but it was a beautiful exhibit. I even learned a few techniques by studying the puppets and masks.

I was inspired by both the exhibit and the show, fascinated almost against my will!
I'm grateful to have gone and experienced it.
Even though I did not know the artist, nor ever saw any of his whosws, this retrospective, created by people who were close to him, made me feel nostalgic and almost like I had met the man. I can definitely see some of his influence on what has been done in Canada since.
He is a defnite pice of puppet history.
Some lessons and techniques people have learned from him have been passed on to me over the years.

What spoke to me the most was his use of the materials and the methods as an integral and visible part of the experience of seeing the show performed.
a lot of people try to hide the process, to make the illusion work.
Mirbt was not hiding a thing: "I shall not forget to mention my tutor at my first (Tecklenburg) festival: Make your strings visible or people will be more concerned about
how you do it than look at your show."

Strings were very visible on marionettes, some other types of puppets were missing hands or the hands were only there when needed, some body parts came from separate props or body parts from the puppeteers. One puppet had a large mask for a head, while the body was a large piece of cloth, and the neck linking iot all together was a very visible ring of wood.

Mirbt had and still has a big influence on Puppetry being done nowadays in
Quebec and Canada. The man loved experimenting on every asopect from puppetmaking to how thw show was constructed, to how the music played a role, and it showed in his results. Refreshing and thought provoking.

For those curious to learn a little bit about his life and work, a website
has been created. They mixed English and French texts, on the same pages.
Beware that a loud sound file will start once the page is loaded.

http://www.pire-espece.com/mirbt/vie.html

Custom Banners

2011-12-13T23:53:00.001-08:00

Click on picture to enlarge.

If you like these, or even if you want something completely different, consider me for the job.

Really, I enjoy transforming images and drawings (yours or mine) with a bit of digital magic.

For rates, send me a detailed description of what you need, and I'll reply promptly:

creaturiste@gmail.com

Pumpkin Carving DVD Review

2011-10-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today I received the Ray Villafane pumpkin carving DVD, and it is a very good learning tool!
Here's my review.

In brief:
Highly recommended for the lesson contents and ease of understanding.
Disappointed by the image quality and lack of true bonus features.

In detail:

The lessons are very clear, and they are classified by complexity levels.

It was filmed with two or three different cameras, so one can appreciate the steps better and with more clarity. Ray narrates live as he sculpts, so it feels like he's there in the room with you, coaching you every step of the way. The pace is probably a bit fast for some beginners, but hey, this is a video, and it can be paused and replayed.

I'm very glad that I got this, and viewing it as I was working it has already helped me with my carving skills, and not just for pumpkins carving. These skills are transferable!

There are disappointments however.
The video quality is not impressive.
It feels dated, as if it had been filmed in the 1980s, and transferred to DVD recently, without much remastering. It does the job for learning the steps, but even using my computer's DVD player software's advanced image enhancing features, and tweaking the options, the image details and colors are lot less alive than they could be. It looked a lot better on the television, however, so you should not worry too much about it if it's your main viewing option. But considering this was made this or last month, I was expecting a video quality that's a bit brighter, sharper, and more alive.

They mentioned bonus materials, but compared to most other DVD tutorials I've bought, it's not cutting it in that department. The bonus lessons are about how to make hands out of pumpkin vines and wire, and how to carve stitches. I'd consider these as integral parts of the main content, as necessity more than bonus. I'd have been angry if I had had decided to go with the downloadable version (I very nearly did, but learned it was in MOV format, which does not do well on my computer system), which does not contain the instructions for those two steps. Considering there is plenty of space on two DVD disks, I was hoping for at least a photo gallery section and some high def video footage of the best pieces in Ray's collection. Maybe even featuring the TV and web interviews Ray has done over the years. Arguably, there is a photo gallery, but it's a part of the intro, is only a few seconds long and shows less then the Facebook page's photo section. The Time lapse videos are very fast, and only appear at the end of each lesson. I'd have loved to see the progress slower, to really appreciate it, and have access to each sculpture's timelapse video on the main menu. Hopefully, there will be some better bonuses in the future, and I hope they will make it available for free to people who ordered the first batch.

If you are not in a hurry, I'd wait a bit before ordering. They might make a better batch of DVD, as this one was rushed so people could get it before this Halloween. Right now there is a video section missing on how to choose one's pumpkins, and I noticed some editing errors. The missing info on pumpkin selection can be found as one illustration in the photo section on the Facebook fanpage.

Warning!
I still recommend this!
The disappointments do not remove the high quality of the actual main content, I'm still very glad I got the DVD for my ongoing training, but the package would have felt a lot more special with better image quality, with bonus features to watch and show to people, all in one place, instead of having to go online and checkout his sites.

http://villafanestudios.com
https://www.facebook.com/Ray.MasterofPumpkins
http://www.youtube.com/user/VillafaneStudios

Halloween 2011

2011-10-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

My Halloween activities have increased this year. Moan is my personal costume. I went with creepy this year, as opposed to my usual fun/slightly spooky looks. I went out with it three times. Today I went downtown, and I got a lot of the kind of responses I was looking for. Smiles, startled screams, and even a store manager having to follow me around, and admitting it to me, as my costume really worried him.
On my way back to my bicycle, I went in to say thanks to my new optometrist and her staff for the glasses I got a few weeks ago, and I got an amazing response from her assistant. She was laughing uncontrollably!
My friend's annual Halloween party doesn't happen this year, so I'm looking for another event in Montreal.
So far, no luck. Public events are mostly about themes I can't relate to, such as the usual drunken vulgar pimp & hoe scene...

The pumpkin is my first carved in 3D, following methods I gathered from looking at the works and videos by Ray Villafane, of Villafane Studios. Look at his Facebook fanpage, it's full of amazing photos and info!
I ordered his Pumpkin Carving DVD, but haven't received it yet. I KNOW my carving will get better when I see more of his methods. I intend to carve as many pumpkins as my time will allow me until the season is over. After that, I'll turn to other root vegetables. It's great practice for my overall subtractive carving skills, and I love the feel/texture/challenge of it. This makes me feel confident that I will be able to carve wooden puppet heads and masks to my liking, soon. Likeness of specific subjects is to come later, but at first I'll be happy to be able to improvise creatures like I am able to do on pumpkins.

Added: my second and third carved pumpkins:

Carla the Vampire has been sold as a Halloween decoration for a party this week-end. Second pumpkin I sell this week, thanks to my friend Daniel, who cut a deal with a pumpkin seller, who got impressed with our carvings.

Two more pumpkins were carved today, October 28th. Might be my last this year. We'll see how the schedule goes.

Posh Puppet of a Pig

2011-08-31T01:34:00.003-07:00

Some pics of my finished pig puppet.

He's mostly sculpted polyfoam, synthetic fabric, nylon webbing (backpack straps) and contact cement, with lots of machine and hand stitching. He's also equipped with removable rods in the forelegs. He has fabric lining inside the head so that the puppeteer's hand doesn't feel uncomfortable on the foam, which overtime gets nasty and textured when it's not covered.

His hooves and snout are paper mache, for the nice definition and strength they need to have.

He can be operated on two or four legs.

The trick to his stability and versatility is that the axles for his legs are stiff, made with rods going through the legs and body. To prevent tearing, each hole is lined by a piece of PVC tubing that is slightly bigger than the axle. That bulge in the neck is avoidable and doesn't always show. Next puppet I build this way will have an extra step top prevent that altogether.

The finish on him is to work with the story that he was badly prepared and cooked all wrong by an inexperienced cook. I made this texture by choosing a textured polar fleece, and by rubbing some very diluted acrylic paint with a rag, while the puppet was moist. It prevents stiffening of the fabric, and prevents brush marks, acting more like a dye.

He now lives and performs in Spain.

Deepy Minty Iced Green Tea

2011-07-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

I made a different batch of Iced tea, and the one major variation makes it taste a bit like maple, although there is none it it!

So refreshing, so smooth and flavorful, you'll likely never be able to enjoy the commercially available iced tea imitations. They usually are way too sweet, and the taste is too diluted.

It will impress your guests!

2 tablespoons of looseleaf organic green tea (Sencha type is what I usually get)

2 tablespoons of looseleaf organic Mint (dry)

Pour 4 cups of almost boiling water over the leaves, let infuse for about 15 minutes.

Strain out the leaves,pouring the liquid into a regular sized pitcher.

Add half a cup of organic brown sugar while it's still hot, and blend well.

Add water until pitcher is full or until it tastes like you want it to. Be sure to taste it before you fill it all the way up, especially the first time you make it. You might need to add more sugar at this point, but don't overdo it,. or you'll drown the subtle tastes of tea and mint. The cold temperature seems to improve the feeling of sweetness.

I place my pitcher of tea in the freezer until it's frozen on the top, then I put it in the refrigerator, or drink it right away.

WARNINGS:

•Adding Mint seems to turn this Iced tea into a powerful diuretic, especially for new drinkers of green tea. Prepare to "go" often if you drink more than a glass...

•This stuff is addicting, and not only for taste.

If you're not used to drinking green tea regularly, and fall in love with the taste of this Iced Tea, make sure you don't drink a whole pitcher per day for a few days, then stop drinking it suddenly.

I learned by experience that the withdrawal symptoms are real. Nothing too serious, but annoying nonetheless: a medium headache.

Evil and Deformed

2011-07-11T07:20:00.001-07:00

Unless I decide to alter some of their features, both of these oil-based clay mask forms are ready for mold making in silicone and plaster.

Both are part of a commissionned series of Character Masks for an Actor Training class, but they will make a good addition to my Halloween selection.

The devil is based on my own face, when doing my imitation of the scariest evil face I can muster. The Deformed man has canine and porcine sides to him. As such, I hope he is a vegetarian.

It took me about 16 hours to model the Devil, while the Deformed took about 8 hours, since I improvised most of him, starting from the Old Man from the same series of masks. For me, Likeness takes longer than improvisation, as I have higher expectations for accuracy.

Making Paper Pulp

2011-07-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

To make pulp, just tear cotton linters, or wood-based papers, or pulp packaging material (like egg cartons, but use only clean, unsoiled cartons) into small pieces, put them in a tall bucket, use a mixing attachment on your electric drill, and spin until as smooth as it will get. Then let soak for a few hours, and repeat the blending. This basically acts like a giant blender that separates the fibers without cutting them shorter.

Some people like to use a blender with a lot of water, one handful of pulp at a time, but it's tough on the motor, and it cuts the fibers even shorter, making it a weaker pulp.

Using a sieve, drain the pulp a bit, then finish with your hands to remove all the water that will come out. Store in a clean, airtight container in the fridge, for only a few days.

If you want a smoother result, or if you're not sure of the cleanliness of your pulp, boil it in water for a few minutes, let cool, then wring out and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

If you need to store your pulp for a long time, flatten it into sheets, let it dry fully on a clean towel and in front of a fan or in the sun (not directly on the ground or near bugs), then store as you would sheets of paper, in a container, away from dust.

When you need to use again, just break into smaller pieces, soak and blend. It will be faster than the first time.

For a smoother version, to use as a detail coat over a stronger pulp, you can break the pieces even smaller, and pulverize them into a powder, using a coffee grinder. Be sure to let the dust settle before opening it again.

I give credit where it's due, for this method, to David Osborne, in Great Britain.

I'm partial to cotton linters, for the strength of the paper it produces, and for the very simple way to prepare the pulp from those easy to decompose sheets.

I've gotten a sample ( a bucket) of wet cotton pulp from a paper mill, and it's bloody heavy to carry, on a bicycle. The same quantity, in dry form, would have been a breeze to carry, just like a sketchbook.

Still, cotton linters are not easily accessible to me, so I'm experimenting to see if the strength of boiled wheat paste, well-blended into newspaper pulp, will be enough for may puppetmaking and maskmaking needs and criterias.

See my preliminary results for pulp mixed with clay powder:

http://creaturistelab.blogspot.com/2011/07/cast-pulp-masks.html

Cast Pulp Masks

2011-07-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with making my own version of Celluclay, and I think I've got it finally, although it's not my version. It's everybody's version, because I had a lot of help in making it work.

I did a first cast (first photo above) with an egg carton type of pulp, pressed wet and flattened with a sponge, to remove the moisture. Then I painted some boiled wheat paste over it, because I noticed it was going to crack and be weak.

It took a long time to apply, and a longer time to dry, some definition was lost, and the result was a little bit weak, but I will be able to strengthen it with paper strips as I had planned.

EXCITING RESULTS

Then I was advised to add clay to the mix. Wow! It feels, behaves, smells, dries and looks like Celluclay!

It took me no more than 15 minutes to apply the pulp into the silicone mold, compared to at least 45 minutes with the sponge methods with the previous batch.

The picture to the left shows you a detail shot of the results, the following pics are from the same recipe with clay.

Better definition, better detail, better smoothness.

It dries a bit faster too, but it's twice the weight compared to the pulp-and-paste version. Still well-within acceptable limits for now. I will see when the masks are strengthened, sealed, and painted. Thin spots can be detected by placing the mask in front of a strong light source, and it can be fixed by adding more pulp until no more light is showing. Drying this quickly and thoroughly is very important to prevent warping.

I will trim each mask, cut out the eye and nostril holes, add a wire rim around the mask's edge, and re-seal all cut edges with paper mache strips and boiled wheat paste. When fully dry, I will sand it where need be, seal with multiple coats of white shellac until water proof, then prime, then paint, then varnish.

NOTE

Click on pics to see the yummy texture!
For years I was striving to make smooth paper mache strips, and when I succeeded, I realized it was not always a good thing to have the smooth perfection. sometimes it's just too perfect, too boring! Pulp has its own "living" texture, which is why I always come back to trying to make it work, in hopes of saving time and getting that wonderful subtle texture. I succeeded this time, with help, and I can feel the end result will be even better.

RECIPE

The measurements are very estimated, because I eyeball everything, and go by feel, but this should work for you too. To make pulp, see this article.

•5 cups of wet pulp, water almost all squeezed out (wood paper based, such as newspaper or egg cartons)

•One cup of boiled wheat paste

•two cups of clay powder (I used pure green clay for facials, found in a health food store. White clay would work just as well, and pre-mixed potters clay would likely be ok too)

Mix the clay powder into the wheat paste until smooth, then incorporate into the pulp until smooth. If too thick, add little more wheat paste.

To cast with this using my silicone molds, I made my mix into more of a grout than a "clay", so it was easily patted down in place, then flattened thinly into my mold, using a thick Cellulose sponge to aborsb the moisture and flatten the pulp. I use a smaller piece that I cut out of the sponge, to make access easier for smller areas. Try to avoid sideways movement, as it can pull the pulp and tear it. Every squeeze's water accumulation is squeezed out into a bucket. It also shows me how much water I was able to extract, and may indicate if I should make the next batch more or less liquid.

You could use a latex mold. For a plaster mold, you'll need to seal it well to prevent the pulp from sticking to the plaster. White petroleum jelly is often used, but I prefer to use a soap based sealer. Next batch of the paper-clay, I'm going to try to reduce the amount of liquid, to see if it will reduce shrinkage. My first two masks with this recipe turned out well, however. Look for yourselves!

The inner view shows an irregularity in color. I suspect it might be the clay needing to be mixed better with the pulp.

Upcoming experiments:
Newspaper pulp mixed well with boiled wheat paste. No clay this time. My hope is that I will get the same definition, without the added weight that clay brings.

UPDATES:

•I made three new casts, using the newspaper pulp instead of the egg cartons.

I boiled the pulp as a precaution. I saw the inks separate from the pulp. Kinda weird.

My mix this time included clay, but more paper and wheat paste than the previous batch.

Because of this, it was a more cream-like consistency, and was faster to apply, but was too liquid for reasonable dry times, and I was afraid of extreme shrinkage. so I got a new Cellulose sponge, cut a smaller piece off of it to make it easier to get into the mold details, and started pressing the moisture away. What a difference it makes to have a high quality sponge that's thick enough!

Pressing without moving sideways is very important to prevent tearing of the pulp. Some of it will happen anyways, so add more wet pulp and press it down with the sponge. Invisible seams!

I was able to remove between 1.5 and 2 cups of liquid with this method.

I already have a smoother interior or the mask, the wall will be thinner, and the drying times will be reasonable, I can feel it!

•I added a coat of wheat paste over the first cast of the three eyed mutant, since that first one's pulp was not mixed with wheat paste, just painted with it once it was inside the mask. It will help keep the texture intact when I start surface smoothing.

•So far, I will have at least 4 new masks for sale before the end of summer.

I'm very busy, but if I wasn't, I'd be rushing the finishing of the mutant mask, just so I can feel the fun of painting it!

•Now that all the casts are dry, I was able to compare them (unsealed, no added paper strips or wire contour). Cotton pulp +wheat paste is the strongest, lightest and thinnest of all the mixes. It also shows less shrinkage and the texture is acceptable. Adding clay to newspaper or egg carton based pulp (with wheat paste) adds hardness and weight, but not much strength against crushing or impact. All mixes work good for display items, but for performance wearable masks, none meet my criteria as-is. I will add strips to the weakest of the casts to see if it's worth the effort.

• I added two layers of Kraft paper strip to the newspaper pulp casts of the masks, and the added strength is surprising! With the wire outline, I have a feeling these masks will be up to my standards of durability. The kraft I used this time is thin, likely the same that lunch paper bags are made of in Canada and the USA.
I crumpled and soaked and wrung out the water from the paper, to soften it before use.

I have added pulp over strips before, and it works so long as the strip project is strong and stable.

Yet I had never fully successfully cast pulp by itself before, as each cast required major "surgery" to look good. Now, with just newspaper pulp and boiled wheat paste, pressed down wioth a thick cellulose sponge to remopve all mositure that I could, I have succeeded. The strips stuck well to the dry pulp cast, but I made sure of that by rubbing a very thin coat of wheat paste all over the cast prior to adding the strips. Adding anything to a non-sealed paste-based project can temporarily make it soft again, so I was careful and placed the casts back into the molds, for safe keeping until dry enough again (in front of a fan for a few hours) to stand on their own without warping. Careful extra drying is done once release again from the mold.

I will report back when the first mask is fully assembled, dry, sealed, and put throuh my vigourous testing.

Perhaps before...

...

Told ya!

Three of the casts (the two newspaper pulps and the one egg carton) are now trimmed, edged with wire, and have an extra layer of Kraft paper over the front.

I love the subtle texture even more now, and it's not even sanded down yet.

Semi-dry, i can already tell these masks are very strong.

Sealing them with shellac will only increase their durability.

Photo here:

• I made two new casts, still using the newspaper pulp and boiled wheat paste, pressed down with the cellulose sponge. I decided to try applying the pulp as thin as I could without seeing the mold through it once sponged. It works even better, dries faster, and weighs less. Of course there are more tiny holes that you can see in front of a lightsource, but these will be fixed with the two layers of Kraft paper inside, and one on the surface of the mask. I feel like I am getting close to a favorite way of doing paper mache masks. Faster, better resolution, just as strong as my all-strip masks? It's all goooooood!

Ambidextrous mouthplate

2011-06-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

Over the years, the frequency of puppets requiring mouth plates has increased in my production. I've been trying different types of mouthplate materials, and I really like one material above all else for a hinge material: nylon webbing (backpack straps). This article shows what I do with it, to make a mouth plate.

The design is symmetrical, and can be worn on the left or right hand. Very comfortable, if glued well-aligned with the mouth. The center zigzag stitch separates the hand grips in half. This piece was a test, and was removed because I messed up the alignment in the puppet, and the side stitches flaring out were not easily flattened down. Look below fore a better version of stitching the sides. This one is not made of nylon webbing, but it is a similar looking product, I think it's a natural fiber.

Pros: very strong, one piece, won't un-glue itself.

Cons: only works for lightweight puppets that don't require a finger grip (like a half ball).

Be careful to give enough space for fatter fingers than your customer's, just in case.

I started using this marvel stuff years ago, after having problems with a leather mouthplate stretching out of shape and ungluing itself because of extreme moisture in the air. Nylon webbing doesn't seem to stretch at all, won't rot, and doesn't seem to get brittle. It accepts hot glue wonderfully, but it drinks in contact cement a bit between its weaves, so we need to use several applications before proper surface contact is achieved. The contact cement stiffens the hinge area, so don't put any where it will bend.

More often than not, I can't find the webbing in a wide enough variety, so I use two or more next to each other, to create the proper hinge width. I nowadays zig-zag stitch them flat next to each other, using the sewing machine. I picked up that trick from a customer who is very good at sewing, when she learned that I was going to have to use the narrower webbing for some puppets I was making for her. Been zigzagging it ever since! Once stitched, the hinge is measured within the head, marked, and trimmed. The perimeter is zigzag stitched twice to prevent unraveling. Might not be necessary, with the contact cement later, but I prefer to play it safe.

The webbing can be somehow uncomfortable at the edges, so once installed in the mouth, covering with a soft but durable fabric will increase comfort and durability. Sometimes the design requires finger tubes, so I make these out of the same nylon webbing, but make sure to machine stitch it flat, then loop the lengths on both side up and hand-stitch them together once I have the required fit. Be careful not to stitch too thickly where the webbings link with each other, or you'll have an uncomfortable bump.

The middle finger is free to operate one of my eyebrow triggers.

What an actual nylon webbing hinge looks like before it is stitched together flat. The webbing I had was narrow, so I zigzagged three together (brown stitches in the center). The pins show where the zigzag stitch must be well done to ensure durability. Avoid over stitching into lumps though. The "legs" are joined together, trimmed to size, once measured, then their edges zigzagged to prevent unraveling, then each tube is hand stitched together. An extra stitch is done over that to split the hand grip in half, if necessary for the design (see first picture).

Bonus Tips:

•Nylon webbing can be made into puppet hair, by simply unraveling it. Usually, it unravels only in one direction. Some weaves of nylon webbing don't unravel in any usable way.

•Using a waterproof fabric inside the foam puppet's mouth will enhance the durability.

I made a puppet about two years ago that has a liner of umbrella fabric. It's lasting to this day.

It might be sluippery with sweat, so be sure that you have a good grip as part of the design.

I had a half ball of closed cell foam as a finger grip on the upper mouth plate.

Simple rod marionette control

2011-06-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

I made up this control really fast, to replace the fragile (and broken), overly complex control that came with a rod marionette my customer brought from Belgium.

The marionette itself was well built.

I had to simplify the system so that amateurs could make it move really well, at first. So I made it in one piece, no movable parts on the control.

The handle is a piece of pine.

The horizontal extension is made of two pieces of hardwood, which I cut from the bigger paint stirring sticks I found at the hardware store. I love those! The are pre-pierced to prevent splitting, glued in place, and screwed as well. The screw eyes are inserted with a bit of glue, until their base sinks a bit into the wood, to make sure the strings will never grab or escape. Their ends that poke through are cut flush with the surface. All the screw heads are covered with epoxy putty.

The control parts are filed and sanded smooth while still separate.

Another step of sanding and filing is done on the assembled control.

Only two strings operate the arms and legs.

The leg string goes through both screw eyes at the top.

The arm string goes through the single screw eye.

Because I didn't have the time to replace the rod, I had to break the old control off of the rod, and build my new control over the existing, already-bent rod.

this meant I had to carve a channel into my wooden handle to snugly hold the rod in place.

I then filled it with epoxy putty (plumbing grade). I like the one from PC products (USA), because it is very strong, and cures well within 20 minutes.

Once applied, you can smooth epoxy putty with a bit of rubbing alcohol on your gloved finger.

When cured, a filing and sanding can be done to achieve a seamless result.

I painted the whole control with a glue-based black paint of my own composition.

Neat feature:

Grab leg string, and the opposite side of the arm string, then activate the legs.

This makes the rod marionette walk with the natural opposition of arms and legs (left arm raises as the right leg does same).

Neat Marionette Joint

2011-06-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had the chance to make a new control for a rod marionette from Europe.

I don't get to see those often, and every time I learn something new.

This time, on the Pinocchio puppet, I noticed the simple yet sturdy system the artist (unknown, probably from Belgium) used for the knees and hips.

Instead of the usual hole in the wood, where the axle can and will enlarge said hole, they made a groove on top of the piece of wood, inserted a piece of thick wire to cover the groove, used an axle on the other piece of wood, which links up to the initial piece by going under the metal wire.

Metal on metal is strong. It's a little bit squeaky though. It was barely noticeable on the Pinocchio.

Inspirations for Abundance

2011-06-13T14:54:00.002-07:00

I often recommend these sources for inspiration.

They all helped and are still helping me better my life.

I dedicate this article to all artists, who may have been struggling with money and abundance.

Let's fight the clichés and unproductive, self-destructive beliefs.

The age of the Starving Artist is over!

These are resources I found and still find very inspiring in my life, and

work.

Free audio book of The Science of Getting Rich
http://www.archive.org/details/TheScienceofGettingRich
(I listen to the audio, but I also have the actual book, to carry with me).

Think and Grow Rich (book)
by Napoleon Hill
(I'm still reading it for the first time, not even halfway yet, and already
it's very useful)
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1585426598

For energy and connection inspiration, the following movies (both based on
books) are very uplifting:

The Celestine Prophecy
http://www.thecelestineprophecymovie.com/

Peaceful Warrior
http://www.peacefulwarriormovie.net/

And for the importance of myth, there's a superb documentary, which uses
stop motion puppetry (puppets made by Wendy and Brian Froud) to illustrate
some of the myths:
Mythic Journeys
http://www.mythmovie.net/

About the law of attraction
(Developed within the two books named above)

Every time I focus on it, even just a little, I get demonstrable results. Just last night, I found 7 "banker's boxes" I needed for better storage and order, for free. I had been thinking I needed them just the day before, and told myself I WOULD find them.

Wasn't even looking for them. Works for small things, and bigger things, including events.

Let's make this a habit, and grow abundance for all!

Mini Mask Sketches

2011-05-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

I've been working on 5 contracts at a time these days. One of the most exciting is designing and fabricating 10 character masks for training actors in a Theater school.
The advantage is that I will also be able to sell copies, since I am taking the time to make each mold durable and precise. So if you're into masks, stay tuned, or contact me to speed up thing is you want one for yourself or to offer as a gift.

Here's a video showing what they look like near the end of the sketching process:

_____________________________________________________________

Easy HEADS

2011-03-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

NEW DATE!

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Contact me for more information.

I can create a custom workshop to help you achieve your specific goals and projects.

FRANÇAIS:

NOUVELLES DATES!

CLIQUEZ POUR AGRANDIR

Contactez-moi pour de plus amples informations.

Je peux vous créer un atelier sur mesure, pour vous aider à atteindre vos bûts et à compléter vos projets.

Wet effect with Waterbased Varnish

2011-02-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

In the past, I aovided using acrylic based varnishes, becaue I hated the "plastic-like" finish, so unlike the water, or glass or polished stone effect I would always prefer.

I recently started using Liquitex High Gloss Varnish for glossing eyes and lips when toxic materials are to be avoided. It's really nice if applied as a puddle, instead of brushed on thinly. I still use a brush, the softest possible, to spread it around as precise as I can. Takes less than an hour to dry, and it doesn't seem prone to bubbles. Additional layers just make it glossier. I never tried more than three coats.

I've sped-dried it with a hairdryer and a heat gun, both work on it. Takes minutes before you can add another coat. I still recommend that you leave it be for at least 8 hours before "handling" of the prop.

http://www.liquitex.com/Products/varhighgloss.cfm

I'm really happy that I tried it in different ways until the "almost pouring-on" was shown to give a superior result. It saved me from using a toxic epoxy countertop varnish.
It's almost as glossy as acrylic nail polish, although nail polish seems to be impossible to apply flawlessly over a larger surface than a square inch. Dries too fast. Maybe a solvent?
But then again, I now avoid toxics...

Sweet Vegan BBQ Bean Chili

2011-01-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Another Delightful meal idea for the busy artists! Make this, eat a meal, freeze the rest for later!

Creaturiste's Sweet Vegan BBQ Bean Chili

This is Vegan, but will satisfy even the most carnivorous lumberjack.

Best to chose fresh organic ingredients, for health and taste!

This is a huge quantity for a single person, but a generous portion for an average family's meal.

Everytime I make chili, I change the recipe to discover new flavors.

I rarely fail, but I've never made a better one than this one!

It's like eating a boewl of chili that somehow, has the same appeal to me as Southern-American style BBQ pulled pork with plenty of thick, sweet BBQ sauce. So to be able to re-create this wonder, I'm writing it down, right as I'm eating my first bowl.

Ingredients

5 cans of beans ( 540 ml / 19 fl. oz. each )

•2 cans of black turtle beans

•3 cans of Red Kidney Beans

Drain but do not rinse! The small amount of juice adds body to the texture and flavor!

312ml / 11 fl. oz. of tomato paste

796 ml / 27 fl. oz. of whole tomatoes

4 Medium-sized Carrots

2 medium-sized white onions

227 grams of white mushrooms

2 cups of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

4 cloves (or two tablespoons) of grated or pureed garlic

1 cup of black strap Molasses

Half a cup of raw unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar

2 cups of Sunflower Oil

Two tablespons of chipotle hot sauce (see recipe below)

Two tablespoons of Paprika (I use Spanish Paprika)

1 tablespoon of sea salt

1 tablespoon of raw cane sugar (or maple sugar)

Equipment

•Large pot with a thick bottom (cooks more evenly). I use my Pressure cooker, without the lid.

•cast iron skillet

•big sturdy ladle

•regular kitchen wares for cutting and holding the ingredients.

Wash carrots and Mushrooms.

Cut carrots in thick slices.

Steam carrots until no longer crunchy (still with a bite to it, we don't want mush!). This step cuts your overall cooking time by a lot, and avoids the all-too-common burnt chili at the bottom of the pot.

While Carrots are steaming, heat the oil in a cast iron skillet but not hot enough to fume, add the garlic & parsley, stirring occasionaly. Cut mushrooms in slices.When a minute or two has passed, add mushrooms to skillet and cover for about three two minutes, to force a lot of juice out of the mushrooms (they shrink, it's magic!). Cook about two minutes more. When carrots are ready, keep the water for later, put the carrots, with the skillet's content, in the large pot. Do not heat it just yet. Do not wash the skillet, you need it still, and the remaining oil should not go to waste!

Chop the onions, add them to the skillet (see?, i told you!) with a splash of oil, and a tablespoon of raw sugar (or maple syrup). Cover for a few minutes to release the juice, then remove lid, cooking some more until the onions are almost caramelized. Put in the big pot.

Open all the cans. Drain the beans but do not rinse, the lttle amount of remaining juice adds body, texture and flavor! If you insist on rinsing, at least add an extra splash of oil to the pot later.

Put beans, tomatoes & tomato paste in the pot..

Heat the pot at medium. Stir well. Add Molasses & apple cider vinegar and stir even more. If the mixture is too thick, add a touch of the carrot-steaming water (nutrients inside!) Careful, some of the juices will be released soon, and could make your chili into a soup!

Remember: it's easy to add liquid, harder to remove...

At this point I taste the result, salt to taste, add more vinegar if needed for a tangier taste, and add Paprika, sea salt & the chipotle hot sauce until I get the wonderful sweet-spicy BBQ sauce I'm after. The Chipotle sauce is the magic maker here, adding both spicyness and SMOKYNESS. You could use other pepper-based hot sauces, but it just won't be the same! Maybe adding a bit of liquid smoke could compensate?

WARNING: DO NOT OVERCOOK!

Since this is made from canned beans, all the beans are already cooked, so PLEASE, avoid overcooking the chili. You'd lose flavor and lots of nutrients! We cook it mostly to finish cooking the mushrooms, and blend all the flavors together. Like a lot of chili recipes, this will likely taste even better the second time you serve it, after it has been in the fridge. One of the mysteries of the universe! On an unusually busy week where shopping & cooking are out of the question, I can eat this every day, without getting tired of it. Freeze some portions of it to make the joy last!

Better yet, spread the LOVE and offer it to friends and family!

Chipotle Hot Sauce Recipe

I'm a very busy guy, so I don't take the time to cook everything from scratch. I do take the time, occasionaly, to figure out shortcuts though, and here's one of my varorites: I buy chipotle peppers in adobo sauce(brand: La Costena, from Texas), dilute with lime juice, liquify in a blender, add more lime juice if not liquid enough. I funnel it into a glass bottle (I like the Frank's Red Hot bottles). It keeps a long time in the fridge, but it tastes so good for the spice lovers that one bottle shouldn't last them very long...

I use it in a lot of dishes, including rice, pasta, eggs, and it adds LIFE to an otherwise OK homemade pizza. Just add a few drops evenly over the cheese before baking.

Careful, this is sweet and doesn't seem to be as spicy as it actually is. You can overdose on it and cause discomfort to your innards. I sure have!

Now if you'll excuse me, I WANT a second bowl of that dangerously good dish.

Happy New Year, Strangelings!!!

2010-12-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Click to Enlarge!

To all Strangelings, Misfits and Weirdos Out There, Happy New Year of 2011!

Wishes of Abundance and New Friendships to You and Yours, from Creaturiste, Poëk, Mr. Armadillo, and the rest of the ever-growing creature family!

Tahini Dip / Veggie Paté

2010-11-09T13:53:00.000-08:00

Wow. I have been snobbing tahini as a condiment for years. I was missing out!

I didn't mind it if it was part of something else, but as a main flavor, forget it, it was too bitter for me.

Until now!

I was looking for a recipe for a vegan substitute to sour cream, and found this recipe, which calls for tahini (roasted sesame seeds, ground until smooth cream) as a main ingredient. I simplified the recipe by buying pre-made tahini, and added my own proportions. Here's the result:

Tahini Dip / Veggie Paté

It's easy, healthy, almost raw, super refreshing, and super fast to make!

•1 cup of tahini

•juice of two lemons (freshly squeezed)

•one tablespoon of onion powder

•one teaspoon of minced garlic

•pinch of sea salt

•water, if necessary to dilute (though I now prefer to dilute with more lemon juice).

Mix it all together until smooth and to the consistency you need.

No need for a blender, I hand mixed it all.

It does not imitate sour cream, but the taste seems to work where sour cream would.

I already tried it in burritos, and as a veggie dip. Amazing!

I am going to mix it thicker next time, add some ground peppercorns and herbs, and use it as veggie pate, for toasts, sandwiches and crackers.

You won't believe it until you try it!

And please let me know if it already exists as a tradition under another name, so I can research it and add the info here.

Green Iced Tea

2010-09-16T13:42:00.001-07:00

One more recipe for the busy artists who appreciate good food, but don't have much time to prepare them.

My Iced Tea (sweet tea) is very appreciated by my guests.
It's an easy 10 minutes to make, takes about two hours of freezing to be ready, so I make it in advance, when I know someone is coming.

Ever since I succeeded making it to my taste, I can no longer appreciate the overly sweet chemical "drink" that is called Nestea. Real Iced Tea should be fresh made, therefore fresh-tasting, and not too sweet!

Ingredients:
•2 big heaping tablespoons of Green Tea
Needs to be loose leaf & organic. I personally prefer Sencha, a Japanese green Tea.
Variation: for the hottest heats of summer, a blend of half green tea and half dried mint leaves is a really good combo.

•4 cups of near-boiling water.
•sugar or honey, to taste (I add about half a cup of raw organic sugar, or raw honey).
•fresh cold water to fill the rest of your pitcher
•glass or ceramic teapot that can hold 4 cups.
•fine mesh strainer, to filter the tea leaves.
•Pitcher, needs to be freezer-safe (I use a plastic pitcher for this).

Steps:

1. measure 2 heaping tablespoons of green tea leaves, and put in the teapot or glass jar.

2. Bring 4 cups of cold water to an almost boiling point, using a kettle.
Using cold water to start with helps in keeping your drink unflat.

3. Pour the hot water onto the tea leave, and lest rest for 8 to ten minutes. Waiting longer will make a much more bitter tea. Some people step it for less than 8 minutes, but for me, it feels like a waste. You'll see what appears to be flakes or powder, turn into actual leaves, or big fragments.

4. pour the tea into the pitcher, using the strainer to catch the leaves.

5. Add the sweetener and blend while it's hot.
A variation: sometimes I add the juice and a bit of inner pulp of two or three lemons at this point.

6. fill the rest of the pitcher with cold water, and blend well. Tasting it now should tell you how sweet it is. If it feels a bit weak now, you should add a bit more sweetener, as a cold tea seems to taste a bit less sweet. Observe the marvelous color! It may be called green tea, but often it looks more golden, with a green tint.

7. Put in the freezer, without a lid, for about two hours, or until chilled.

8. Dispose of your surprisingly big heap of tea leaves in the outdoor compost right away. They attract insects. Who knew fruit flies were THAT fancy? If it's winter time and you don't want to dig out the compost pile, you can leave it in the freezer or in a bucket outside until you have time to do so.

9. Issue a warning to your guests: this iced tea is known as a diuretic. It affects some people more than others. If you have a very small or very nervous bladder, start with one single cup, to see how it affects you. Hey, such a natural diuretic is a good thing, it cleanses you!

10. Enjoy!

11. repeat the warning if you see that your guests are emptying the pitcher...

NOTES:
Why not use Tea Bags?
Why loose leaf and not tea bags? Commercial tea bags are low quality at best, and have barely any taste, in general. So "do yourselves a flaVor", and get loose leaf tea. Don't be fooled by the label at the store if it's sold by weight. Even at $10.00 a kilo, it's a bargain, since tea leaves are very lightweight. Different brands and types of green tea will taste different, because of how they are grown and processed. My most recent purchase of Sencha tastes more grassy than my usual supply, and that was a great surprise. If you like the convenience of tea bags, you can purchase empty bags and prepare your own. If I were to start using them, I would prefer the over sized tea bags, allowing me to prepare bigger batches, such as what is called for in this recipe.

Wheat Paste is solved!

2010-09-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have just found out, by a sudden moment of strange inspiration, how to prevent delamination of the first few surface layers of paper mache strips.

The problem:

When using boiled wheat paste as a glue for paper mache strips within a negative mold, the release layer of paper towels or toilet paper and water, were always diffcult to really paste down and merge with the rest, once pulled out of the mold. Even worse, most times, some areas of the glued paper lift when applying the sealer.

I never had those problems with PVA glues.

The solution:

I now use a paper pulp (with wheat paste as a bonding agent) to make the detail coat into the molds. It takes twice as long to dry, but that time is not wasted, as I get a better definition, and a bonus texture that I love. I then add 3 or 4 layers of thick Kraft paper inside, for the strength and stiffness I need.

See the method here:

Making-paper-pulp.html

Casting with Paper Pulp

I'll repeat it here, to be clear: Wheat paste paper mache is far more stable in temperature changes than any PVA I've ever tried.

PVA-glue paper mache strips: get it cold, it becomes brittle and can break into pieces if dropped or hit; get it hot, it becomes soft and can be warped or squished out of shape.

Boiled wheat paste paper mache strips: no apparent change! I even froze a puppet head for a few hours, and then hit it violently, there was no change in strength!

Add to this that wheat paste paper mache is by far stronger than PVA-based same, and you got the best choice: stronger, non toxic, smoother results, non-lumpy, very economical, available worldwide!

This is where I got the info that made me want to try wheat paste again, at last!

Thank you Jose Chavez!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjMjm7p25zM

And here is the previous article I wrote about Wheat paste and my newfound love for it:

http://creaturistelab.blogspot.com/2010/08/loving-wheat-paste.html

Home-made Blender Slurpie

2010-08-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Whenever I need healthy refreshements, which is everyday,
I make something along these lines...
It's fast, it's amazing.

Fill half a blender pitcher with frozen fruits of your choice.
I reccomend these different variations, because they are my favorites so far...
•Berries (blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry)
•Fruit blend (watermelon, strawberries, honeydew, peaches, grapes)
•Berries+Maple Syrup

•Pickled ginger+juice of 2 lemons+sugar (this tastes like a spicy lemon pie!)

Add a little amount of sweetener (organic sugar, honey, or maple syrup are my usual)
Add a liquid of your choice (water, fruit juice, sweet tea, or even a milk or a milk replacement) to cover the fruit content completely, and add a little bit.
A pinch of salt completes it.
Some people may like, depending on the fruit choices, a tiny bit of spice, such as black pepper, which works really well with strawberries.
However, you do not want it to be overpworing, it's just there as a bonus dimension in taste.

Blend until smooth. If it doesn't move enough for your blender strength, use more liquid, stir by hand, and re-blend..

This mixture can be drunk with a big straw (like for Bubble Tea), or eaten with a spoon.

Also, it's amazing as a sherbet, but in this case I sometimes like to add a thickener, such as a raw egg, or a banana, but it is not really necessary. Use it in an ice-cream maker, or try this fantastically easy and economical method:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Made-Ice-Cream...-without-a-refrigerator!/

I modified that method a bit, I now use a larger plastic bucket to contain the ice & salt. Until I can find a proper flexible and durable container, I still use the plastic zip bag to hold my ingredients. However, a leak usually appears after one use. The slightly damaged bags can be washed and reused to store dry things that are larger than particules, such as craft supplies!

Enjoy!

Latex Frog Puppets

2010-08-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to show the first pics of the painted frog!
There are still some painting steps left, such as coloring some more and antiquing, but this is the overall look.

After all the technical insanity that seemed to happen every step of the way, it's finally good!

I thought I'd make my life easier by making a single piece latex puppet (in a two-part mold), it was actually a technical nightmare to learn how to use my good mold.
Learned a lot in very little time.

And I am "forced" to turn the few imperfect casts into Zombie Frog puppets!
I have one almost entirely painted already. Pics coming soon.
Both series (frogs and zombie frogfs will be available on my Etsy store in the coming weeks.
Three zombie units will be for sale at first, and then, they will most likely be made to order.

Prices will go up once the cold weather sets in and I cannot work outside, as this will force me to rent studio space, as I don't cast latex in the house.
So, if you want'em, hurry and order before the end of September!

Creaturiste Paper Mache Methods

2010-08-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

NOTE:

I have never been fully satisfied with PVA glue in paper mache, because of the instability of the result when confronted with extreme temperature changes. The piece become brittle when exposed to cold, and can break during that time. They become potentially saggy when exposed to extreme hot or moist weather. They return to their normal strenght when the comfortable temperatures come back, but during the time they were at risk, they may have gotten damaged!

I am currently researching and experimenting with boiled Wheat Paste to find a temperature-stable alternative. It seems to be temperature-stable so far. I'm so glad of the results that I plan to use it for all my projects instead of PVA glues.

Quest: The Best Paper Mache

2010-08-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

QUEST: The Best Paper Mache.

PROPERTIES
•Durable

•Strong against impact

•Strong against pressure (crushing)

•Strong against scratches

•Lightweight

•Smoothness when needed

•Easy to apply

•Definition (accuracy in details, with or without using a mold)

•Stable in temperature changes (not brittle when cold, not saggy when hot)

•Dries matte
•Economical

•Non Toxic

My Definition of The Best Paper Pache:

A paper, a glue (or adhesive), a sealer and some textural and colored finishes combined to create an accurate, durable and lightweight piece of art that is strong enough to be a performance object.

In my personal endeavours, acrylic paint remains the most practical paint to use (fast drying, readily available). I have hopes to make it work on top of my natural paper mache approach, but also need to find a completely natural paint that will be just as water resistant, or better. Oil Paint is the best contender so far.

Best papers I've tried:

•coffee filters (thin yet very strong, applies smoothly, edges disappear like magic)

•Kraft paper (various thicknesses, great for quickly building thickness and strength

•Paper Towels (used as a smooth or textured finish)

These three papers are the best for my purposes. Your purposes may have you require other papers.

Best Glues/ adhesives I've tried

•Wheat Paste (current favorite).

It has all the properties I need for the best paper mache, except I have not found an appropriate sealer that will be compatible with it, and acrylic paints.

•Weldbond

It is a higher quality than any other PVA adhesive I tried. It dries clear, is flexible, acid free, and scratch resistant. It also resist water better than other PVA. It is also ideal as a basecoat for acrylic paint, which never seems to separate from it (other PVA make acrylic paint crack, which is a great effect only when one wants and controls it). I use it as a sealer for my pva-glue paper mache projects, it is a great basecoat for acrylic paint, contrary to all other PVA glues I tried. Added to joint compound and water, it makes Monster Bone, which is what I finish all my paper mache project with, for an infinity of textural possibilities. Added to the paint, it makes it scratch resistant, but add a bit of gloss.

Not great for building stable hollow structures, because it is too flexible, but that flex makes it ideal to cover or repair flexible materials.

•PVA glues (aka white glue: Elmer's, Lepage, Mastercraft, etc)

Already Amazing, but not enough.

I already have methods that work incredibly well.

After all, I can throw my paper mache puppets or masks against a wall or floor, and they will bounce back unharmed, save a few occasional scratches, depending on surfaces.

You can get most of my methods for free, on this very site, if you search a bit.

I just realized I don't have an updated article about my best methods. I shall write one soon as I have time.

In the meantime, my favorites:

Paper mache Bark

http://creaturistelab.blogspot.com/2008/06/faster-paper-mache-shell.html

Monster Bone

http://creaturistelab.blogspot.com/2008/06/monster-bone-finish.html

These results are just not strong enough for me, because of the heat/cold instability.

They are nearly indestructible in comfortable room temperature, but become temporarily brittle in the cold, or can be warped by pressure if it gets too hot. Which is why I switched to Wheat Paste, which doesn't seem to have this issue at all. The problem is finding a sealer that will protect it from moisture, and still allow for painting with acrylics. Also, if paints made with natural products have been proven to work for a durable, water-resistant finish over paper mache, maybe with a varnish compatible with them, I'd love to know!

We Need Everyone's help

Information that is easily accessible to some, is not made available to most.

Hundreds of years of paper mache tradition, from various countries, and the techniques are not fully accessible online, in the "age of information".

I'm calling upon all Artists, Crafters, and Workers of paper mache, to check their own information and that of the people they know, to see if it is well known by all. What may seem obvious to you can often be a wonderful discovery and time saver for everyone else. If it is not well known, please make it available, by sharing it here and on the paper mache websites, such as PaperMacheArt and Paper Mache UK.

Send me your information at creaturiste @ gmail.com

What information would help us all tremendously:

•Fully Described Traditional Methods from China, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Germany, Russia, Italy...

because these countries seem to be the major experts, historically.

Questions to be answered by professionals:

•What is your favorite, time-tested natural paper mache approach?

•Best sealer for each paper mache+adhesive types (wheat paste, pva, acrylic medium)

•Best paints (preferably natural)

•Best Varnishes for specific paints (preferably natural or water based)

•What is best: dipping strips or applying glue with a brush?

Upcoming tests:
•Sealing with household "latex" paint (which is not really a natural product, so not a truly ideal solution, but still a good viable one).
•Sealing with Acrylic Gesso (which has always weakened my PVA-based paper mache projects in the past, maybe it won't do that to wheat-based?)

Thanks for your input. Together we can come up with the answers.

I'd like to compile them into one simple tutorial document, and publish it online for all to see.

Loving The Wheat Paste!

2010-08-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Wow.

I've been working in paper mache on a puppet head and three different masks, all made with wheat paste instead of my usual exterior wood glue.
The result already seems so much stronger than when using any version of PVA glue (white glue, wood glue, etc), and I only used three layers of paper (coffee filters sandwiching one layer of thin kraft paper) so far. The final result will require 6 to 8 layers.

A few weeks ago, I experimented with Corn starch, and I loved it except for the sagging caused by the re-wetting when assembling parts. This problem does not occur with wheat paste, at least not on the puppet I was assembling.

So, Wheat Paste has all the advantages I noticed in Corn starch, but none of the disadvantages!

Thanks go to
•Monica J. Roxburgh (GoblinArt) who years go, was writing about it.
•Mary Robinette Kowal, who wrote about wheat paste in her blog
•Jose Chavez, who posted a very useful video on how to make wheat paste.

Why use Wheat paste?
•Natural
•Non toxic
•Much much more economical
•Much stronger
•Better handling properties
•Strips stay flat when applied
•Dries faster than PVA glues
•Penetrates paper better than pva glue
•Bonds better with the paper.

VERY IMPORTANT TO SEAL
Pastes made from flours or starches are very rewettable! So it is very important to seal it properly before painting, otherwise you have high risks of warping from water, moisture in the air, spoilage, insect and pest attacks.

If you plan on using oil paints to finish your paper mache, you can seal with shellac, lacquers and other oil-compatible finishes.

If on the other hand, you will paint with acrylics or latex paints, you need to seal with a waterbased sealer.
As far as I know, the only true way to seal it perfectly is with oil based or lacquer products, and paint with oils. W.T. Benda, back in the 1930s, sealed his paper mache masks (glue he used is unknown to me, might have been wheat paste, or animal hide glue perhaps) with lacquer and painted them with oils. A colleague tried some Benda Masks a few years ago, and says they are good as new.

For my purposes and required times of delivery, waterbased products, which dry very fast, are what I have to use, until I can find natrual, non toxic alternatives that work even better.
Still, the current results are more than satisfactory, and extremely durable. Precautions have to be taken against the rain and excess moisture, but those have to be taken into consideration for all puppets and masks anyways.
My current sealer of choice is Weldbond, which is a different kind of PVA, and it does a very good job. It is a perfect stable ground for acrylic paints, contrary to all other PVA I tried before for the same purpose, which make acrylic paints crack (neat effect, but only if wanted). Still, I want to find a better option, a natural product I can make or find locally.
Help in finding it is much appreciated!

added:

HOW?

To seal with Weldbond 9and probably other PVA products), I first spray some rubbing alcohol onto the paper, and quickly paint the water-diluted Weldbond onto that area.

Since the Rubbing alcohol evaporates fast, it is necessary to add more as you move on to another area. Without this step, the first and sometimes second paper layers delaminate slightly, causing some annoying surface defects.

Latex Puppet & Latex Mask

2010-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

These are two of the multiple contracts I have been working on lately.

The frog is a mouth puppet cast in one piece of latex.
What you see currently is the cast inside the mold, as it appeared immediately when I opened the two-part plaster mold. I will offer copies for sale eventually, but if you want one before the weather gets cold in North America, you should order preferably before mid-September. I avoid working indoors with Latex, because of the ammonia fumes.

The Vizir (also known as the Evil Wizard) will be a latex mask (for the current customer) and will also be available as a paper mache version.

I shall post the copies in my Etsy store as they become available.

Rubber Latex: Keeping brushes CLEAN

2010-07-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings Earthlings!

I've been unsuccessful in finding proper information online about how to REALLY keep brushes clean when using them to apply rubber latex for making molds.
All the sources mention using dish soap, but all of them are absolutely unspecific about it.
So years ago, when I first started using rubber latex, I wasted a few brushes.
I hate wasting!

This past week, I've been working with latex again, both as final product and as molds (different projects).

So I decided to solve this once and for all, after another intensive search turned no specifc methodical solution.

Today, by simple logic and remebering what went wrong before, I found a method that works, and here it is!
UPDATED August 2nd, 2010

1. choose a good quality long haired brush (I use a flat hogs bristle brush). The lenght gives it suppleness and bounce, allowing for softer and more precise application of latex.

2. Find a small narrow short jar, and fill it with liquid dish soap. It must be enough to cover all the jair on the brush, and part of the ferule (metal part).

3. dip brush into dish soap, gently press with your fingers to make sure the dish soap gets deep into the brush.
Leave brush in it for a few minutes (I prepare my model for molding during this time)
This is an added precaution to ensure that the soap really is permeating every hair on the brush.

4. pour your rubber latex into a small container, such as a small pudding cup or a glass. Plastic is best, it can be cut to size, and cleans up easily: just peel off latex when dry.
The small container makes it easier to handle the latex (compared to using the big jug or gallon container), and helps prevent dipping the brush too deep.

5. remove excess dish soap by rubbing against the mouth of the jar, therefore recuperating it.

6. Dip ONLY the end of the brush into the latex. This is important because the ferule'Ms exit for the hair is where latex and paint like to accumulate, and make the hair go wild and useless for precision work. Nearly impossible to clean once it is set there.
Brush the latex gently onto your model, either by sliding or by stippling, using the tip of the brush, without applying much pressure. This is imprtant to keep proper detailing on the first three coats at least. DO NOT squeeze the excess latex back into your latex cup. You would contaminate your latex with dish soap, which could, in theory, cause structural problems on your project.

7. If your surface is large or complex and takes a while to cover, take a break after ten or 15 minutes, to wash your bush, even if you are not finished, and when the brush is clean, just redip in dish soap, and start working again.

8. CLEANING the brush: start with a squirt of dish soap in your hand (gloved if you are allergic to latex), mix the soap into the brush (tip only again), and then wash gently with COLD tap water. to water makes latex set instantly! DO NOT srub the brush into your hand. DO NOT reverse the brush to force water near the ferule. Those are very bad abuse on any brush, but alas quite common "techniques" in the artistic and construction fields. Better to gently brush your hands directionally, as if you were painting it. Repeat rinsing and soaping until you are sure thebrush is clean. Suspend upside down to dry.
Occasionally, after a work session, it is good to treat your brush to a little bit of hair conditionner. It helps keep them alive longer. Just don't, forget to rinse toroughly, or else the conditonner would affect your next painting or moldmaking job.
Found out after three days of using this method: there may be just enough residual dish soap within the depth of the brush to be enough to wash it without needing to add any more.
Economical!

9. No matter what precautions you take, you will eventually get some small beads of latex forming at the end of your brush. Use more dish soap and rub it well. Then pinch those beads out of the brush.

Here's to the health of your brushes, and more precision in your work!

Epoxy Putties

2010-07-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

I've been using epoxy putty again tonight , because it was called for.

I thought the following input could help people have a better experience with this useful but "particular" category of materials. Things can go wrong real fast with epoxies.

I use it rarely, but it's great for some specific uses, such as:

•strengthening mechanics inside puppets

•gluing or merging parts of very different materials (even for glass to wood to metal!).

•Smoothing and patching an otherwise hard-to-repair material (only if paper mache is not suitable, such as for certain synthetic materials that are too slipery).

For most other things, such as a main modeling or casting material, I avoid it , because it is:

•Way too heavy

•Way Too brittle

•A nightmare to paint (scratches off too easily, no matter what primer I ever tried)

These problems have been consistent with the three different brands I tried:

•Apoxie Sculpt

•PC-7

•Mighty Putty

And one more epoxy-based casting product, of which I have not been told the name, seems to share these issues with the putties.

Three days ago, a heavy hollow puppet head from a colleague, cast in a supposedly flexible and lightweight epoxy material, got severely damaged when it was dropped from a table. The product had been highly recommended by another colleague of his, who got him the contract. BIG mistake. Caused a slew of technical problems for him and me, as well as puppeteering problems for the puppeteers (mostly weight and fragility, but also some air bubbles in the cast).

So tonight, to help out, I repaired the head with epoxy putty.
It's curing now.

The big problem I had with the only putty I had access to tonight, after hardware store hours was Mighty Putty, which I got at the drugstore. The price was right for a change, but that may have been because it was old stock. No mention of it anywhere, but I know from past experience that this is what happens to putty when it spends too long on the shelf: sets way too fast, gets brittle and loses adhesion properties in 5 minutes (or less).
A proerly fresh epoxy putty feels like warm bubble gum at first, is actually droopy for a minute or two. Tonight'"s stuff was already like firm modeling clay, and only sticky for two minutes or less. I wasted nearly half the package, because that's how much I mixed at once, and it set within 5 minutes, instead of the "minimum 20 minutes" advertised in the instructions. Next time, just because I obviously should not trust stores or suppliers, I shall mix a tiny amount at first, to test the batch.

I'd appreciate it if people with different experiences with epoxy puttie would come froward and share their tips, so that visitors here can benefit. Especially if you know of a good, not-too toxic primer to use on the stuff.

Thanks!

Store Progress + Price Reductions

2010-06-03T20:44:00.001-07:00

Hi,

I have had an Etsy store for the past few months. Sales were very very slow, but today I sold 6 of the same item. One was a repeat customer (he bought one recently, wanted 3 more), and another also got 3.

With this week's sale on the Mellow People, I may have found a product-price ratio that people want to spend. The more I make items one-by-one in a series, the faster I get.
I am trying to get to a speed that's fast enough to turn into profit, but not so fast that it sacrifices quality levels.

I might leave the Mellow people priced at 10$ after the sale.
I also adjusted the price of the Beaverlions, those furry fridge magnets, at 10$.

If you have suggestions on what you'd like to see in my store, please contact me.
I also CRAVE custom orders, as they always bring new ideas and challenges.
Don't worry, my prices are reasonable!

You can check out my store by clicking on the big orange button on this very page.

I always put the store updates on twitter:
http://twitter.com/Creaturiste

Easy Skull Cap

2010-05-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

Howdy!

A few weeks ago, I made a test to see if I could create a skull cap for a fraction of the cost of the same thing I can purchase in plastic.

"Skull cap" is a term that is nowadays applied to too many things to be of any clear meaning.
The one I am referring to here is a hard cap that is often used in Theatre to create hats and helmets.

I did it to myself!
It worked!

Step one
Cover a bald head with a thick application of aluminum foil.
The thickness becomes the extra space you will have inside the skull cap to install padding.
Which is necessary, for a paper mache skull cap, as sweat would make it uncomfortable and sticky.

Step Two
Remove from head, cover foil cap OUTSIDE with plastic wrap, using masking tape to hold in place.

Step Three:
Cover the OUTSIDE of the foil with paper mache strips.
Check this blog for previous articles about strong paper mache practices.
Basically, you use diluted white glue as a paste, and strong paper, such as thin Kraft paper, which has been softened by crumpling into a ball, soaking in water, and wringing out until no more water comes out. Tear in small pieces, apply over shape, using paste.
Let dry completely.

Step Four
Remove paper mache cast from shape, remove plastic wrap and tape leftovers.
Try it on, trim according to your needs. A skull cap should not irritate or rub against anything, including your ears, horns, or any wonderfully strange bumpŝ you or your customer may have.

Step Five
Strengthen and seal the edges, by adding strong wire on the edges, and covering with paper mache strips (same as described above).
Once dry, this cap will not warp.

Step Six
Now is a good time to sign and date your work with a permanent, preferably lightfast, marker. Make sure you sign and date where there will be no padding added, so that it will always be visible. Seal the whole thing (inside and out) with two coats of water-diluted Weldbond (or diluted white glue, but Weldbond or Sobo are better). Let dry completely.

Step Seven
Install padding. I prefer L200, which is the industry name for the colorful rubber product sold as Fun Foam (or Foamie). This material is easy to cut, glues wonderfully with hot glue, and is sweat-proof.

The pads are small rectangular strips, installed regularly all around the head, but apart from each other, to ensure air and sweat circulation.
Do not add padding where they would touch the temples of the wearer. This would cause headache-inducing pressure.

Step Eight
Install skull cap inside mask or hat, or build mask or hat around it.

I will add pictures of the skull cap one day, when this test is finished. Right now, it's only at step four, and I have no project for it.
I may need it for next Halloween.

Okse's book

2010-05-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hey!

I just bought this book from Okse, and I'm waiting for it with impatience!
You can preview the whole thing at the following link.

I met Okse on Blogtv, where he usually broadcasts daily, his interactive show being a wondermix of live painting, live cartoons, humour, and fun.

If I were a cool rapper, with street cred, I'd be able to say with a straight face: "He got madd skillz!"

This book was created live on blogTV, one cartoon at a time, with audience participation to choose topics. I've seen quite a few of these being drawn, and it feels extra special to think I'll have an actual book filled with these.

• Click the link.
• Click on "preview book"
• be tempted!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1185974

Paper Mache: Starch Revisited

2010-05-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

GREETINGS ALL FLESH-SUITED,

In the past three days, I have been experimenting (finally!) with corn starch, as a glue for paper mache strips. So far, I've learned a lot about very desirable properties of starch, yet it brought more questions, as the issues showed up as I worked.

(Updated: Conclusion: I won't use it for now. See below for details)

I am hoping some alumni of tradition, and current paper mache users will come out of the woordwork to help us understand what works and what doesn't, and why.
Anyone here willing to share their insight?

Thanks!

WHY MESS WITH A GOOD THING?

Yeah silly, why switch to something so complex, when white glue and water work so well already?

REASONS: Ecology-Health-Durability-Convenience-Independance-Economy

You may wonder why am I so interested (dare I say haunted?) in moving towards more natural materials? I have always felt a bit uncomfortable about using so many synthetic materials to create my work, when at the same time I strive to be more eco-friendly and healthy in my profesionnal and personal lives. Those synthetics are usually much more damaging to the environment, from the moment they are created(transport+by-products+fumes), delivered (transported again, packaging) to the end of their use cycle (transport, waste) PVA adhesives are very sensitive to temperature changes, becomin softer in heat, and brittle in cold (albeit temporarily, it's enough to cause major damages or utter destruction). Also, synthetics are usually more expensive than raw materials, and come from specific suppliers. I prefer to buy local, to not be absolutely dependant on a single product (versatility and substitution are a must) and use supplies that will be easily available all year-round. I enjoy making my own art supplies, from relatively raw basic ingredients. So, using starch, such a common, inexpensive food ingredient, makes a whole lot of sense! Plus, it's been used by countless people, for many many years. If it's good enough for The Bread and Puppet Theatre and Ronnie Burkett, it should be good for me!

CURRENT TESTS
Skull and Neutral masks casts fresh out of the mold, not yet smoothed)

Skull on the left was the second test, and has better definition than the neutral mask on the right. Difference: I used only one layer of paper towel strips (release-detail layer) on the skull.

Materials so far: paper towels, coffee filters, thin kraft paper, corn starch (and of course the negative plaster mold, and water)

My current test is making two full-face masks out of paper mache strips, using negative molds made of plaster. The release layer (also serves as the "splash coar for details) is a single layer of paper towels (made from recycled paper, quite thin, stays put and works wonderfully) and water. Second and third layer, applied immediately but carefully, are brown coffee filters and corn starch (liquid, not tacky).

Fourth layer is thin kraft paper (wetted and wrung out to make soft) and corn starch paste (same liquid consistency). For my future masks, wether I use starch or not, I'll only use coffee filters for the first detail coat, as I found the brown paper towel, when properly softened prior to application, stays put and does not lift.

PHOTO at start of post: Skull on the left was the second test, and has better definition than the neutral mask on the right. Difference: I used only one layer of paper towel strips (release-detail layer) on the skull.

STARCH MIXTURE

To keep things simple, I just used water and corn starch.

Some people use white glue in the mix, but I believe it would defeat my purpose.

Preparation: (please share your own tested-and-true recipes, what I find online is vague and speculation at best).

Option one: I added some corn starch to a small quantity of cold water. Mixed as much as possible. Added boiling water gradually while stirring, until mix was more watery than wanted. It thickened as it cooled. No lumps at all.

Option Two: same begginning with cold water, then add more, place all in a saucepan, and gently heat while whisking like crazy, to avoid lumps. I wasn't very successful with the lump- avoidance (too hot for too long, probably), but I only made one batch this way. It was still useable. I want to try that one again, because sometimes I want a very thick, tacky glue. The problem with this mix is that it gets thicker with time, constantly requiring more water to be added, and lumps are created that way.

CORN STARCH AS PAPER MACHE STRIP GLUE
PROS:
•Natural, non toxic, inexpensive
•smell is almost undetectable, and is quite pleasant anyways.
•easy to mix to various consistencies
•dries matte and has a uniform color (I'd like to use that as a finish some time)
•applies quickly
•slick, creates no lumps on hands or brush or paper (when paste is well mixed to start with)
•dries as fast as white glue (I use a fan at l;owest settings, overnight)
•penetrates paper immediately
•seems to create a stronger result (as long as it is dry), so that less paper layers are required for a good structural strength.

CONS
•re-wettable, meaning a new layer will re-soften a previously dried layer or two.

...Meaning a paper mache session should last until at least the first TWO layers of strong paper have been applied, otherwise warping and shrinkage happen.

...so a hollow piece, such as a puppet head or a mask, will sag until dry again.
...re-assembling a multiple-part cast will be difficult, as the edges will sag from
...the added moisture.

•there is a limit of layers one can safely apply at once without having automatic development of mold on the outside or from within (corn starch+trapped moisture=food for micro-organisms). Information gathered online in a few place reccomends limiting to three or four layers, but that information is vague, as papers vary greatly in thickness and absorption factors. I'm thinking that since I am using a plaster mould, lots of the moisture is absorbed by the plaster. Since my casts remain in the mold for no more than 24 hours (but usually more like 16), I don't see why I should panic.

•when using thin papers, previous strips can lift quite a bit when new ones are being added (to the hands or brush), because of the rewettable factor. Mostly problematic on the first layer after the "release & detail coat" of paper and water.

•Absolutely needs to be sealed VERY well. Otherwise, the paint job itself can make it soggy and warp it. Or later: accidental spills, atmospheric conditions (even indoors), will damage it in no time at all.

•Seems to shrink a bit more than the same object made using same paper but with white glue. But that might be false, as I haven't cast a copy of either masks in five years.

NOTE: the CONS are the same as when using Methyl Cellulose(also sold as Elmer's Art Paste) and its variant, Hydroxymethylcellulose. So solving it for starch might solve it for MC.

SEALING NATURALLY

I wonder what the Bread & puppet Theatre uses to seal/protect their giant puppets made with corn starch.

The logical continuation of my process is to keep using natural materials.

One of my current test masks needs to go to a customer fast, so I'll have to go back to my usual synthetic material (Weldbond) for the sealing and finishing. At least it is non toxic, and is a good primer for acrylic paint.

The other mask can be used to keep testing.

Shellac: Seems to be the best "natural" solution that I've seen so far.

I do have a local supplier for a water-based shellac, which is used for making "permanent" ink, but it feels too expensive considering the amount I will need to properly seal a mask. It works well on paper for drawings and painting, but on an object, it might be weaker than a traditionnal solvent-based shellac.

Wax: might soften my paper mache, will become sticky under hot conditions, scratches easily, and would attract dirt over time. I'd still like to test. Not a priority, unless new information claims to the contrary.

Linseed oil: Strong smell, might make project saggy, indecently long time to cure, risk of spontaneous combustion.

PAINTING:

If using shellac as a sealer...

• I don't know if acrylics will adhere to it (and oils take too long to dry). The logical process would have me use natural paints for this as well, but most bring their own problems, mostly of moisture and scratch resistance.

Watercolors? (nope, they would run when varnishing)

Egg tempera? (needs testing, and need a home-made varnish)

•I've tested it years ago, and I think using my own shellac-based paint (shellac+dry pigments+wood alcohol as a solvent), would ensure complete compatibility.

As with most paints I make, to ensure that the finish is no glossier than "satin", or to make it completely matte, I just add more pigment (oversaturate).

Still needs to be tested for scratch and impact resistance.

One problem remains: I usually reccomend a spray (and/or cloth) of rubbing alcohol to clean/disinfect the insides of my masks. Shellac fears alcohol, will turn white-ish. If anything runs or spills or sprays over to the outside surface of the mask, the finish will need repainting. Even if only the insides get ruined visually, it lowers the beauty and value of the mask.

NOTE: it is of the utmost importance to get a fresh shellac to work with.

Older than a year-old shellac may not set, ever, and remain sticky. Happened to me.

I solved it as best I could by using a wax paint over it. Itmasked the stickyness, and looked good. But the finish transfers to the hand over a half hour of hand heat (it's a wizard's staff prop).

Sadly, most shellac companies do not include an expiry date on their product.

You may still be able to get the date the store got the can, if you ask an employee of the store to scan it, and see in the system. I believe Zinsser was, a few years ago last time I checked, the only company that had an expiry date on the package.

When in a rush and willing to take a risk, I sometimes reach in the back of the shelf, to get the more recent product, if I know that store has good product rotation practices.

also, getting the less dusty container may be another clue that it is more recent.

Because most hardware stores don't dust every can every week.

One way to get away from that expiry risk altogether might be to get the shellac in crystal form, at a paint and pigment supplier. It's extra work (breaking, grinding, heating, mixing, bottling), that I'm not really willing or available to do, though.

Again, I would appreciate input and insight!
Emailing is better than posting comments.
Keep checking this post for updates and more pics.

THANK YOU!

Updates:

The casts were more trouble than I expected, and I felt I was running out of time to finish one of the masks, so I proceeded to complete both of them using my older, tried and true methods. Which brought more insight into the process.
My usual sealer (Weldbond+water) was not reacting ideally with the starched surface. The towel layer was seprating from the first strong paper layer, no matter how much I diluted my glue to penetrate through ad stick. So I had to rip out the paper towel release-detail layer, which I never have to do normally (it becomes part of the final smoothing). This time it created a texture that is a bonus for the skull mask, yet unwanted for the neutral mask. You can see both casts, yet untrimmed and unsmoothed, with a coat of matte paint (acrylic paint, touch of glue, with a bit of drywall compound), which is a good step to reveal surface definition and imperfections.

My current tendency would be to wait for further input from colleagues with experience using starch, as for now, after my tests, I see no further direction to take that would solve the problems that starch brings.
Remaining problems:
•re-wet-ability = warping = sagging = less definition and accuracy = casts hard to re-assemble seamlessly
•Appropriate sealer: requires testing, possibly Shellac.
•If shellac is used, then acrylic paint probably not appropriate. (shellac-based paint should work)

CONCLUSION:
Starch is not a viable option for me, for now.
I may change my mind in the future, but I have a feeling I will not experiment any further with this unless I get insightful information about the process. So far, no one has come forward.

At least, I don't see it viable for use to cast hollow shapes that do warp so much. White glue and water works very well, so that is what I am going back to. The starch would still work well for pieces that are only covered, and never hollowed out, but Methyl Cellulose works better for this, for my uses. One product of Methyl Cellulose: Elmer's Art Paste. But if you use a lot, some people recommend getting it from a chemical supplier (either as Methyl Cellulose, or Hydroxymethylcellulose).

Mellow People

2010-05-04T02:49:00.000-07:00

Mellow People live in a Marsh...

Approx 2,5" x 2,5 " x 1,5 " or smaller.

Lightweight non toxic material + acrylic paint, and an embedded Rare-Earth Magnet, so each of them can climb on many metallic surfaces! Appoint them guardians of your important notes!
Soon to be on sale on Etsy.
Click on the big Orange Etsy button on this page to reach the store.

Elizah, Mouse Figurine

2010-05-04T01:56:00.000-07:00

Polymer Clay and Paper Mache over wire armature, on a wooden base, acrylic paint.

Sold.
Private collection, USA

Creepy Poupée

2010-05-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

Rag Doll, designed from scratch around an HD Webcam, so that the doll broadcasts what it sees on a big screen for the audience. Created for a contemporary Dance Choreographer in Montreal.

She can sit really stable, at a few angles, thanks to the cylindrical sandbag inside her bottom.

Materials:
Coutil (type of tightly-woven Cotton), polysester thread, sand, plastic pellets, zipper, HD webcam, unraveled twine, and a wash of acrylic paint.

I'd like to assemble another such doll, without the webcam, to keep for myself. I kept my patterns!

Vampires In progress

2010-03-31T21:59:00.001-07:00

Vampires finished!
Customer is taking care of the costume on both, and building the body (a simple stuffed fabric bag) for the fat one.

The vampires are built from original illustrations by "Sampar", who illustrated the stories by "Ben".
Heres a link to the publisher's page for this book.
http://www.bayardlivres.ca/Product.aspx?id=158502

Progress pics and process below:

I've been working on Vampire puppets for a storyteller who uses puppets to bring her stories in visual life.
With full authorization from writer, illustrator and publisher, I was asked to create puppets based on the illustrations in a book.

These are the first two heads I made by using a temporary and reusable wax called Flexwax 120. I like it!

Materials: paper mache (toilet paper for detail, coffee filters for structure, paper towel for skin texture), Monster Bone, acrylic paint, Wood (Fangs, and sticks).
The vampire hands (still require more work) were made with foil, popsicle sticks, tape, and paper mache(same ingredients)

The skinny one will be a rod puppet. The fat one will be a bag puppet.

Not Too Early for Halloween!

2010-03-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings fellow haunters and costume-fiends!

It is not too early, with the beginning of Spring, to start thinking about Halloween! What with the gloomy rainy weather, the thrilling chill in the air, and life waking up again in every nook and cranny, it is indeed the perfect time for a birth, re-birth, or exhumation!

I make monsters and spooky beings with delight, I take glee in their eerieness, but alas, it has been too long since my last excursion in the dark! You can take advantage of that! My eagerness to spook will infuse whatever I create next in that spirit! If you need an eerie or downright terrifying creature, just contact me, I'll be glad to discuss the possibilities! I also give workshops so people can learn to make their own. I offer them in person and online.

I make puppets and masks of most kinds and sizes, and static props, in a wide range of prices.

A few examples of spookyness are below.
.

See more of my past creations, albeit mostly non-creepy, in my portfolio, as linked on the right sidebar.

Modelling Exercise

2010-03-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

Modelling exercice in Chavant Nsp plastalina (oil-based clay), following Philippe Faraut's instructions on his dvd.

New Workshops Catalogue!

2010-03-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

Click to go to the Workshop Catalogue. But only if you want to!

Sculpture DVD Series: Philippe Faraut

2010-03-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Howdy all.

If you are looking for a single series of face modelling lessons on DVD, this is likely the only one you'll really need. Philippe Faraut is a sculptor I admire for his accurately defined forms which also magically contain so much grace and life. Sharp edges meet smooth planes, without looking fake, although they are often stylized. Real human flesh seems to have been magically turned to clay.
http://philippefaraut.com/

OVERALL REVIEW: Absolutely recommended, a must-have for anyone willing to pay attention and spend the time to learn sculpting. Complete beginners will get it very quickly. Faraut is great at simplifying. He sometimes makes a common mistake on purpose, so that he can show you how to fix it and avoid it in the future. Experimented sculptors will also get their share of new info: Faraut is the real deal and he's been honing his sculpting and teaching skills for a long time. Every DVD brings something new. I love how in-depth they get. Highly recommended. I've been using them whenever new modelling projects come my way, and everytime I do, it's uncanny how much progress I make. I should take a week off and just sculpt while watching the series. Tonight, January 27th, 2012) I ordered the latest DVD, and am eager to get it. Someday I'll also get Faraut's books. They appear to be the kind of visual reference any artist interested in the human head would keep on hand at all times.
Each DVD has samples shown on the video page.

Volume one: Children.
I'll cut to the chase for all the busy people: It's a great ressource, and I intend to get the other volumes as well. This DVD is a TREASURE for total beginners, yet will appeal to the intermediate and
professional sculptors as well.

Volume Two: Expressions and Facial Construction
This one goes deeper than the first, and builds on what has been learned before.
Great for anyone looking to represent the beauty of the Feminine in all her forms.

Volume Three: Men

The title is a bit misleading. It's about more than the male appearances, there's lots of structure and detailing information, including smoothing and adding clothing.

Techniques of Sculpture: Geometry in the Clay Portrait

I have ordered it tonight, so I will review it in the near future, when time permits. I'm eager to get this!

DETAILED:
The series is self produced,m and the quality rivals that of higher end productions. It's edited in a way to make it very fluid and easy to follow. In fact, time flies when watching it. I saw it twice the first night I got Volume one.

Mr. Faraut makes it look easy, and better yet, he actually makes it easy, by
his very straightforward explanations, demonstrations and visual aids, such as showing
us a giant child nose, and a few of his finished clay creations.

His steps are so simple they seem impossible to miss. He manages to do it
without talking down to absolute beginners. It is all very minimalistic,
which is perfect, because it is all about showing you the very foundations,
to achieve the real results with no distractions.

No voiceover at all, this is all him narrating as he does it, and he is very
good at it. His voice is soothing, and the video makes the viewer feel like he is
standing right next to the artist, being shown the steps.

I was almost giggling with glee as I saw some very simple, yet very powerful
solutions to problems I had been struggling with for years. None of the other videos
I've seen, although very detailed and very useful in helping me progress,
brought these specific tips, and none of them were as easy to follow.

I don't care how many sculpting videos you've seen, Faraut certainly has
something useful for you.

He works with waterbased clay on his videos, but the sculpting & shaping
methods are the same with oil-based clay and polymer clay. Just change to a
solvent when smoothing, instead of water. Professional oil-based clay is often much denser, therefore much more work to smooth out with tools, heat, and solvents, compared to water based, where all you need is a bit of water. I'm planning to give water based another try, in the coming weeks. I purchased a big bottle of very good hand cream, to prevent the dry bleeding hands I used to get with that kind of clay.
Back to our program:

You can see Faraut at work on his website, on his Video page.

Worth mentioning is the high quality of Faraut's website. Very sleek, easy to navigate, very informative, and the online store is convenient.

http://philippefaraut.com/video.html

And do yourselves a favor, make sure to check his online gallery!
http://philippefaraut.com/portrait.html

For Canadian citizens, the only supplier I could find for these videos is
Sculpture Supply Canada. They do not use regular mail, they only ship
through UPS. Pricey, but you get your stuff, and you get it fast.
They don't always keep the website updated, so they might have some items in stock that they don't show online. So just call them and ask.
Considering how much it would cost to take a sculpting workshop with a
master such as Faraut, the extra money for shipping a DVD you can watch
indefinitely is nothing!
Besides, I made the calculations, and ordering straight from the source
would cost me about the same, and there is a danger of delays at customs.
http://www.sculpturesupply.com/

illia

2010-02-28T16:14:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Yesterday, I was driven by some weird set of events to make a new puppet in 17 hours straight.

At first, it was supposed to be a quick improvised puppet, but as soon as I started, it evolved into the puppet I had been meaning to build for at least two years, as part of my first stage number.

I guess it was finally ready to be born.

illia is her name, and she is a hybrid between sock and rod puppets.

Her body is a very stretchy fuzzy sock (synthetic), into which is glued a head on a stick.

The hand holds the stick from within, therefore the arm and wrist become body and hips to the puppet.

The arms are made with dowels glued onto pieces of fabric made from the other sock, cut to fit and sewn together. The sock tube becomes the hinge between the dowels.

The hands are paper mache over wire armature.

The rods are metal, the "L" shaped ends are part of the hands.

Her head was sculpted with polymer clay over a ball of aluminum foil.

Her eyes are stone beads (glued on the foil before the clay was applied), purchased at a bead store. They are the shiniest, deepest black eyes i've ever used, and I love the effect. Polymer clay is usually very brittle, but I can counteract that by adding two layers of strong paper mache over it. Bumb and scratch resistant, it also creates a permanent primer for the paint. The glue Weldbond makes it even better, since it is compatible with acrylic paint. Her "skin" was an additional layer of paper, this one being the ever organic look of brown paper towels and extra-diluted glue.

The polymer clay is a very heavy material, but for her size, it is perfect, as this small weight helps me "feel" the puppet's movement, and even her presence.

She is double-jointed because of how her elbows are built, but this doesn't seem to cause a problem.

She can turn her head freakily far back, bow down, stretch her neck up, for all I know she probably can belly dance. Her movements are so graceful, it's almost intimidating, since the "shake the puppet" effect would look unforgivable on her.

I intend to make more of this type of puppet, but those I put up for sale on my Etsy store and those I custom build will not look like her, as she is my own character.

Here is a very rough video of her in movements. I am not in top puppeteering nor setting-up shape tonight, better footage shall be posted eventually.

Custom Blogging Frames

2010-02-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

This Video Frame can be used in Manycam, a Free software to enhance your broadcasting capabilities using your webcam.

You can add an effect from the main website, or even make your own.

If you prefer to spend your time elsewhere, but still want a custom frame, I'm available to make some for you!

This one is a free sample, since I do not own the rights to the original photographs I used.
Just add it to the effects in Manycam, and test it for yourself.

My New Online Store

2010-02-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

Oh my Gladness!
I have an online store!

By some strike of luck and a bit of work, it has items in it!

Purchase them now before they are gone! But only if you really really want them. Because I can only make so many at a time! I take it back, buy them all immediately even if you don't want them for yourself. Somebody you know will love them as a gift, effectively filling your existence with joy and gratitude, from them, and me!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Creaturiste

UPDATE: new puppets available:

New Poster: Öko

2010-02-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

I was just asked to make this poster for the film I worked on in 2006.

The "old film" scratch and dust effect was made by scanning real scratches and real dust and particles on a real piece of plastic bag!

Here is a trailer:
www.youtube.com/user/Dockfilms

Official Dock Film's website:
www.dockfilms.com

Jazzy New Year!

2009-12-24T04:09:00.000-08:00

More Pendants

2009-12-24T02:10:00.000-08:00

I made these as Christmas gifts.
Each are polymer clay reproductions of a polymer clay original by Creaturiste, using a silicone putty mold.

Copies available for sale, prices start at 25$,
modifications and custom colors are easy to make.
Contact by email...

Milo Marionette

2009-12-03T20:46:00.001-08:00

Carved wood body. Three different types of joints: wood, plastic, and nylon rope. Head in hollow paper mache, cast from my own silicone mold of a model I made in plastalina.
Tank top of Jersey. Pants of synthetic fabric, probably polyester (recycled shirt).

10 Strings:
head (2)
Shoulders (2)
Elbows (2)
Knees (2)
Back (1)
Hands (1)

Satyr Helmet Mask

2009-11-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Meet Albert, my Halloween costume for 2009.

I've been meaning to make a detailed mask like this for myself for ages!

Albert is made of Paper Mache Bark, Monster Bone, wire, fun foam padding, acrylic paint & synthetic fur.
He is made to fit my head, there are no straps, I just put it on like a helmet, and it is very stable.

Good success with it on its first outing, at an early Halloween party.
I decided to open the mouth permanently to facilitate speaking in noisy crowds. It was an even better success at the Central Canada Comicon, judging by people's reactions and comments.

The wool coat and leather gloves I used for the costume are so comfortable, that I decided to wear them regularly.

Note: Albert is a one of a kind mask, good for performance, masquerade, or display. He was sold. Other masks of a similar type and nature can be made.

___

Pascal Laflamme Art

2009-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

http://flamme27.blogspot.com/

Pascal Laflamme is a childhood friend who followed his artistic dreams and has results to show for it! Make sure to see the various portfolios, listed on the right navigation column.

Busy November

2009-11-23T22:37:00.001-08:00

Hi all.
November has been a busy time for me, just like it's been since the summer.

Here are some results, among those I can show.
All those are part of an exhibition where they will be for sale, but all of them can be either reproduced (I made molds of the pendants) or variations can be made.

The Miniglobestaff is a magic wand for roleplaying, can also serve as a maracas, sold for 50$ each.

Roolion and Helen are pendants that can also be decorative items, such as ornaments. They can be reproduced and even modified (facial expressions, personality, and colors). For now, I price them at 25$ each. Customizations cost extra.

Fred and Carla are winter ornaments, very strong and each has a prop that is not attached.
Variations are available, prices start at 100$.

Samuel is a BIG winter ornament, constructed over a large christmas tree ball.

The Aliens are a set of four advanced sock puppets, two adult sized and two children sized. Adults with small and medium sized hands can still operate the children size.
This set is sold for 100$. Variations available for 25$ per puppet.

strange creature

2009-11-16T07:13:00.001-08:00

Work in progresss.
Acrylic on panel

Fairy

2009-11-15T03:04:00.000-08:00

Work in progress
Acrylic on Panel

Explorers

2009-11-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

Work in progress, acrylic on canvas.

Helen&Roolion

2009-11-14T22:43:00.001-08:00

Pendants that can be worn or displayed.
Polymer Clay.

Reproductions for sale at 25$ each. Colors can be chosen.
Price subject to change.
Enquire by email.

Alley, glove puppet

2009-10-14T22:04:00.001-07:00

Alley is already showing signs of being a bit of tom-boy.
She is going to be a Birth gift for a little girl.
Work in progress. Paper Mache Bark, Monster Bone, acrylic paint, synthetic yarn.

Mario Of Many Faces

2009-10-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, here are some pics of Mario, the tabletop puppet with interchangeable wigs/facial hair.

His head, hands and feet are paper mache. The Head and wigs have rare earth magnets embedded in them. The body's PVC tubing, sculpted Polyfoam, a little bit of wood, and nylon webbing. PVC Pipes are used as handles for head and lower back. He was created for a league of theatrical Improvisation with puppets, as the main character. Hence his "Everyman" looks and versatile features.

Better-than-Heinz Ketchup!

2009-10-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Not about puppet or mask building, but hey, an Artist's gotta eat!
I like to share quick and tasty (and preferably healthy) recipes to make our busy lives more enjoyable.

In my quest for a healthier lifestyle, I realized that the high content of sugar (liquid sugar/glucose-fructose) in Heinz ketchup made it a condiment that should be at the top of my "cut-back or eliminate" list.

So I decided to make my own tomato ketchup. I just looked at the ingredients on Heinz ketchup, to see what were the main "real" ingredients I should start with.
Well, all you really need is: tomato paste, white vinegar, a sweetener, onion powder, salt, and spices.

Here's what I came up with as a first try:

•Tomato paste, one can.
•White vinegar, about half a cup (natural, from grains) (could have used apple cider vinegar. Maybe next time)
•Onion powder, approx one tablespoon
•Sea salt, one tablespoon
•Raw honey, about a cup (clover)

Mix tomato paste and vinegar. Add the rest gradually until a good balance of sweet-tangy-salty is achieved.

Freelancer's Blues & Thrilling News

2009-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

I love my work!
It's my passion! More often than not, I get to create the exact kind of work I am craving, not long after the craving first shows its face. Life sends these specific contracts my way, as soon as I desire to explore a certain aspect of my work. And I feel blessed that most customers trust me enough to leave me tremendous freedom in the design.

Still, sometimes, the life of a full-time freelance creature designer/maker/performer isn't so glamorous. You certainly don't get to rest for very long! In fact, I've never even ever taken a true vacation. Every day off I've taken, not counting sick days, which are very rare) was spent in part for research or networking.

I would never stop doing what I love. I chose this lifestyle!
Yet, Life IS change, and if I want to keep enjoying mine, some changes must be made!
As much as I enjoy a schedule that's not too repetitive, there is such a thing as too much chaos, and too much to do. I'm never bored and I'm thrilled constantly with the results and opportunities I get. I just seek more stability. Good news is, I can feel it coming around the corner. (See Unraku, below) Even the most motivated individual gets tired sometimes. The following will show what I mean.

This summer, with multiple small contracts that were constantly overlapping and usually rushes, coupled with a month-long preparation for a month and a half solo gallery show of my work, was a non-stop race, and this speedy pace seems to be continuing into the fall.
My day so far:

This morning
Marotte of a little girl puppet, picked up by the customer.
Had to repaint and change its haircut in 35 minutes. Did it with success!
I just learned I will not have a minute to rest Monday night, after the 8 hour bus ride back from a trip, because a puppet needs to be mostly re-built and be ready for a day and a half later (see Tabletop Puppet of Terror below).

This afternoon
Will assemble my Satyr puppet, which needs to be fully articulated by the end of today, so I can bring to Toronto to show my colleagues this week-end.

Will get two puppets picked up by past customer who lent them for my gallery show this summer.

Tabletop Puppet of Terror
Will get an in-progress puppet back from a current project which should have been finished two months ago (customer paid deposit a month late, and took weeks, several times, to provide vital information). I wish I could drop this project, and I would feel entitled, considering the insulting delays and "bullshitting", but the project's instigator owes me half the payment (upon delivery), and two colleagues I highly respect are still involved in the project and need the puppet. Life sure wants me to learn to be a "though guy" when it comes to choosing my contracts and conditions. ever since I saw an inspiring sign in a bus station in Brasttleboro Vermont: "Your lack of plannification does not constitute my rush". Lesson learned!

Tonight Still working on that Satyr puppet, broadcasting some of the process live on blogTV.
Preparing luggage for Toronto trip.

Great News:
On a very positive note, there are highlights that make this all worthwhile.
The obstacles and complications just seem like small bumps when focusing on the good!
Yet, I know it will all work out and the situation will stabilize!

I'm now the Montreal branch of a Toronto puppet company named Unraku.
We moved in to our first official studio about two weeks ago. I can't wait to see what they did with the place, as it was already very promising when I last saw it.

I'm Looking forward to this week-end, I'll see my Unraku colleagues again, one of which I never met in person, as she hails from Pheonix, Arizona! We are shooting a music video, as a promotional tool for the company. We shall also attend an evening where I will meet Alexander Mergold, an Art Doll and Puppet artist whose work I've admired for years.
The evening will be hosted by Open Door Design, a lovely puppet store in Toronto.

The main project for Unraku these days is one I cannot yet reveal much about, but it's going to be big. I'll keep you posted as the information becomes available for release. Here's what I can say about it now: It's going to be a weekly puppet show, published online. Assembled in Toronto (homebase), but filmed in Toronto, Montreal, and Pheonix.
The creatures will be varied, and the fun will be palpable!

We shall be promoting the show at the Central Canada Comicon in Winnipeg (Alberta, Canada), at the end of the month, as well as other festivals and events until March, when we are going to Megacon, in Orlando(Florida).

October will be busy:
•My Halloween mask (another Satyr) needs to be ready for the Winnipeg trip
•I'm building (not designing) the official puppet for an artist/writer who has a series of music albums and books for children starring a squirrel. I'm looking forward to it.
•I was hired to create a one-of-a-kind little girl glove puppet as a birth gift.

Keeping busy!
To see me in action, I very often broadcast my creaturemaking steps live from Blogtv. I don't have a schedule, but it's usually evenings and nights.
www.blogtv.com/people/creaturiste

And as usual, my portfolio can be seen on this other blog:
www.creaturiste.blogspot.com

ZlorgNboB Shop (my designs)

2009-08-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

I made all the visual designs for ZlorgNboB, including what's featured on the merchandise.
Today, the Coffee Mug design for " Zlorg & boB: The Other Mug" has won a red ribbon award on the Zazzle website (Today's Best category).

Click to see all the designs, on various items.
Also, our customers can modify the products a lot (size, positionning, and sometimes change the product itself), when clicking on Customize.

Dragon Brooch

2009-07-29T15:04:00.001-07:00

Dragon Brooch.
Wearable Art.

This faithful protector, strong embodiment of fire and flight, will soon make his home on the
garments of a friend in Europe. This young dragon-phoenix has fierce protective instincts but a powerfully kind heart.

Measures: 4" x 6" x 3/4"

Materials:
Flexible Paper Mache over wire armature, deep red glass bead eyes, Monster Bone finish, acrylic paint and metallic mica powders (copper and gold).
Equipped with an horizontal metal pin with safety latch.

Photography is difficult with metallic finishes, and with this small a scale, so this photograph does not do it justice. In reality, it is smoother in texture, and the colors are vibrant and almost shimmering. More photos coming soon.

It is ready to be shipped to the customer in Europe, as soon as she approves the painting.
More of the same model (with variations, as each is made from scratch) will be made for selling, eventually. If you need one sooner, just place an order, and I'll make it a priority.

I would be thrilled to make more wearable Art, with different creatures, at different scales, in the same or other visual styles. Let's discuss the endless possibilities!

New polichinelle copy

2009-07-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

Liking the new paint job.
Will cry when I see it go.

Co-Hosting online live puppet show

2009-06-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Click here for the Show:

I'm now co-hosting a weekly live internet show with my colleague Daryl, who lives in British Columbia. I'm the purple guy (he was my first "Advanced Sock Puppet"). We'll soon have recorded excerpts for you to see when we are not live online.

It all started as a fun improv thing on Daryl's blog, and people demanded so much, so fast, they we had to make a separate show. So here it is, next show will be this week-end, the specific day and hour still to be decided. We'll soon have a regular time-slot, once we figure out our respective schedules, in relation to time zone differences.

ALSO:
If you want to see me work and have a chat, I sometimes come online on my own channel:
http://www.blogtv.com/People/Creaturiste

Mayonnaise

2009-06-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

What has mayonnaise to do with puppet or mask making, you may wonder?
Well, it's all connected. Since I became good enough in the studio, I became good in the kitchen! The skills are transferable! And a better-fed artist is a healthier artist.

Whether it be as a meal's accompaniment or as a dip for snacks, real mayonnaise is not a luxury, it's a necessity! I wont, buy the pre-made stuff anymore.

So last week I learned how to make real mayonnaise.
By blender at first, but now I prefer using a whisk. Beats any commercial mayo I ever tried! It's great as a base for other things, such as salad dressings, or dips. Makes a wonderful base for a thick, rich cesar salad dressing!

It's much healthier this way, because one can control all the ingredients that go into it.

My favorite variation so far: extra dijon mustard, touch of honey, lots of garlic powder, and lots of black pepper.

Great as a dip for fries or veggies!
Two best sources where I learned from:
I loosely follow the first source's method, but I learned a bit more why it works by watching the second source. I find that sunflower oil has a bit of a bitter aftertaste. I'll move on to a lighter flavored oil, such as grapeseed oil. The problem is that organic oils don't come in many choices yet. Wake up society!

http://myfrenchcuisine.blogspot.com/2005/09/easymayonnaise.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOymdsYMoqQ

Update:
This video is showing an even simpler and faster method, but the chef uses a "stick blender".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz0fLT_k3_U

My marionette Links

2009-06-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

I updated and sent this to a colleague today who's also into marionettes,
so I thought I'd share it on the blog as well.
There are a few links that I found today, which I had not seen before.
The articles found on the Modern Mechanics website (various sources, such as Popular Mechanics) are among the new stuff (new to my list, some of which I had posted before)

NOTE: the links aren't clickable yet. Blogger's editing interface still forces us to manually input every link, even though they are properly formatted already.
I'll input them later, in the meantime, just copy and paste the links to your browser's address bar.

Street shows:
Grafton's puppet show. Mouvements rapides et précis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGKH5iSINK0

Dancing skeleton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Al22_EQJ8

Les Sages Fous (Trois-Rivières) (not marionettes, but the visuals are fitting for me)
http://www.sagesfous.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfx333i2Fhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UamzyqfJCs0

Stage shows:
Joe Cashore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr6WFaPgG5Q

Ronnie Burkett (je ne trouve aucun extrait de spectacles sur internet! Donc voici son site officiel:)
http://www.johnlambert.ca/english/ronnie/ronnie_productions.htm

Basil Twist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irpwazWXggA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFSYfBxue7U

Frank Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ0u6sfuO-Y

David Syrotiak's Natioal Marionette Theater (Vermont)
http://www.nmtshow.com/Home.html

Pendel Marionettes (Allemagne)
http://www.pendel-marionetten.de/english/index.htm

Altrego (Allemagne)
http://www.altrego.de/

Ruzicka Brothers (République tchèque)
http://www.marionetisti.cz/other/oth_en.html

Albrecht Roser
(pas beaucoup d'images, mais il offre un livre maintenant, qui a l'air superbe. Le distributeur (Ray daSilva) est fiable et très rapide en livraison, j'ai commandé deux fois chez lui.
http://www.albrecht-roser.de/00033.html

Scott Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDY0iHRsU4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJojE-jGeow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPpLoF7zudQ

Philippe Genty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SphHaiW7fzg

Phillip Huber
http://www.hubermarionettes.com/Home.htm

On Film
Séquences de marionnettes du film Being John Malkovich (performances par Philip Huber et équipe, article sur le processus dans le dernier lien).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bleGmiItLKs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axqYLPQIEck
http://www.hubermarionettes.com/bjm/bjmintro.html

Strings
Superbe visuellement, pour les passionnés des fils, un DVD à posséder en archive...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHa1BqcNYQc

Simple & Efficient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEC4mJ5xLhM

Techniques:
John Roberts: cours de sculpture de marionnette à fils, au Little Angel Theater (GB).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqW0KHl3gQk

MODERN MECHANICS
The secrets of Making Marionettes (2 parts)
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/07/14/mechanical-secrets-of-marionette-shows/
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/06/03/the-secrets-of-making-marionettes/

The Art of Making Lifelike Marionette Bodies
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/06/05/the-art-of-making-lifelike-marionette-bodies/

Boy's hobby Creates Puppet Opera
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/04/26/boys-hobby-creates-puppet-opera/

Trick Marionettes
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/08/21/trick-marionettes-will-enliven-your-puppet-shows/

Posable Skeleton model
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/08/humanlike-skeletons-pose-for-artists/

Amazing skills with most famous puppets
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/06/28/amazing-skill-with-unseen-strings-gives-life-to-most-famous-puppets/

Building Disney's Pinnochio!
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/04/19/pinocchio-the-puppet/

Marionettes go Hollywood
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/01/17/marionettes-go-hollywood/

OTHERS:
Stephen Mottram: atelier de mouvement (en 6 parties)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5YXtbGMfO0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzZw_WrLoE0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk-syTzQOaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWKqY4bdbkk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkUl-XQJMRI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW7Be6Ks6b8

naked marionette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSbXUYI-0cE

The Puppeteer
A film by Chris Schmidt & Gary Henoch
Très touchant, inspirant aussi.
Un beau souvenir d'un collègue parti trop tôt.
Saura plaire aux performeurs de rues comme de scènes.
Environs 32 minutes.
http://igorfokin.com/video.html

Book:
Superbe, en Allemand et Anglais.
Le travail de Gmelin et Shmelz, en marionnettes à fils (Pendel Marionettes).
Contient un survol des étapes de fabrication, mais pas la méthode complète.
beau livre à avoir en consultation, pour les images et les idées transmises.
Marionetten/Marionettes
Kunst, Bau, Spiel.
Art, construction, Play.
Gmelin-Shmelz
2004 (nouvelle édition, l'ancienne est tout aussi belle, mais offre quelques différences d'oeuvres présentées)
ISBN: 3-87463-367-5
http://www.pendel-marionetten.de/english/verkauf/index.htm

Ancient articles on marionettes
Some in French, some about other types than string marionettes.

1823
Meeting of a puppeteer (in French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=cNRgaGjvRNcC&pg=PA90&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPA90,M1

1842
Revue de Paris (article in French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=9MJbwX2HHPQC&pg=PA5&dq=marionnettes&lr=

1850
Histoire des Marionnettes (long Article in French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=UzAZAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA456&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPA434,M1

1852
French Polichinelle Play
http://books.google.ca/books?id=1SopAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA487&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPA487,M1

1862
Histoire des marionnettes en Europe (Puppet History book in French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=5qlZAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=marionnettes&lr=

1852
Mentions of marionette and intricate mechanics in this article.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=8UCgAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA166&dq=marionnettes&lr=

1854
Eclectic Magazine, page 299
http://books.google.ca/books?id=akISAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA317&dq=marionettes&lr=#PPA299,M1

1854
Same article as above, different publisher
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Dr4CAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA397&dq=marionettes&lr=#PPA392,M1

1871
Part of a novel by George Sand, features the description of puppets and
booths
page 161
http://books.google.ca/books?id=wrYaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA161&dq=marionettes&lr=#PPA161,M1

1871
Book of written puppet plays in French
http://books.google.ca/books?id=UOYPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPP1,M1

1872
All the Year Round,
article: Punch and the Puppets (page 517)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=zUcJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA519&dq=marionettes&lr=#PPA517,M1

1877
Le Theatre des marionnettes (Goerge Sand, in French).
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Yts75QrDCC0C&pg=PA123&dq=marionnettes&lr=

1885
Historical Dictionary of Theater, definition of marionnettes (French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=eU5XAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA500&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPA499,M1

1886
3-page article about an excentric Puppeter in Paris and his destroyed
theater. (French)
http://books.google.ca/books?id=cT0pAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA251&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPA251,M1

1888,
Gentleman's Magazine, page 578.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=AIEBWOYikCwC&pg=PA579&dq=marionettes&lr=#PPA578,M1

Histoire des marionnettes en Europe (full History book in French)
1852
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Y4MOAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=marionnettes&lr=#PPP9,M1

Do-it-Yourself lumber, and bones!

2009-06-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

There are two new instructables on their wonderful site, both related to paper mache.

First is about making your own "lumber" out of cardboard
and glue. I'm really interested in trying this. When I have more time.
I wouldn't attempt this without a table saw or band saw, so now I'm almost
all set (getting a fence for my band saw first, can't cut straight for the
moment).
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Lumber/

Second one is about making paper logs for your wood stove, using only newspaper and water. This could be used, in various sizes, as structural materials for making bones, limbs, or armatures for sculptures. Super fast to make too.

Could be made stronger by adding some glue to the water, but I don't think that's necessary if you intend to cover with paper mache strips, or as long as the final product is well sealed, to prevent moisture penetration and imprisonment.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro_1/

Pounding a wet newspaper with rubber mallet on the pavement and then rolling it?

The simplest methods are often those we don't think about.

I'm a bit of a maniac about cleanliness in my artwork, so I'll skip the pavement, and use a clean board.

Bandsaw & I

2009-06-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

The band saw I got a few weeks ago is indeed turning out to be a wondertool!
How could I do my work without it for so many years is already getting hard to comprehend!

The band saw is becoming an essential in my workshop. I got it mostly to cut wood pieces to make better marionettes and simple wooden toys, but now I can confirm what people have been telling me all along: it's super versatile!
It also cuts polyfoam, styrofoam, cardboard, light plastics! And these don't require a new blade either! A friend of mine needed to cut the top off of a peanut butter jar's lid. No problem! Did it in 5 minutes. I tested it before with another jar, to make sure the plastics were not going to shatter. The jar plastic shattered, but not the lid. so i just left the lid screwed tight on the final jar, and carefulyl cut off the top of the lid.
The jar part was cut with scissors.

TODAY
I spent half the afternoon learning how to properly change the blade, and finally succeeded, despite the inadequate instructions in the manual. I was able to solve the problem by studying the exploded diagram of the whole machine! Feels great to get past the difficulties and figure it out! The new blade (Delta industrial) is an eight of an inch wide, making it a lot easier to cut better curves. I'm told there are even better blade types. I'll keep an eye out for them. And wear safety goggles while doing so.

The rest of the day was for designing and outline-cutting the torso and limbs for my next marionette. I've been working on it for a while, but I've been (and still am) so busy planning my solo exhibit, that it's slow going for every piece I'm working on. I also have a few pieces to finish before the show.

Back to the band saw:
The only problem with it is the lack of a fence/guide.
I shall get one next paycheck, even if it means I have to drive my bicycle for an hour to get to the supplier. That's how motivated this tool is making me! I'm starting to understand how some people become so attached to their car. I wouldn't be surprised if before long, the band saw told me its name. Even without a fence, the saw is still amazing.
I have not needed to re-saw wood at perfect angles, so with a little planning before cutting, there was no problem.

Operating this machine becomes a way to focus on the moment, it feels so mind-clearing to think of nothing but the the finger positions, and feel and control the precision of the cut.
It's almost a meditation. The fact that every use puts you in the position of possibly losing fingers or eyes, is a great motivator to self-discipline. If I don't feel focused and fully aware, I don't even turn on the machine.

I'd play some more with it, but I respect my neighbors, and I decided to not operate noisy equipment after 8pm. So tonight, I'll see if I can finish the paper mache steps on a brooch I'm making for a colleage overseas. It's still an exciting feeling to know some of my pieces are going to be appreciated by people so far away! I hope I don't ever get jaded about this!

Inspiring Film: The Puppeteer

2009-06-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

Very special thanks to Doll Artist Marie-Claude Dupont for making me discover this very touching piece of documentary work!

The Puppeteer
A film by Chris Schmidt & Gary Henoch, about the work of Puppeteer Igor Fokin.

It's beautiful, it's touching.
It's also inspiring to make the viewer want to do things now, before it's too late. The artist lives on people's memories, in a memorial sculpture, and in this film.

You see the artist at work on the street, his interaction with the audience and one sculpted puppet in progress. You hear his views on various topics that touch us as performers and makers and people living in countries of abundance.

You see what happened after his sudden death at 36, and how people honored him. You see how much one person doing what he loves can touch many. I highly recommend this very short but very good film. It takes you places. What an homage to someone's work!

Sites concerning Igor Fokin:
http://www.igorfokinfamily.com/

There is a second documentary film about Igor Fokin. This one's profits all
go to the puppeteer's family. Both films are described here:
http://igorfokin.com/video.html

Easy Curtains

2009-06-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

For at least a year, I've had a real theater black curtain (100% cotton, velour finish on one side, very thick) hanging to separate my bedroom from my studio space. It's been great as a backdrop for photographing my creations, when doing webcam meetings, and a great relief as a blocker from the street light when sleeping (I live on a busy avenue).

It also cuts a bit of sound.

As useful as it was, it was slowly driving me nuts, due to the inefficiency of the sliding "mechanism".

There's one thing about focusing on the most important stuff, but small tiny annoyances can build up! My curtains themselves were ok. The "hooks" were simply loops of nylon webbing (backpack straps) I had machine sewn on top of the curtains. For the pole, I had taped two broomsticks together, using a piece of pipe to join them. Friction on the pole, and especially at the link, was too much, forcing me to stand on a bench each night and each morning to open and close by hand.

Today, at the hardware store for puppet making supplies, I realized it was about time I fixed this.

So I did. I bought a long piece of CPVC pipe (it's blue-grey, and denser-stiffer than the yellow PVC). At less than 5$, the price was right!

Back at home, I made some wooden washers to space the pipes from the wall.

To make the washers, I just pierced a deep hole at one end of a fat dowel.

I then sliced it in three spacers.

I then pre-pierced wide holes at both extremities and center of the pole, but only piercing one side, not going through. The holes were big enough for the head of the long wood screws I would be using. Then pierced the smaller holes to fit tightly around the screw thread.

Then I slid the curtains on the pole. Then I placed my spacers between wall and pipe, and screwed everything in place. It would have been much easier with a helper, but I managed by having the screws hold the pole on the other end while I was working my way towards it.

Now, the nylon webbing curtain hooks slide easily on the smooth pole.

It's a dream, by comparison! It's not as nice as a "real" system with pulleys and rope, but it does the job for what I need it for.

Easy Marionnette Articulations

2009-05-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

EUREKA! It took all of last night, but I figured how to design wooden puppet joints on cardboard! No risk to the wood, or our sanity! No calculations! No guesswork! It's easy! It works, I tested it!

I used to spend a lot of time, for every new pair of wooden puppet leg, to figure out angles and positioning of the pin. No need for that long waste of time and materials now!

All excited, even though I had not tested it in 3D, I showed the cardboard mock-up to my best friend this morning and he barely blinked. He's a sculptor who's been raised with traditional tools of all sorts, so for him it's rather obvious. He seems to act like everyone knows that method. Well, I'm glad for them that they know, but since I'm not everyone, and I never saw anything resembling this method, (and you know I collect techniques), I guess the method should be shared!

I'm going to write a tutorial about it soon as I can (and when have a functioning photo camera again). If people are interested in the method, let me know, it would probably boost the article's priority level.

NOTE: I have figured it out on my own, but I don't claim to have invented it. I'm pretty sure some similar methods are out there. I just never saw any. The marionette pros must have this shortcut or something simlar, or better! I didn't read it any of the few marionette books I've had access to.

I just can't wait for tomorrow to make my first pair of marionette legs in this model!
Since I can't use the noisy machines tonight, I'll write a first draft of the article right now:

In short, the method involves drawing silhouettes of the leg, and because it's in cardboard and has a thickness, it can be articulated. I used cardstock of the same type as packaging for cereal or cookie boxes. Worked really well.

It involves drawing a circle with a compass, of the size that would fit with your actual size puppet schematic. The circle becomes the knee, with the center hole (used a compas) indicating precisely the position of the pin on which the two-part knee will rotate. Drawing the leg shape around that circle is easy.

The two leg parts are made separately that way, then linked together on a soft surface with a pin going through their "bull's eye". The leg can now rotate, but needs stoppers up front and in the back of the knee. These stoppers are pieces of cardboard that are glued into place. A triangular piece is positionned on the upper leg piece at an angle, to act as a stopper for the leg bend, and the tip of it, sticking out of the circle, becomes the stopper to prevent the leg to open fully when at full extension. A much smaller triangle is added in the same way to the front of the lower leg, creating the matching stopper for the full extension stopper. In other words, the wedges dictate the angle at which the leg can be when fully opened. To have a leg already bent slightly less than 90 degrees prevents the leg from snapping when a walking movement is started, as it's already on the way.

Extra fun: These two pieces can be shaped like a knee.

Then the pieces can be used as silhouette patterns to draw onto the wood pieces, which are then cut as is. The next step is to carve the grooves, and free the tongue, but the measurements for them are already all there on the cardboard. This is the only part that requires a little logical figuring out, but if I could do it, anybody can. All you need is to have a drawing or picture of the finished joint to figure how to cut the grooves. Care has to be taken, when cutting the upper leg's stopper, to not do so in the middle-front of the knee, as we want that tongue to come out seamless from the top knee. Another precaution is to avoid cutting the lower leg's groove too deep in the front of the leg, because we want to avoid having a large gap. I've seen that gap on many beautiful pro puppets, but I feel it catches the light and distracts the eyes when the puppet is performing. Of course, if you want to feature the joints as important visual features of the marionette, that precaution should be disregarded, and the gaps exagerated, as the contrast would make all the joints pop out nicely, especially with focused stage lights.

I made my first test in dense styrofoam, so as not to waste wood (and not make noise in the evening). Total success. Even though I did it quite impatiently, so excited was I, it is the smoothest-looking and functioning hard articulation I've ever made.
What a relief to have a method that works so easily!

Update: Here's a test I made the next day with scraps of wood.
Only the lower leg is really carved after the block shapes were articulated.
No need to finish this one, as I know how to do this step.
I can move on to my actual marionette as soon as I get a thinner blade and a proper adjustable fence on my band saw.

Shop Vac Wood Dust Danger

2009-05-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all.
The previous post was about making a wooden mallet, and some steps of it required the use of power tools, namely a band saw, and a Dremel with sanding disk.

By necessity, I work in my small apartment, and therefore keeping good air quality is very important for my health. I don't even use toxic solvents in the winter.
I got sick on fine dust particules from clay many years ago (I knew nothing of health hasards of Art materials), and that was enough of a lesson for me.

While workiong on the mallet project, I had my shop vac plugged into the band saw's dust expulsion tube. Once activated, it did a pretty good job of keeping dust propagation to a minimum. Well, on the machine at least...

The system failed! For one simple reason: I had not checked my shop vac's filter bag before starting. It had become dislodged inside the tank since my last use. I probably banged it too much when moving furniture around.

So in effect, all the dust that was absorbed by the shop vac just twirled into the container, and was powerfully redistributed into the air. A fine dusting of extremely fine maple wood dust was coating half of my apartment's floors and low surfaces! Not to mention my lungs, no doubt. I took an hour to clean the whole place as much as I could.
I also removed the filter bag, and washed the shop vac's container. Those should always be kept clean and dry, to prevent mold growth.

One exposure to so much fine dust is probably not that big of a deal, but I won't let it happen again. I'll make a point of checking my filter bag everytime I start working with power tools.

I never had that problem before, as I use really good filter bags, designed to filter the finest of nocive particules, including plaster dusts. They cost extra, but since I've been using them, I've had good air quality in here. One dislodged bag is enough of an example to make an impression.

Lesson learned!

Extra:

While all fine particules can be damaging to our lungs (including baby powder!),
some wood dusts are much more toxic than others. I'm told mahogany and particule boards (MDF, HDF) are particularly nasty to the lungs, which is why I refuse to carve or saw those in here.

I'll also make sure I only work with wood that seems clean and sound, without mold or traces of insect attacks.

Wooden mallet

2009-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the bad picture quality. My expensive photo camera's USB output has died last week. I'm told it's a common problem with digital cameras. It's the evil Planned Obsolescence problem again. Having it fixed (still under warranty) would have me without a camera for a month, which I can't do because I constantly have to photograph my work before I hand it to customers. Until I get a memory card reader, it's going to have to be webcam shots... sorry.

I made myself a round wooden mallet today.

I needed one for wood sculpting when using chisels and gouges.

The one at the specialty store was too perfect-looking.

And from experience, it's much more fun for me to make my own tools.
I learn plenty about it and the materials as I'm doing it.

It must have taken me 4 times as much time it would have taken me if I had had an electrical lathe. Oh well, it gave me an excuse to use my band saw for the first real project, as all my chisels turned out to be too dull, and I didn't feel like installing the new buffing wheel on my grinder to learn how to sharpen them. I just felt like making a mallet!

Safety warning: I'm told it is common knowledge among woodworking pros that it is dangerous to cut round dowels and logs on a band saw. The following shows me taking a bit of a risk, so you have been warned, take the proper precautions, and make sure you are alert and focused whenever operating machinery. Never operate any kind of powertool when you are tired, unless you really want to hurt yourself badly.

Even though the maple table leg I used was round, the large head of it was square, and the whole object was so massive, heavy and long that I had no problem keeping it steady, without kickback, without use of any real force. I went slowly, and only cut thin strips at a time, to be safer. I'd never attempt this with anything totally round and smaller, of course. I would use a proper specialty jig and clamps.

Bad Commercial practices can cause problems:

It was extra difficult to fine-finish it by hand because I did not think to check for wood grain back at the store. I found out only last minute that the turned table leg was in fact made up of 9 small pieces of wood glued together. It would have been fine if the pieces had been laid in the same grain direction, or in a logical succession, but it turned out the manufacturer didn't care for that. So from one inch to the next in the horizontal direction, my wood grain inverted! It made knife carving and sanding very difficult. Extra difficulty, but extra education! Next time I need to make a big tool like this, I'll make sure I check the grain at the store. I finished the job with a big craft knife, files, a Dremel with sanding disk, three grades of sandpaper, and a liquid beeswax finish, which I stained a bit darker with a dab of oil paint.

I signed the head of it with a woodburner.

I love the fact that it looks hand made, and not perfectly smooth. I'd imagine a chisel like that in Gepetto's workshop. From testing it just now on a piece of pine, the mallet has good weight and balance. Even a dull chisel cuts pretty well, with this mallet. It compares well with the ones I've tried before.

Recycling:

Most of the wood chips (not the dust) produced during the process could have gone as mulch to hide a large patch of dirt on the front lawn of my apartment. Hopefully the neighborhood cats would find it uncomfortable enough to avoid relieving themselves there from now on. The smell gets really awful int the summer. It's right under my window!
Sadly, I did a test earlier tonight, and the mulch looks very bad next to the lawn, due to its light color. I'm sure the landlord would demand that I remove it pronto.
Red cedar would have been fine.

I got the wood chip into mulch tip by watching an online video of a bowl turner, who does that in his yard. I can't remember the source, I watched a lot of them, and it was months ago.

Quick Healthy Snacks

2009-05-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

For the Artists who works too hard.

As working artists, we need to take breaks and also eat a snack, but a lot of us get abosrbed by the work, or are pressed by time, and neglect it until we get prematurely exhausted.
Having yummy snacks to look forward to helps encourage the taking of breaks...

Here are four snacks I often make for myself and the occasional guests.

Raw Apple Sauce
Just peel apples, rinse, then grate on the finest surface of the grater.
Dash or two of sea salt, pinch of cinnamon, and the optional tang of a splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Eat immediately, to benefit from all the good nutrients.
If you are preparing it slightly in advance, make sure to use a bit more lemon juice, place in an air-tight container, and place in the fridge.

Baked Apple Sauce

Apples, freshly squeezed lemon juice, touch of water.

In order to retain taste and as much nutrients as possible, I recommend cooking the mixture at low temperature for long enough to soften the apples a bit, with a few lumps remaining. Finish with a potato masher. The texture and taste are ALIVE!

Sweeten and spice after the baking is done, with a touch of maple syrup, cinnamon, and a pinch of sea salt. Can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Apple-Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin pie filling mix (preferably organic) + the equivalent of half that quantity of fresh apples, cut in small pieces. First bake the apples the same as previous recipe, then add the pumpkin, mash together! Enjoy hot or cold, your choice.

Raw Carrot-Apple Puree
Same as above, but use half carrot, half apple puree, with dash or two of sea salt.
A handful of raisins adds a bit more depth.

Frozen Grapes
Can be done with any kind of sweet grapes. I choose green grapes, for their slightly tangy taste. Detach grapes from stems, remove the bad ones, wash very well, and place in the freezer. About 8 hours later, you'll have super sweet semi-hard sweet candies!
Can be eaten by themselves, accompany kefir or cereal, or to replace ie cubes in drinks!
Very refreshing, but don't eat too fast (brain freeze!) or too much (2 litres is too much for me, had one instance of mild tummy ache).

Paper Mache experiments and leads

2009-05-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Or... getting back to old forgotten methods.

Here I'll be talking about Corn Starch Glue, Waterglass, and an appeal for traditional paper mache methods of the past.

Corn Starch

I'll soon be trying corn starch glue for paper mache very soon.

I was prompted by a constant inclination to move towards more natural and basic materials.
Non toxicity also has a strong appeal to me. I've met too many artists with health problems related to toxic art supplies. I was lucky to learn about proper safety practices early enough in my career to only suffer from dry hands as a long term condition. Before I knew the danger, I was instructed by my employers at a store to wash metal shelves regularly with methyl hydrate! It lasted a few months (maybe one session every two weeks) before I learned the danger. I've been dependent on hand creams ever since.
But I digress...

Corn starch again...
If corn starch is good enough for Bread & Puppet Theatre, how could I refuse to try it for so long? Well, there are the traumas of the past, when using food-based adhesives in paper mache (mold growth issues) , that caused me to stop their use altogether.
That and the risk of insects and rodents attacking my creations in storage.
And the fact that those food-based adhesives have a very limited shelf life. I like convenience of use, and hate wasting. Of course now that I actively compost everything I can, I could very well stop considering spoiled glue as a waste...

I am still wondering what the advantages would be of using corn starch over that of using methyl cellulose, which I already know from experience has an indefinite shelf life and nice handling properties. Methyl cellulose also gives a nice smoother result. I have yet to test it properly for strenght on its own. I abandonned its use years ago, from lack of proper knowledge about paper mache and how it's made. I thought the result was too weak, and the first layer was too much trouble to apply. I moved on to using diluted white glue because it was so tacky and strong. I was a total beginner, frustrated with no access to proper information, so I blamed the glue, but now I know it was my innapropriate methods. Live and learn. Nowadays, I make pretty much anything with paper mache, and it remains my favorite category of mediums.

I'll have to try corn starch glue to find out if it's what I really need. If not for all my purposes, maybe for some specifics. I was delayed in this experiment by getting another contract which required synthetic materials (a plastic) as the base, so I opted for a synthetic adhesive, to ensure proper adhesion, as there was no time for experimenting. I shall be done with this project shortly, so the corn starch experiments should come soon.

Waterglass:

In my internet searches recently, I stumbled upon an interesting chemical named Sodium Silicate, also known as "Waterglass".

It has many uses in a few industries. Some of them: crackling glaze for ceramics, fresh egg preserver, waterproofing paper and fabrics, and as an ingredient in a recipe for a home-made cement like super-glue.

This really got my attention, as I am always searching for truly waterproof finishes for my paper mache creations. If i can make a waterproof glue to paste my strips with, maybe I'll get something similar to the old industrial results, when they used to make fine lacquered furniture.

My interest doubled when I found out my pigment supplier happens to carry sodium silicate!

I'll get some soon, and keep you updated.

In the meantime, some info about Waterglass:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate

"Frogotten" Traditions
What appears to be second nature to some artists living in the old European countries, still seems a mystery to us Canadians and North Americans. We seem to be limited to using flour pastes or pva glue, and fuzzy methods at best, compared to what used to be made in paper mache in the past, and is still produced by a select few in the old countries.

Artists in countries such as Russia, Czech Republic, and Italy, have mastered the art of high quality paper mache. They have come to a point of making their creations look like detailed porcelain or wood or plaster, their results are strong and lihtweight, , and some of them can create these items extremely fast. I currently know of one such method, but it's not a true traditional approach, as the artist who uses it already has converted to diluted white glue.
I don't dismiss the use of modern materials, I believe in convenience and economy, but I'd rather know the original recipes, in order to have all the information to make my own decisions.

The dream is this:
Ideally, I'd love to see videos of the entire process of some of these traditional high quality paper mache methods. Of course, text descriptions with images would still be appreciated.
Rest assured that the information I receive will keep on spreading here on this blog, and shared with my colleagues and students. Every effort counts in the goal that paper mache can come back in full strenght in the Art world's field of vision. Because right now, it's hardly ever seen as more than a cheap, disposable arts & craft method. It's only gained this bad reputation because of neglect. The plastics industry has been blamed before for the downfall of paper mache industries, but that excuse does not stand the test of reason. Many other "obsolete" methods still thrive, because artists have kept working them, and have elevated them to the status of Fine Art methods and materials. If art printmakers had stopped using copper plates, stones, presses and paste inks when the advent of industrial machines came, we wouldn't have the Art Print businesses we have today.

I think the over industrialization, and the constant application of Planned Obsolescence practices have caused a major loss of quality and originality in the world.
For a a fascinating and infuriating read about today's consumer world:
Planned Obsolescence.

Part of the population is now becoming sensitive again to hand-made, unique and durable objects. Something more tangible, in a world where most of our posessions are from a store, and we are mostly left in the dark where exactly they come from, who made them, what processes were used, what environmental impact did it have, and what it's made of.

Paper mache is one answer to all these problems.
It can be made in ways that are non toxic, economical, environmentally friendly and very durable. It is such an extremely versatile medium, it can be used as a main materials, as a finishing product, and as a link between various mediums. It can be made in very small scale, and giant sculptural applications. Houses and the occasional boats have been made with it. Combined with lacquer, paper mache was once used to make armors in Japan.

My puppet performing in Germany!

2009-04-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

I just learned about it. I'm thrilled! This is a puppet I built for another show (Jolis Deuils), which they chose for that event. They are offering me royalties for this too, even though it's just one puppet out of many I built for the show, years ago. This company has always been a great example of fairplay.

A multiple opera concert with about 60 musicians and a choir.
Two puppeteers (Pier Dufour and Louis Ayotte, of Kobol Marionnettes).
My puppet on stage, and projected on a giant screen.
The puppet interventions are used to link the different opera excerpts.

They might perform this concert again.

Click on the page numbers below the image group. There are 72 images, a few of which feature the puppet interventions.
http://tinyurl.com/clavz7

Hair Implants with hot glue

2009-04-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

About "fake grafting" fur or hair:

There's a way to glue strands or bunches of hair to a surface using hot glue, without it showing. It looks almost like the hair has sprouted from the skin. I usually do this after my puppet heads are painted. Since artist quality acrylic paints are extra strong and grabby, they won't peel off if a bit of tension is applied to the hair.

The trick:

-Large bowl with water.

-Glue gun at high temp

-cut hair material off its backing

-trim the root to make it all even

-spread glue around the roots using the glue gun's nozzle.

-dip middle and index finger of other into water

-immediately place hair bunch's root where you want it, and tap once or twice with moist fingers.

The moist fingers are protected from the heat, and the texture makes the glue "matte".

The water dries super fast. Strands can be grafted at various angles too, including as a totaly vertical bunch (great for punk hair and such).

One has to experiment a bit to find out how much glue is just right. Excess will squeeze out and look bad.

I use this technique extensively, although for larger areas (entire lifesize head), I use other methods, as the hot glue adds weight. I like a similar method, but using contact cement. Once both the scalp and the hair strands are touch-dry, we just link them and there is no mess. I just don't know how to avoid the slght glossyness of the contact cement, but it's okay if we don't use too much glue (it has to remain underneath the strand)

I leave the backing on the fur for larger areas, but the eyebrows and other facial hair are usually backing-free. I add backing-free strands of hair in front of the hair line to hide the backing's edge and make it look like natural growth.

For an even more realistic look, I sometimes use Monster Bone as a glue to attach simple strands of hair. Like I described for the hot glue, I apply the Monster Bone compound to the root of the hair strand, ans squish it in place. Then I paint a bit of it to overlap the hair and the scalp. I need to be sure not to touch it at all until totally dry, but when it is, the hair won't come off, and will definitely looks like they are sprouting out, hair by hair, or at least very small strands by very small strands. The lynx demon puppet shown below has a mustache made that way.

PRECAUTION:
The bowl of water should always be there whenever we use hot glue. Any spill on our skin can be immediately dipped in water and the burning stopped.
I've proven it to a group of students once. They looked both distracted and incredulous, so I dropped some hot glue on my hand on purpose, and dipped in water.
No damage. That got their attention.

Leave the glue on the skin until totally cool, or a bit longer even. Premature removing of the glue can rip off the epidermis. It happened to me twice. It did not bleed, but the exposed inner layers of skin were hyper sensitive to heat and touch, until it healed.
I'd rather take the extra time to prepare a bowl of water than to have to go through the irritation again.

Hobey Ford tells me of an extra safety measure: we should deposit the gun on its stand before dipping our hand in water (electric shock risk if gun cord is damaged) .

For an example of the hair grafted in this manner, look at my demon puppets.

Better PHOTOS

2009-04-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

I think a big portion of the touring theater companies/puppet makers that have a website have a major problem.

Whether or not they have a decent interface (which is also important), the pics are often too small, and/or badly taken, and/or too few in numbers. I'm sure people who book shows or order puppets really appreciate good quality material to help them make a decision about what to purchase, and whom to book.

Example of a bad quality photo:

It was taken with a super cheap point and shoot camera, with extremely poor lighting conditions in the studio. These things were out of my control. I was working abroad and we were in a rush, so no time to get better lamps. I would not show this on a pro website.
Might as well not show anything at all. Alas, this set of photos is mostly so bad I'd have a hard time getting anywhere close to acceptable quality, even after lots of tweaking.

A poor photo that was improved a bit:

This was taken with a good camera, but in poor lighting condition, and without a proper neutral background.So the subject is badly lit, and the background is competing with it. This is what happens when we are too lazy to setup properly. I tweaked the pic to show what a big difference a little tweaking can bring.But save yourselves most of the tweaking trouble, just take the time and effort to take better pics! Of course, there are exceptions. I always try to take the best photos possible, but I do admit to neglecting it a bit when taking works in progress, especially if I know they won't be published online. Recently, that laziness came back to haunt me. A customer wants to use one of my "lazy" work in progress pics, on their event's poster. I think the photo and the work(at that stage) both look awful. I tried to dissuade them, but they held on to their concept. I hope they tweak the picture a LOT, to reveal less defects,as I suggested.

WHAT IS A GOOD PHOTO?
I'm not talking about photographing every single puppet in every single angle, using the services of a pro photographer. That would probably be overkill, and overly expensive to most. I'm talking about taking the time to make your puppets look their best in photographs, truest to what they look like in person, and/or on stage. It will inspire more people, and even bring you more bookings and more commission work. As a total fan of admiring other people's works, I truly enjoy when I see quality photographs of quality puppets. If you don't enjoy taking pics at all, you could exchange services with someone who does enjoy it, and knows how to do it. A lot of people have family members or friends who are pretty good at taking pics. I'll be sharing tips here (below) that could help beginning photographers become much better, in no time at all, with just a little effort. I know they work, I learned those tips the hard way.

My first puppet and mask portfolio dates back to 2001. It cost me over a hundred dollars just in film and processing. I really wanted it to look good,so I took many shots with my 35mm camera. It still ended up looking a bit cheap, as I didn't know much about doing good photography without the pro equipment I had been taught to use in College, but could no longer afford. Still, when I look at people's websites today, I see many photos that are just as bad as mine were when I spent so much time and energy on that first portfolio.

HOW TO DO BETTER PHOTOGRAPHY
WITH VERY LIMITED EQUIPMENT:
Maybe the large amount of poor photographs of puppets is because non-photographer people don't really know how to take better pics? Here are the bests tips I know, to help you improve your pics, if need be.Understanding and applying the following tips will turn the most unsure beginners into decent photographers, when using a good digital camera.I've seen it happen.Even if you can't afford a good camera, a "passable" point-and-shoot automatic camera will yield "pretty darn good" results, if you try some of these tips. You could even boost your possibilities when using your cellphone's camera! After all, the first personal cameras were something like a box with a pin-sized hole in the middle, to expose the film inside slowly.And people still got relatively good shots with those, with proper patience and technique. Today, we live in an abundance of powerful, affordable,easy to use photography technology, and we have all the required information online, and in books.Here's what works for me:

Camera
Get a decent digital camera of a good brand, with at least 6 megapixels of resolution. I recommend cameras by Nikon, Canon, and Pentax. Right now, I have a Pentax k100-D, and I love it. I chose it among other because it was the only full manual camera that used regular AA batteries as a power source.Proprietary batteries are a money-making scheme that makes it very inconvenient to get replacements (special orders), especially on tour or trips.So that's why I took the extra time and effort to find a camera that worked with regular batteries.

But you don't need to spend 600$ on a camera to get good shots. Maybe 200$-300$ would be an acceptable lower price range for puppet companies who want real good quality. This is the only "expensive" investment in these tips. Using your camera's Manual Mode (if it has one) and knowing how it works will save you a lot of headaches, and give you total image control. I was stubborn with my first digital camera, and waited for one year before really reading the camera's instructions manual. I realized only then that I had been missing out on a lot more picture quality! It suddenly felt like I had gotten a much better camera. Still, knowing the options on your automatic modes will help you get better pics, every time, by choosing the right mode for the right lighting situation. A good capacity removable memory card is a good investment. It is very frustrating to run out of card space when everything else is going right. An extra card can't hurt either. Usually, the card that comes with the camera is nowhere near a decent capacity, so spend the extra 30 or 60$ to get a large capacity card at the moment of purchase of the camera (some places will give you a rebate if you ask for it at that big purchase time).

If your camera is one of those pocket-sized extra lightweight, it could have a stability problem, making your shots fuzzy. A friend of mine has a much better resolution on his camera than mine. When I use his camera, even with all my tricks, I find it near impossible to get a good shot without a tripod. Adding a bit of weight underneath it (using the screw hole meant for attaching to a tripod) would help stabilize it when not using a tripod. This inspires me to build him such a weight device as a gift, or at least a rope tripod. The git is for me too, as I am his usual graphic designer, and his fuzzy pics are slowly making me lose my mind.

Camera settings:
This will vary a lot depending on your camera and lighting conditions/equipment. To make things short here,I'll give you my preference for best sharpness and finer grain. It will differ for many people, so experiment. White Balance: adjust according to your lighting types ( Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight, etc...) You can also play with different light types in the same pic: daylight is more blue than incandescent, for example, so in the same image, you can have sunlight from the window on one side, and a lamp on the other.
ISO: 100 or 200 (finest grains on most cameras) . You'll need more light in the studio for this ISO setting, and you'll need to close your aperture if working in bright outdoors condition. Aperture: as low a number as possible without losing depth of field (the smaller the subject, the less depth you need to have everything in focus). For my average sizes, I open the aperture to the max (lowest number, in my case 3.5)Picture quality: as much as you need. In my case, I use the maximum format as possible without it being RAW, which would be overkill, since it does not change the pic quality for my uses. A full quality JPEG from my 6 megapixel camera can probably be printed tabloid-size without any loss of sharpness, which is more than I usually need.

Tripod
You absolutely need one if you want really sharp, focused pictures with all the details. It also saves us in limited lighting conditions, because it permits stability during longer exposure times. Anything stable will do. You can even make your own, by adding proper hardware (quarter inch bold and three hex nuts) to at all piece of furniture. Still, an actual tripod with adjustable angles will be very practical, and portable. My main tripod is an old video camera tripod, from which I removed the super strong spring which was for stabilizing heavy video cameras. Now I can use it for my digital photo camera without needing superhuman strength.

Lights:
Digital photo cameras are very needy in terms of light, no matter what mode you use. Yet it is even more important if you use the automatic modes, because it will try to compensate in lack of light, and give you very grainy images as a price for versatility. Get one very strong light source, and two or three medium strength sources. That's for studio work, and to control your environment better, either work in a room where no outside light can come in, or work at night with curtains closed. When working outdoors, use what sunlight is available, and better yet, go take pics at times when you have the best type of light for the project you have. An overcast but bright day is really good for a diffused light situation, it will cast only soft shadows.

I like bright sunlight too, but for those moments, I'll take my pics slightly in the shade.

Note: Winter temperatures will make your camera's batteries temporary feel drained, very fast. They will regain some of their vanished charge when they get back to comfortable room temperatures.

My main light source is a halogen work light, with twice 300W bulbs. My secondary sources are two desk lamps. In one I put a 100 watt bulb, in the other, a 60W. Some people are very happy with using colder light sources, such as fluorescent. They cast a more even diffused light, which can be very flattering to most subjects. I don't yet go for those, because I hate their blueish cast, and the headaches that they sometimes cause. The blue temperature of these lights are not seen on the final pics, as most good cameras have a light temperature adjustment, and/or you can use a photo software to correct it.For now, I'll keep with my yellowish incandescent lights, and just be careful when handling them, as they get pretty hot.

Should I use a flash?If you can avoid using the integrated flash into your camera, please do so! An integrated ruins most shots,by flattening volumes, inventing textures, and making everything look bad.You don't need a flash if you have the light sources (or similar) mentioned above. If you have an independent flash you can position anywhere and still work with your camera (pricey!), you can use it instead of your main light, with great results. If you must use the integrated flash, diffuse it by placing a white sheet of paper in front of it. play with distance and angles to see what works best for your subject. Be careful, the flash's light often bounces off the sheet into your eyes, so better close them at the last nanosecond.

Reflectors:Any large opaque white (or other light color) panel can be used to bounce some light into the shaded areas, so as not to loose details and definition. Different surfaces will give different effects. Lots of people like to use white Foamcore, because it bounces light softly. Many white surfaces will work.For even more reflective power, some shiny metallic surfaces are very helpful. Car window reflectors(one side gold, one side silver) have been adopted by many pro photographers as cheaper alternatives to the studio product.

Backgrounds:
I use a black Theater curtain for most of my puppet and mask pics. It's always set up, I use it to splits my main room into two. It will also make a great background for videos.
I love it because it blocks all the street light, I can sleep in near total darkness. Best investment in years! Sometimes I'll use a white panel as a background. For very small objects, I'll use a home made light tent. Many tutorials are available online for free, to build your own light tent. It makes a world of difference to have those two walls and ground all white, bouncing the light all around your subject. You also need less light when using the light tent, and it can serve as a light diffuser if lit from behind. I also like to go outside and use various natural or human-made settings as background. I take those as extra shots, and as a fun artistic activity, but I still take the controlled studio shots.

Filters:
I don't use special effect filters, as I want sharpness to better represent my creations. Less is better. I would however sometimes use filters and attachments that enhance the clarity or quality of my pics,if I had any. Examples: macro filters, basic color filters to bring out or eliminate a certain color range.For artistic shots not meant to feature the puppets in precision, anything goes: nylon sock over the lens(or other material), blowing some condensation over the lens for a few seconds of blurry fog effect.

Setup:
Main light source is usually set higher than my subject (think "like the sun"), either hung from a wall,installed on a tripod, or on my sculptor's trestle, pointing at my subject. Experiments are necessary to see what is the right distance for the ideal light level without having a hot spot (which would destroy details in lighter areas) My secondary light source is set on one side, at about a 45 degree angle,pointing to my subject. If I have a third source, it's set anywhere I need it, but further away from the subject, to make it softer. It's called a "filler". A filler can also be used behind the subject, to light the hairs, and make them visible against a background that would be too close in color to it. My camera is set (usually on the tripod) at the best angle to see the puppet. Usually for me, that means I center my subject in plenty of empty space around it. I take my pics at full quality (although not RAW, which I don't need) a bit further away from my subject, to avoid lens distortion. I can crop closer(removing extra frame) in a photo software later.

Taking the shots:
Using a tripod:
when everything looks good in the viewfinder or the LCD screen, just press the button.If the tripod isn't all that stable, use the delayed shutter release, so that it will have time to settle between the button click and the shot being taken. I use the multiple shots options when I can't really use a tripod. It takes more than one shot every time I click the button. So even though I move, one of those shots is probably more focused than others. It enables me to select the best, sharpest pic of the bunch. Holding my breath before I click is also a good way to limit unwanted movements. Some people like to use a rope tripod, which is very simple to make. Here's a tutorial on making a rope tripod.

Judging each shot:
Get used to how your camera's LCD screen displays your photos, and know how to preview the pics, and zoom them to the max. This will help you judge to see if you have proper focus, light, and sharpness, letting you know if you can move on to the next subject, or take extra pics for safety.

Transferring the pics:
Use your camera's cable or a card reader if you have one on your computer.

Processing the pics:
The first step I do is to rotate the pics so that they are all upright, as they were intended, if the camera doesn't do it automatically (mine doesn't). Some free software are available for this. I use Rota, which does it without any loss to the picture quality. It doesn't say so, but it only works well if less than 100 pics are processed at a time (otherwise, some of the later pics are not processed). Then I take each pic at a time into a photo software (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, The Gimp, etc), and adjust the levels, add a bit of saturation, a bit of sharpness, and eliminate defects, such as dust particles, distracting reflections, and even gadgets I might have used to hold the puppet in place for the shot.

I rarely resize a pic at this stage,as I want full size and resolution fro my archives. But if I do resize, I do so under another name, in another folder, to keep the good stuff good. Every time I resize, a subtle application of sharpening is required,otherwise you lose some finer details and textures. I save each pic under a clear, recognizable name, in a different well-named folder. These are ready for printing. But I also use them as originals, to make my web version and photo montages from.

Converting for web use:
Depending on the destination of the pics, you can choose what resolution you give them. Some online services such as Facebook will reduce your pic sizes automatically, so don't expect huge full screen pics. Better host your best work somewhere else, and link to it. Most website pics are still at 72 dpi of resolution,although some are at 79 or 96dpi. These are good resolutions for screen viewing, if the pic is big enough in pixels to see the pic clearly. It's safer to use this resolution, unless you want people to start printing your full resolution pics for their own "not always legit" use.

If you want to risk it, you can post full resolution pics (300 dpi and up) to your own advantage, like when you want customers to print your posters themselves for an event, or for press purposes, so they can display the best quality possible in their article or TV show.
A full resolution is also much appreciated when you supply free stuff to print out, such as patterns.My current average single pic for the web is at 72 dpi and is 700 pixels tall, and as wide as the screen allows.For a photo montage (portfolio), I try to use a size of 800 x 600, as it fits within most browser's main window without the need for scrolling.I hope this helps. It sure helped me.I get more bookings since I have better pics.With the first portfolio, some people commented online about such and such puppets, and a few months later, when seeing them in person, they had forgotten they had seen them before.People now remember my puppets from the pics, which is reassuring!

EXAMPLES:
Here are a few websites that pop from memory with awesome pic quality and ease of navigating. I never forgot about these sources of inspiration:
Ronnie Burkett
Michael Curry Design
Craig Denston
Kim Graham, sculptor

PHOTO CALIBRATION SERVICE
If you are in a hurry, or just prefer to have someone do it for you, I can calibrate photos for you.
Contact me with an example of what photos need to be done, for more info and pricing.

Caricature André Sauvé

2009-04-11T15:57:00.001-07:00

Caricature (esquisse) de l'humoriste québecois André Sauvé.
La prochaine caricature me verra pousser l'exageration davantage. Présentement, c'est plus près d'un portrait "libre". Le bût est d'utiliser la caricature comme un moyen pour rendre mes concepts plus "poussés", plus fous, tout en augmentant la ressemblance.
Je préfère créer des caricatures qui ne sont pas méchantes envers le sujet.

Celui-ci ferait un bon portrait animé (tête serait reproduite en latex, sortirait du câdre))

- - -
ENGLISH:
Caricature (sketch) of André Sauvé (Quebecois stand up comedian).
It's a personal challenge to develop skills.
Nextcaricature I make, I'll push exaggeration much further. Right now, it's closer to a loose portrait. The goal is to use caricature as a way to make my designs bolder, wilder, with even more likeness. I mostly want to make caricatures that aren't mean to the models.
This one would make a nice animated portrait puppet (head reproduced in latex rubber, emerging from picture).

- - -
Photo principale utilisée + sculpture colorée numériquement:

Principal photo I used + digitally colored sculpture

Instant Caricatures for puppet design

2009-04-08T23:34:00.001-07:00

I was playing, in Photoshop, with my profile picture for Facebook (result on the left), when I realized a huge potential for a tool some of us may not have even tried, or have taken for granted.

It's called Liquify, and it's a filter in Photoshop 7 (and above).

Earlier version might not have this filter.

Photoshop Elements 6 is said to have that same feature.

Download Photopshop Elements (30-day trial) by doing a search for it online. Easy to find. If you like it well before the end of the trial period, and can't pay for it, you may get a full version for free when you buy a graphics-related peripheral (got mine with a scanner or printer, don't remember).

I will now use the Liquify tool when customers aren't sure of the type of character they need, but have some celebrity or acquaintance in mind for the kind of face they want. I tweak it until we have a style, and can then move on to clay!
Also very useful when I get a contract for a caricature-puppet!

INSTRUCTIONS:
You take a good quality picture of someone or some animal and tweak it, using the brush, and attacking it with various degrees of "brush strength" and brush sizes.

For even more fun and ease of face tweaking, try the neat automatic tools at the left of the filter's window. Leave the mouse cursor idle on it for a few seconds to learn their names (warp, turbulence, twirl, pucker, blaot, shift pixels, reflection reconstruct, freeze, thaw).
For these tools, make sure you center the cursor on the item you want to warp, if a precise application is what you seek. For instance, the Bloat tool, centered on the eye's pupil, will enlarge the eye very precisely.
The reconstruct tool is very useful, using it you restore the painted area to what it was before the tweak!

Don't forget to zoom-in with the magnifying glass tool when you need precision. Very necessary when working with a mouse.
All this allows us to easily tweak an already existing face (or body!), and still keep the believability of it.

The resulting images can be very high resolution (as high as your original picture), and used as bases to build our puppets, either in a clay model, or directly in the medium of your choice. I've done it quite easily with the mouse, but I know some people may only find true control and satisfaction with a graphic tablet.

TECH NOTE:
This filter requires a lot of computer memory.
The bigger the image resolution, the more memory is required.
On my version of photoshop, the filter automatically quit when it ran out of memory, making me loose my tweaks!
As a safety precaution if you have limited hardware on your machine, save your results in stages, to tweak only a few features at a time.

This is my first "serious" try of this filter. I never actually noticed the extra options on the left! I'd have loved to find out about this years ago!!!!

In my defense: I've gotten quite good at the steps I do very often in Photoshop, and they serve my purposes. It's easy to get lost in all the options in sub menus, so it's been a while since I truly explored.

Some more examples:
I made them very quickly, so some weird artefacts remain.

Laurent Paquin (local stand up comic)gets a baby face (bigger face, cute small mouth, rounder everything). Christina Ricci was modified subtly. Bigger eyes, smaller chin. I was able to change her mouth's expression, and tweak her hair. Just a few tweaks, and she no longer looks like herself. I'm a fan of her work (and face), so tried not to damage her too much. LoL.

Then a another self-mutilation, this time as a bearded-baby-alien-human-hybrid.

And now, Julian Beck has a more in-depth transformation.

My little Brother was brave enough to send me a picture to tweak:

This is for my Mom and her boyfriend:

Full Head Portrait mask: Ravel

2009-03-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Full-head portrait mask of composer Maurice Ravel.
Surprise for the show: skull opens at hairline.

It's finished.

I'm very happy with the result.

So are the customers. The mask works better than they expected, and since the actor is a trained mask actor, during the handing-in meeting, we had a feeling there will be more mask play during the show than originally planned (actor was supposed to wear it just to exit at the end of the show).

Materials: Paper Mache Bark, Paper Mache Strips, Wire, Weldbond, "Monster Bone", Metal Hinge and hardware, Acrylic Paint, Metallic Powders. The look is exaggerated Bronze and silver. The colors are not quite right in the pics, despite the attempts at adjustments. I find it hard to photograph the proper color temperature of Metallic powder finishes. Any lighting tips for me, using household items?

The features and texture are much bolder than usual, because this is designed for the largest audience size I've ever built for. It needs to be readable from afar. Customer: two contemporary full orchestras performing in one evening. The mask will be used as a puppet head, and finally as a mask, by the actor hosting the event, giving life to Ravel between musical pieces.

The actor wears the mask without the risk of the scalp opening by itself, thanks to wedges of polyfoam circling lower than the cranium "fracture". Each wedge has a surface of fun foam, being sweat proof and more comfortable than polyfoam.

The scalp remains closed simply by gravity, and stays put, thanks to the hairline draping snugly over the head, for a centimeter.

This head will be used mostly as a puppet head. The actor will build a rudimentary body that will be hidden under the bedsheets of the hospital bed. The head is just placed on a pillow, which has a hole in the middle, to allow the actor to open the skull, reach into it, and fetch objects hidden within the table or pillow. At one point of the show, he dons the head as a mask, and become Ravel, walking off the stage.

When I tested the possibility of moving such a big mask-puppet-head, I found out how much movement one can get by using a pillow underneath. Very expressive, from very subtle to very extravagant. My own pillow is foam latex, which reacts even more subtly, kind of like body fat (remember that medical examination scene in the movie The Santa Clause?), but a regular pillow will work well too.

Öko, our 2006 short film

2009-03-09T18:13:00.001-07:00

English:
http://www.dockfilms.com/eng/engoko.html

Français:
http://www.dockfilms.com/froko.html

This is only the trailer for the 12 minutes short film.

For more info:
www.dockfilms.com

Simpler Rod Puppet

2009-02-26T00:23:00.000-08:00

Click on image to see it full size

Hi all

I just made a simpler version of rod puppet.
It's going to be for workshops aimed at kids from age 10 and up.

My puppet's whole head goes up, down, and 360 degrees, is very easy to make,
and even easier to operate. That head can launch at any moment and reach
the moon!
Most details are done with fun foam and hot glue.

If you don't have pool noodles with a hollow core, you can cut your regular
pool noodle in half, dig out a core with a craft knife, and glue the sides
carefully back together, with hot glue, at low temperature (to avoid melting
that fragile foam).
Or you could use another kind of material. I know a tube can be done with
cardstock and tape.
Or you could use a pvc pipe with a diameter slightly larger than the caliber
of the dowel.

Pool noodles (a form of polyethylene, I think) are so easy to cut,
carve and glue. They only have two weaknesses: they can be bruised if hit hard or if
squished for extended periods of time, and the colors will fade (guaranteed)
when exposed to sunlight. The fade can be a loss of color, or a shift to a
dull, other color.

I have thought workshops where we used those noodles to make decorative
elements on top of other materials.

I actually built this puppet to have a picture of the process for the
workshop proposal I was sending out to a potential customer last night. I spent more time than I planned, just because I was enjoying the character's evolution. I liked the scales' effect,
so I put plenty of them, until I ran out of the green fun foam.

>From actually doing it myself, and from past workshop experiences, I already
know it's going to be easy, and within an hour, most kids would have a
puppet. I'd make sure the workshop lasts two-hours, so we don't have to
rush. I made sure all the steps were made super easy.

For instance, the most difficult part is making the hands, but even this is
very easy.

Each finger is a long rectangle with a rounded end. I put glue inside half
of the length and flatten until cooled. Then I add each finger to the arm.
Decorative applications of Fun foam on top hides the linking. I used the
same exact shape to make the ears. I must have seen this kind of shape
before, either online, or most likely among the hundreds of crafts books I
read as a teenager. Those were the only sources of technical information I had back then.