Catch up - making everything

For the last few weeks I have been focused on making everything ready to start filming. Unfortunately things got delayed due to dissertation.

Larger trees
I bought a load of wire to make much bigger trees, but I realised I would need a lot more to get the thickness of the trunk that I want. And that would cost an awful lot. So I found a way around this: using cardboard tubes in the centre, I could use less wire.

Silicone

After the mould making workshop with Martin, I attempted to make hands for my model. I started by making a hand shape out of milliput:

Then claying up:

Making a wall out of corex:

Poured in plaster, and waited for it to set:

Flipped it over and repeated. I then took out the milliput hand:

Next I mixed the silicone and put into the mould with the armature hand:

I left it overnight but  it didn't set. I tried again - with less paint and more catalyst. But it still didn't work.

Having little time left I decided to go back to the idea of using latex.

Face
I made replaceable eyes and mouth shapes out of milliput and sculpey. I realised that her face doesn't need to made out of silicone or latex, so i made it out of sculpey, so it was solid.

The replaceable eyes and mouth shapes originally fitted into the head using KNS but once the sculpey was baked, the eyes and mouth didn't quite fit. Luckily, the eye socket holds the eyes in place.

Bear and Doll
I already had a toy bear the perfect size (from a dolls house) so I just needed to make a doll. I had a go, making a wire frame and adding foam. But it was so small that adding fabric was difficult and didn't look good.

So I bought a doll online instead. Its slightly different to what I designed, but it is still a good sized doll, and the shape of the feet will make the giant feet interesting.

Puppet
I have now finished the puppet. I bought more fabric from the market and made her clothes.

I had a little problem with a knee joint, it kept coming loose, even if I tightened it, after a couple of minutes of moving it, it came loose again. Luckily, I managed to fix it by wrapping a bit of newspaper around the ball joint.
For the slippers I just covered the feet in fabric, they look more like socks but it still works.

Hair is cotton glued and hair sprayed in place.

I dipped the hands in latex and left to dry, and repeated until I felt the hands were the right size.

Set
I painted the walls of the set and made the bedding.

I got second years to help make the furniture, the clock and the paintings on the wall. However I also added some of my own painting - Easter Eggs of the rest of the classes films.
I had been trying to find a small working lamp for a while and then Deb said she had a battery powered book lamp that I could take apart. I made a base out of sculpey and a wire frame for the lamp shade. I then hand sewed fabric to finish the lampshade.