Alice Howell wrote:
If you want to put your mind to something strange, tell me how I can make a
fake dead turkey .....everything except the feathers. It's for a theater play
of Christmas Carol...the big turkey from the butcher shop that is given to the
Cratchetts.
My thought was fabric, stuffed with fiber fill. It would be nonbreakable and
easy for a child to carry. Someone suggested paper mache but I thought that
might be heavy. Maybe there's another way to make one.
I also need two huge chalices...about 2 feet high. I'm thinking about a gallon
jug, bottom removed, upsidedown with a plastic pipe for the stem and an
upsidedown saucer for the base. Pad and tape the connections, then spray with
gold paint. Add jewels or decoration.
I need a pitcher to match. It will probably be made from cardboard or sheet
plastic. It does not need to hold liquid.
Hi, Alice,
I've had lots of experience making props for various theatrical (and
other pretend things, like my kids' ballet concerts, Scout stuff, etc)
-- but I've never made any of these items. But I've got ideas ......! :-D
For the turkey (hmm -- wasn't it a goose?), a shell stuffed with
fiber-fill would work, but fiber-fill in that quantity is not
particularly light-weight. Lighter than real meat is, but still.... on
the other hand, the weight of fiber-fill would look passably realistic
to an audience in the way it handles on-stage. I'd probably make a
hollow turkey-shaped shell, such as made out of fairly thick
papier-mache, covered with a thin layer of soft spongy foam, held in
place by a fabric cover. The fabric can be painted, varnished,
whatever, and the wings and legs can be made out of more of the fabric,
with fabric-glued-over-wire feet to grab the thing by.
A turkey-shaped fabric bag stuffed with foam chips would also work,
provided nobody squeezes it too noticeably during the play. But then,
that goes for fiber-fill, as well.
For the goblets, buy the biggest-size party balloons you can. (If you
can't get any big enough, you could always cover a round plastic bucket
with a garbage bag and papier-mache over that, but I'll explain this as
if you're using a balloon.) For a goblet, blow a balloon up to the size
you need, masking-tape a length of PVC pipe or a bit of cardboard tube
to the correct end of the balloon for your shape, and then stick a base
on the other end of the tube. The base can be any semi-rigid,
light-weight object of a suitable size and shape for your needs: I'd
probably use the bottom of a round or square gallon jug, cut with a
little depth to it. Or an old Frisbee. A criss-cross or a circle can be
cut into the center, just large enough to push the cardboard tube
through a little way. The joins can be padded with more tape, even duct
tape, for security. I'd then cover the whole construction with
papier-mache as thick as feels "right" (remembering that heaviness looks
more like a full goblet on-stage). After several layers, each being
allowed to dry separately, the "top" of the goblet can be cut off, the
edge trimmed nicely, the balloon popped and removed, maybe the inside
would get another layer or two of papier-mache. Maybe. The base, of
course, can get as many layers as it needs to stand up properly, and be
weighted properly so that the chalice doesn't keep volunteering to tip
itself over. Paint, apply jewels, I'd probably also buy some cheap
imitation gold-leaf at the art store, and rip off bits of that to apply
to the outside in places for a bit of extra sparkle, and the goblet is done.
The pitcher or jug can be made the same way, using several blown-up
balloons taped together to make the basic shape. Cover and compress the
shape with a plastic garbage-bag if you need to smooth out the bumps of
balloon. Use some sort of hose for the handle, such as
electric-clothes-dryer vent hose. Papier-mache, paint, gold-leaf,
jewel, whatever, and you've got an alcoholic's delight.
BTW, the best imitation poured-liquid I ever saw on stage was some sort
of light-weight confetti, made of mostly paper (tissue-paper, probably,
because it was matte-finish, but a bit translucent), with about a
quarter or third of the volume made of transparent cellophane flakes of
the same color. There was just enough sparkle to look realistic, but
not so much that it screamed, "Dry plastic!!" I was sitting in about
the tenth row, center, so I got a pretty good look. But I don't suppose
it would look so effective if the "liquid" went anywhere but into
another container.
The best imitation feathers I ever saw were in a floor-length "evening
cloak" worn by the Merry Widow in the Australian Ballet's production.
The inside of the cloak is white satin, the outside is white "feathers,"
with a huge black-velvet bow hanging down the back from about
shoulder-blade height. The dancer walks on-stage from the side, bundled
up in the cloak, does a little stage business in the restaurant, then
turns her back on the audience and opens the cloak out wide for the
coat-check attendant to take it off her. The look is stunningly
beautiful! The "feathers" are actually nylon tulle, cut into something
like circles, squares, half-circles, --- each one gathered at its center
and pinched to form a longish, 3-D shape, vaguely pointy but fluffy, and
sewn onto the cloak fabric. The tulle points are layered like roofing
shingles all the way from the bottom to the top of the cloak. En masse,
even in a small theater -- looks just like feathers! A friend of mine
was going to apply the method to a 20-foot-long tail for a "Cat in the
Hat" production, but then the director changed her mind and wanted
something else, so this never got done. And we were so looking forward
to seeing how it worked!
And I only mention the "wine" and the "feathers" in case your director
decides he/she wants the pitcher to pour out wine, or the bird to have
its clothes on! Directors do that, apparently. :-D
I hope this helps. And have fun! The creativity is the best part!
Beth Schoenberg
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
