National Theatre Live War Horse & The Handspring Puppet Company

As we are creating Automatons for our Props Module this semester I thought it would be beneficial to look at War Horse and Handspring Puppet Company that created the horses in the live theatre stage show.

A live screening will broadcast in cinemas around the UK on the 27th February 2014.

I have also found a  short video on the National Theatre Live's website about the making of the War Horse puppets which i found very insightful.

You can find more on The Handspring Puppet Company here: http://www.handspringpuppet.co.za/

Experimenting with Texture.

For my statue I needed to mimic the texture and colour of rusted copper. I used interior filler, glue and sawdust to create the texture, and for a second example sand. I applied the correct colour with a sponge and brushes to make it effective. To be accurate it would be best to have an actual example of rusted copper in front of you, rather than an internet image.

Here are some pictures to show the stages of process - This is using interior filler, glue and sawdust. (Note I used a hint of Ancient Gold, and brass metallic colours)

Here are the next few images using sand for the texture and using a real item to recreate the effect i wanted. 

Colours used: Acrylic Burnt Seinna, Acrylic Orange, Crown Aquatic Blue, Acrylic black, Acrylic Dark Green, Ancient Gold (Metallic) Brass (Metallic) and Acrylic White 

The Making of: Cyberpunk Romeo & Juliet Statue

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I was paired up with another team member to create a statue that reflected elements of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet story and incorporate Cyberpunk and Steampunk.  we also had to consider our thoughts on 'Britishness' and British youth culture.

We made the body frame out of papier mache (consisted of softened cardboard and newspaper and watered down glue) - This was cast around a manikin body parts to save time, cling film was added first to the body parts to prevent ripping in the cutting process. (Image 1)


6 layers of papier mache were added and dried before cutting from the manikin. The papier mache body was reattached together with masking tape, and another layer of papier mache.

The Plinth 
This consisted of two circles drawn at 61cmm circumference and then cut out on a bandsaw. I cut 8 blocks of wood (48mm x by 12mm) to sandwich in between the two circles. I used wood glue and nails to fix together. To seal around the edge, we used thin plywood with a bit of wood glue and a nail gun to fix together.  - We had a problem with the plywood due to the shape and the wood was a bit warped, we solved the issue by cutting smaller lengths of the plywood to fix around the edge of the plinth. (Image 2)

We then placed the statue on using a long length of wood through the bottom of the foot, and held together by screws. A layer of glue was applied to the whole statue.(Image 3)

 We added detail to define the cuffs and the boots, using pipe installation and black tissue paper. for the tubing, ironically enough,  we used vacuum tubing. We then added plaster of Paris (Calico dipped in Interior Filler) and applied texture by using a mixture of  interior filler,  glue and sawdust. (Please refer to images 4, 5,6, 7, 8)

I used tops from bottles covered in newspaper for buttons, The 'Stain-glass heart' idea we used a piece of clear acrylic and then designed a heart using sweet wrappers. (Roses) - I mimicked rusted copper by using a mixture of  Orange and Aquatic blue emulsion for the base, then touching up with Acrylic Greens, Browns, White and Black. I added a touch of enamel Brass and Ancient Gold colours. (Image 9)

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