Faceted masquerade masks for Sweeney Todd
We're working on Sweeney Todd at PlayMakers right now, which is largely why i haven't posted anything in a while. Busy! But here's a quick look at just one of the many cool costume projects we've had in-house: the animal.masks for the masquerade scene.
Our costume designer, Bill Brewer, and our director, Jen Wineman, were really drawn to the mask designs of an artist named Steve Wintercroft. Wintercroft creates masks which look like the faceted shapes of 3D digital character designs before they have their "skins"--shapes reduced to planes. When i saw the images, i was so excited about the look of that scene and i couldn't wait to start work on them. For the scene, we would need a total of thirteen different masks, so my concern was how we could make this quantity of masks from something durable enough to survive a 25-show run, but which we could produce in under a month, alongside all the other craftwork i needed to stay on top of.
Wintercroft sells his designs as PDFs on Etsy, so Bill chose 13 masks he liked and we bought the patterns. Upon looking at the structures of the masks (which based on the instructions are intended to be printed on paper or cardstock and glued together for parties or children's play) and considering how we might adapt them to our needs, i came up with our process plan:
This spreadsheet was how we kept track of the project. With 12 different processes happening to 13 different masks, you have to devise good record-keeping strategies! (This pic was taken when we were close to being done, clearly.)
I printed the patterns off onto heavy cardstock, and then several undergraduates got trained on the industrial heat press, which they used in backing the cardstock with a heavy-weight fusible non-woven felt (think Pellon). Since each mask was between 10 and 20 pages worth of cardstock, this took a few hourrs. Then my assistant, first-year graduate student Erin Torkelson, began to cut these things out and assemble them.
Erin used Fabric-Tac in a curved-tip syringe to apply the glue to the tabs of each piece.
Clamps and clips secured each join while the adhesive cured.
Once the masks were in 3D form, we painted them with two coats of gesso and a sealer called Sculpt-or-Coat, inside and out, for stability. We also reinforced some of the joins around eyeholes and ears/mouths with papier-mache.
Several more in progress...
Then all the masks were painted with grey acrylic, except the Minotaur for the character of the Judge (top row right, hiding behind the Boar), which was painted deep red to match his costume.
Then, the masks were fit on the performers, interior padding constructed and added in, and now they're off to tech rehearsal to be waltzed in!
If you want to follow these kinds of projects in real-time, find me on Instagram or Twitter.
Our costume designer, Bill Brewer, and our director, Jen Wineman, were really drawn to the mask designs of an artist named Steve Wintercroft. Wintercroft creates masks which look like the faceted shapes of 3D digital character designs before they have their "skins"--shapes reduced to planes. When i saw the images, i was so excited about the look of that scene and i couldn't wait to start work on them. For the scene, we would need a total of thirteen different masks, so my concern was how we could make this quantity of masks from something durable enough to survive a 25-show run, but which we could produce in under a month, alongside all the other craftwork i needed to stay on top of.
Wintercroft sells his designs as PDFs on Etsy, so Bill chose 13 masks he liked and we bought the patterns. Upon looking at the structures of the masks (which based on the instructions are intended to be printed on paper or cardstock and glued together for parties or children's play) and considering how we might adapt them to our needs, i came up with our process plan:
This spreadsheet was how we kept track of the project. With 12 different processes happening to 13 different masks, you have to devise good record-keeping strategies! (This pic was taken when we were close to being done, clearly.)
I printed the patterns off onto heavy cardstock, and then several undergraduates got trained on the industrial heat press, which they used in backing the cardstock with a heavy-weight fusible non-woven felt (think Pellon). Since each mask was between 10 and 20 pages worth of cardstock, this took a few hourrs. Then my assistant, first-year graduate student Erin Torkelson, began to cut these things out and assemble them.
Erin used Fabric-Tac in a curved-tip syringe to apply the glue to the tabs of each piece.
Clamps and clips secured each join while the adhesive cured.
Once the masks were in 3D form, we painted them with two coats of gesso and a sealer called Sculpt-or-Coat, inside and out, for stability. We also reinforced some of the joins around eyeholes and ears/mouths with papier-mache.
Several more in progress...
Then all the masks were painted with grey acrylic, except the Minotaur for the character of the Judge (top row right, hiding behind the Boar), which was painted deep red to match his costume.
Then, the masks were fit on the performers, interior padding constructed and added in, and now they're off to tech rehearsal to be waltzed in!
If you want to follow these kinds of projects in real-time, find me on Instagram or Twitter.