Project: Masks for the Little Prince, part two!
Recall if you will back in October when i posted the first installment about the development and creation of the masks for our next mainstage show, The Little Prince. Since we open on Saturday and there are costume renderings of some of the characters up on the official site, i think it's ok for me to post a follow-up!
When last i posted, i had left it at a cliffhanger with me beginning the sculpting process of the mask matrices.
This image shows a finished but unpainted mask worked over the matrix sculpture for the character of the Businessman You can see the maquette there at the bottom left T-pinned to the base, as well as all the tracking info on the label. These masks are made from thermoformable felt (trade name "Fosshape 600"), which is a heavy felt made from thermoplastic fibers. When you apply heat and pressure, the material becomes more rigid and solid. We used the Clover Mini Iron to mold the Fosshape over the matrix sculpture of each face into lightweight but sturdy masks. This way, if we needed to make more than one mask (say, if one was damaged in rehearsal) we could easily do so--it takes about an hour to do one once you are familiar with the process.
finished mask
Here's the final Businessman mask, complete with cigar. That cigar is a piece of 3/4" backer rod foam wrapped in a mache of tobacco-colored hand-dyed paper and shaped to look like a real cigar. A doubled length of millinery wire runs down the center of the backer rod foam for support and is attached to the interior of the mask lip area, so that the cigar can be adjusted to various jaunty angles without being removed from the mask. The eye areas are cut out holes in the Fosshape base, which are backed with buckram onto which the pupils are painted, affording the performer full vision while completely obscuring his own eyes.
This is the finished Conceited Man. Initially, he was to have no hair--he wears an enormous yellow top hat (hats for this show will be discussed in a separate future post). However, the actress portraying this character decided to doff the hat and gesture with it as part of the stage business, so we had to quickly work out how to create his hair. The designer, McKay Coble, described what she wanted as a suave, oiled "Clark Gable"-esque style. We used alpaca wool roving to create stylized hair effects for the other masked characters in the show who have hair, but clearly that wasn't going to work for this sort of look. I had a brainstorm, recalling the rubber wigs worn in a Las Vegas drag show i'd seen based on the artwork of Shag--that sort of look would be perfect! Some quick online legwork and i tracked down this sweet greaser wig, which i cut the back out of and attached to the Conceited Man mask. Voila! Love him!
Hope you enjoyed seeing this process start-to-finish, and if you are local, i hope you come out and enjoy the show. It proves to be both an unforgettable spectacle and a wonderful, thoughtful show.
(In related media, check out this story in the News & Observer about PRC veteran actor Kenneth Strong (playing the Aviator) and his incredible survival of glioblastoma cancer. We are all so excited to have Ken back on the mainstage in another wonderful leading role.)
When last i posted, i had left it at a cliffhanger with me beginning the sculpting process of the mask matrices.
This image shows a finished but unpainted mask worked over the matrix sculpture for the character of the Businessman You can see the maquette there at the bottom left T-pinned to the base, as well as all the tracking info on the label. These masks are made from thermoformable felt (trade name "Fosshape 600"), which is a heavy felt made from thermoplastic fibers. When you apply heat and pressure, the material becomes more rigid and solid. We used the Clover Mini Iron to mold the Fosshape over the matrix sculpture of each face into lightweight but sturdy masks. This way, if we needed to make more than one mask (say, if one was damaged in rehearsal) we could easily do so--it takes about an hour to do one once you are familiar with the process.
finished mask
Here's the final Businessman mask, complete with cigar. That cigar is a piece of 3/4" backer rod foam wrapped in a mache of tobacco-colored hand-dyed paper and shaped to look like a real cigar. A doubled length of millinery wire runs down the center of the backer rod foam for support and is attached to the interior of the mask lip area, so that the cigar can be adjusted to various jaunty angles without being removed from the mask. The eye areas are cut out holes in the Fosshape base, which are backed with buckram onto which the pupils are painted, affording the performer full vision while completely obscuring his own eyes.
This is the finished Conceited Man. Initially, he was to have no hair--he wears an enormous yellow top hat (hats for this show will be discussed in a separate future post). However, the actress portraying this character decided to doff the hat and gesture with it as part of the stage business, so we had to quickly work out how to create his hair. The designer, McKay Coble, described what she wanted as a suave, oiled "Clark Gable"-esque style. We used alpaca wool roving to create stylized hair effects for the other masked characters in the show who have hair, but clearly that wasn't going to work for this sort of look. I had a brainstorm, recalling the rubber wigs worn in a Las Vegas drag show i'd seen based on the artwork of Shag--that sort of look would be perfect! Some quick online legwork and i tracked down this sweet greaser wig, which i cut the back out of and attached to the Conceited Man mask. Voila! Love him!
Hope you enjoyed seeing this process start-to-finish, and if you are local, i hope you come out and enjoy the show. It proves to be both an unforgettable spectacle and a wonderful, thoughtful show.
(In related media, check out this story in the News & Observer about PRC veteran actor Kenneth Strong (playing the Aviator) and his incredible survival of glioblastoma cancer. We are all so excited to have Ken back on the mainstage in another wonderful leading role.)