Mystery Build 2012 – Plan B
The Mystery Build 2012 project began with a disappointing start for Christine. Her initial idea to make a Violet Beauregarde using the balloon in the kit fell to the wayside. The balloon decided to deflate before she could finish adding layers of paper and glue to it. Since the balloon idea was not working out, Christine began to brainstorm new ideas. She knew she only had small amounts of each of the materials in the Mystery Build 2012 kit. This caused her to “think small” but in a big way. She wanted to use her love of creating “little things” to her advantage in the challenge. This prompted her to decide to make the five main child characters in the movie as mini sculptures sitting on a golden ticket resembling a flying carpet. Her original pieces were sculpted with polymer clay as you can see on display with me (Ralphie the Bunny if you didn’t know) in the photo above.
Willy Wonka Characters sculpted in Polymer Clay
Christine watched a video at the Mystery Build 2012 website about using the plaster of paris from the kit. In the video it showed examples of how to cast the plaster using a variety of molds. Using a mold was allowed if the final piece only consisted of a material from the Mystery Build 2012 kit. Since Christine had recently ordered silicone mold material to make molds with, she decided to make small original pieces of the characters from the movie using polymer clay. Then she could use the molds to make final pieces cast with plaster of paris.
In the photo above you can see how Christine first “sketched” her Charlie character onto the surface of the polymer clay. Then she began to sculpt out her design and remove the unwanted clay to create her final piece. This method is a type of subtractive sculpting, where material is “subtracted” from the piece.
The Charlie Bucket piece is almost done in the photo above. Christine still needed to sculpt his face and some patches on his clothing.
Willy Wonka characters being cast in plaster
The photos above show the process of casting the Willy Wonka characters using the plaster of paris. It is a pretty messy process. Christine hadn’t worked with plaster of paris very often before doing this challenge. She found out that the plaster takes quite a bit of time to completely dry. To help it dry faster, she decided to set her pieces outside in the sunlight.
A Golden Ticket Flying Carpet
There was canvas, wire, masking tape and plaster cloth included in the Mystery Build 2012 kit. Using these materials worked out well for Christine to create the “golden ticket” flying carpet for her characters to sit on. In my next report you will see everything come together as a final piece. Please stay tuned to see how the rest of her project comes into fruition.
Check out the rest of the Mystery Build posts by clicking the links below
Mystery Build 2012 – part three
An artist who aspires to become a children's book illustrator. Stays young at heart and an avid daydreamer. When the weather permits, I enjoy visiting/biking on the nature trail near my house. Visiting the trail has brought me many hours of enjoyment and relaxation. My camera is usually by my side while on the trail. I like to try to find the small and unnoticeable as subjects for my photos. And of course flowers and plant life encompass many of my subjects.
