Ongoing Inspiration

Suitcase project

Light 

Structure

Final Finished Waverley Window

The finished piece...

Work presentation.... 

Painting the Window

Layers, layers and even more layers....

Before we actually started painting in the details and the correct colours we have to layer up on idenem. This was to protect the polystyrene and to also make the piece not look like it was made from polystyrene.

Because there was so many layers to the idenem, the piece had to dry over night and perhaps a day with the amount that needed to dry!

This image shows the first colours that we put onto the window, after a few more layers of paint to lighten it we decided to have a look at the real thing outside in the day light. Thankfully we quickly realised that the colours that had been printed out didn't do justice to the real thing. The printed image came out a lot darken than the real thing, also the lighting in the theatre space was not brilliant and hindered the appearance of the colours.an darkened the image.

Later on our work became more recognizable to the real thing. Dry brushing allowed us to create the highlights needed and the mortar lines gave a better overall appearance to the entire piece. Using shadow and highlights we made the window more defined. 

The only thing left to do was to give it a bit more context and historical reference...

Painting in practise

Scenic painting session 1
Learning the basics

Materials used:
Board
Electricians tape
idenem
mix of paints close to the colours of a real wall as you can get them

This first image was done using electricians tape to mark out the bricks, then using idenem, thickly layer the idenem over the board. You have to wait for the idenem to dry enough to not run, but you can not wait to long to take the tape off, or else you will never get it off!

Once the idenem is completely dry then we can paint over the board using the mix of colours. 

Once the paint is dry we then dry brushed over the board. This technique only picks up the lumps and bumps of the idenem and creates a realistic appearance of wear of the brick.

The mortar was done as one of the last pieces and to create a neat line we used a light and short piece of scrap wood. 

This technique also involved electricians tape and idenem. This method gives more a smooth appearance and is mostly used in pantomimes. The mortar was used by having a piece of wood to lean on like in the other technique however for this style, we created a shadow and a highlight on the bricks to make them stand out. 

On this board we also tried wood graining using the same paints and a layer of shine to enable us to slide the wood graining tool over the board smoothly. 

Further construction of the Window

Session 2...

Covered in MDF 

Covered in polystyrene

After securing the MDF we then had a base to stick the polystyrene too, for this we used an adhesive called copydex. The polystyrene allows us to build up onto. Because the brick is extremely textured we found that we needed to glue further bits of polystyrene onto the base to create a rough appearance. 

Using a file, sand paper and rasps we carved into the polystyrene to create the groves between the bricks.

Almost finished in the construction of the window, just adding the features to the brick wall. In hindsight, we would have liked to make the bricks more pronounced and more accurate to the real thing. 

Construction of the Waverley window

The Beginning...

The construction of the Waverley window took about two weeks to build and a further one week to paint.
As a group we decided to start off by making the two columns of each side of the window.
We started by gathering the measurements and constructing the frame of the columns, using MDF we made the frame and figured out that to strengthen the structure and to make it more stable, we created a board to insert into the middle of the length of the column. This did in fact help and made the structure more stable and ensured the frame would keep its shape.

PVA glue and screws to strengthen the supports.

From these two columns we then went on to making the window frame. This took a day to construct and we learnt how to use useful machinery that we would later need to develop our knowledge and practise further. 

At this stage there was plenty for us all to do. We worked well at this point and moved on quickly through the construction process. 

Waverley Building

Choose a section of the Waverley Building to make into a 1:25 scale...

Basement window of Waverley

1:25 scale model of Waverley basement window

For the beginning of the Set Design and Construction project we chose a section of the Waverley building. Working in small groups we decided to chose one of the windows which looks into the basement. 

We took the measurements of all sections of the window and the surrounding features such as the brick columns and the cement slab.