As usual, time gets away from me.....
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| A grouping of Sleeping Beauty Ballet papier mache stage props..... |
....I was meaning to post a fun project I was recently commissioned to do for our local ballet company, when I realized I never did blog about a previous one that I also did for the Ballet, this past spring. Well being that it seemed like an exceptionally busy spring on my end (and thanks in no small part to this particular project actually), I guess I just forgot to write about it despite the fact I do like to keep general track of my various projects in here, if even just for my own records. Therefore I'll do so now, and save the original post I was going to blog for a later day....
As it stands, our local ballet company here in town put on an opulently lavish production of 'The Sleeping Beauty' Ballet back in the Spring (May '14). I was asked by the artistic director to come up with some stage props to be used as part of the story line. At Baby Princess Aurora's christening ceremony, the fairies of the kingdom are invited as honored guests to bestow upon the infant their especial gifts of character and talent. The ballet director explained to me that there were to be six fairy blessings in all, and that she wanted the dancers acting the fairies roles to be able to carry props representing these gifts. What exactly they were to be, and how they were to look, she was leaving up to me....
A little research of the old, original Brothers Grimm tales lead me to choose the following as my fairy gifts: The gift of 'Wisdom', the gift of 'Radiance', The gift of 'Music', the gift of 'Dance', the gift of 'Grace', and the gift of 'Beauty'. I then set about designing prop pieces to reflect these abstract traits (created in papier mache, but of course)....
The following is what I came up with:
The Gift of Wisdom....:
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| A paper mache Owl to represent 'Wisdom' |
The Gift of 'Radiance'.....:
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| A papier mache Sun to represent 'Radiance" |
The Gift of "Music"....:
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| A papier mache Harp to represent "Music" |
The Gift of "Grace"....:
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| A papier mache Sun to represent 'Grace" |
The Gift of "Dance".....:
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| A papier mache Louis XIV Court Shoe to represent "Dance" |
The Gift of "Beauty"....:
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| A papier mache (and restaurant take-out box styrofoam) Rose to represent "Beauty" |
(This white rose blossom was created by hot gluing bits and pieces of two take-out boxes that I cut up and strategically re-assembled....)
All fairy 'gifts' are approximately 18 inches high, and composed of pretty much....garbage. Well, that is to say, recyclables. Can you picture the styrofoam trays that hold sliced mushrooms from the grocery store at the very bottom of the bases...? Or the yogurt cups that make up the upper portion of the bases....?
Here's an early WIP pic I took of the props' (very) humble beginnings.....:
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| What I began with (the bast on the far right with a fresh, gooey layer of papier mache). We're talking plastic trays, yogurt cups, bulk CD containers, old telephone cord, etc etc. Repurposing galore, People!) |
So, while they all started out as refuse, in the end, they turned out like this....:
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| Something from Nothing! |
And they really did look lovely on stage. Here's to fun 3D projects....!