Design Process: Creating my Artefact

Step 1: The Paper Mache Hand. I bent chicken wire around my hand and fingers I then had to hook the chicken wire fingers onto the main hand. Then I covered it with paper mache. I then left it to dry. Although this process was relatively fast it was very difficult to bend the wire into the correct shape.

Step 2: The Robot Hand. First I made the main hand shape. Then I cut a piece of plastic to size and glued it on the end of the shape.Then I cut out the 3 parts of a plastic tube for the finger, glued them together, I then glued a screw in the end of the finger to make it look more robotic, finally I glued the finger to the piece of plastic. I repeated this for the other fingers and thumb. This stage was very difficult as the wood was hard to cut to the right shape also the fingers were very delicate and cut very fast.

Step 3: The Books. I got 1 piece of wood and cut it into 3 equal pieces. Then I put a thin wooden strip across the bits that had no covering on them I then got some thin plywood and used it as the book cover. For the spine I got a long plastic strip measured it to the correct size and smoothed down the corners so the spine was curved. Then I had to drill through 2 of the books so I could fit the photo frame wire through discreetly. This was very difficult because the middle of the books was hollow and this made it very difficult to drill through also lining up the 2 books was difficult.

Step 4: Spraying the hand. First i applied a base coat of white and sprayed the robot hand metallic silver and I sprayed the paper mache hand cream/beige. This was easy because the paint took very well and only required a few coats.

Step 5: Painting the books. I used 3 different colours Dark Green, Blue and Red. First I marked out what parts needed to be painted and then I painted them. I Then stuck on some cream paper with brown lines to give a book-like affect. This stage was easy because it was very simple and quick

Step 6: Painting the Spines. First I cut out a stencil of some of Shakespeare’s play’s Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest these were in an Old English font to make them look old and more Shakespearian. Cutting out the stencils was a long process but it was very easy to paint. 

Step 7: Putting it all together. Now that I have finished making all the parts to my artefact I need to put it in the right place.


Summary: I believe this artefact can be enjoyed by  people of all ages as it is very simple and eyecatching the scrolling pictures will grab the viewers attention and make them want to watch it.

How to make: A Fake Cookie

What you will need:
Chicken wire (The more you have the bigger the biscuit)
Newspaper cut into strips 2.5cm - 3.0cm wide
PVA glue
Paint

1. Bend the chicken wire into a semi-oval shape this will make the bottom half of the cookie Repeat this to get the other half.


2. Hook the two halves together to make a small disc


3.dip the paper mache strips in the PVA glue and stick them onto the chicken wire frame cover the whole frame with 3-4 layers then leave to dry. You can speed up the drying process by using a hairdryer to dry the paper mache quicker.


4. When your 'cookie' is dry you need to paint it for best results i would recommend applying a base coat of white but it doesnt matter to much choose any colour you desire and paint the cookie now paint small brown dots for the chocolate chips leave to dry and you will have a quick and easy cookie   

Making My mask :)

I found the process of making my mask relatively easy but very slow due to the fact that we had to wait for everything to dry. I changed my design because my initial idea was not as good as the one i later decided on. I changed from the tinman to a scary clown sort of thing. The strengths of my mask were that i made the thickness right so it was strong and it fit perfectly on my face without any struggle. The weaknesses of my mask were that it didnt have any elastic so you had to hold it on your face to wear it it was also relatively dull and would not grab your attention in a performance.
I would maybe of thought of a detailed plan of every stage of the design process as this would of made the process alot quicker and easier. I enjoyed the process alot because of the amount of time we had i dont think i would of enjoyed it as much as i did if we had a shorter time scale to make the mask in.

Research: RSC assignment

My idea is to have:

1 paper mache hand holding a skull like in Hamlet - to show old Shakespeare.

1 robot hand holding a digital photo frame with pictures of skulls on it to show the future of Shakespeare and whats to come of future performances.

These will be balanced on some wooden books