I've been making some maquettes as its one thing for me to design in 2D but I find things change when I translate the design into 3D. I'm not sure if this is a problem, if I should be able to exactly replicate a 2D design in 3D, slightly worrying, it is something I'm working on....
Any way enough worrying. I made a mock up of Pip's head out of sculpy, using a polystyrene ball I had lying around as a light weight core. This has made her head shape rounder which I actually preferred. Her face is more like an apple which I want. I used some dried herb stalks for the branches growing from her head. At the moment the maquette is about 8-10cm.
Polystyrene ball core with eye line guide.
Not too sure on the size of her lips at the moment but now that have worked out how to translate my designs into 3D I can make another version.
Drying 'erbs...
I used the second herbs for the maquette as they looked more branch like than the others. I don't know what herbs they are, they were dead when I picked them.
I have been thinking about the audio for my piece. I want something quite eery, something that evokes an uneasy feeling, stirring some childhood fear from the depths of your memory.
I remember a friend of my parents' had this box on their mantle piece with a glass front to it. Behind the frame was a jointed clown puppet (jigging puppet). Beneath the frame was a little drawer and when you pulled the drawer out, tinny, tinkly music played and the clown sprang to life and danced and danced until you closed the draw again. I had a morbid fascination with it; it freaked me out yet I couldn't stop opening that drawer.
I find music box tunes incredibly uncomfortable. I know it's probably a massive cliche so thats why I've been editing some.
.... Cleaning Skulls....
Mmmm, what a delightful morning I've had. I got up early and ate breakfast, watched silent witness. waited a couple of hours until I knew my food was going to stay where it should and then I took my box of maggots and skulls up to the snowy downs and emptied it.....
Luckily the cold weather had killed the maggots before they turned into flies. But them dying in with what little rotting flesh was left on the skulls created an almighty 'perfume'. Now I know what medieval towns smelled like.
I sat in the snow with some vinyl gloves on, wiping away the soil and clusters of maggots. Molly came to keep me company but didn't last very long. She threw up behind a snowman. I'm stronger stomached than her. As I lay out the semi-clean skulls out I heard a caw above my head and looked up to see a crow staring down at me form the tree branches. I left the big pile of maggots for his dinner.
Back home i rinsed the skulls and gently scrubbed the dirt away with an old toothbrush. I haven;t got anything to bleach them with yet as I don't want to use anything too strong. At the moment I've left them to soak in a tube of vinegar and bicarb. It should hopefully harden them.
I've changed my idea for The Barker. Instead of the rat like creature I've designed a tabletop/rod puppet that is inspired by the Ukari monkeys and wind up toys.
So, over Christmas, I finally plucked up the courage to de-flesh the crow heads! And boy was it fun....not.
I put them in a metal pot filled with boiling water and left them outside, but because ot was so cold it didn't do much. Thankfully my parents aren't squeamish so they let me put the heads i the pot with a lid on in the bottom oven of the ago to slow cook.
Like a Crow Head Casserole...
It smelled so odd. The heads weren't rotting as they'd been frozen but the smell was indescribable. Not over powering just lingering like a musty room. It did smell like death.
Then I spent a morning with a tea towel wrapped round my face and vinyl gloves on, picking away at the flesh and feathers. Mum even helped too. I think she enjoyed it more than me. So much so that she took over while I wrote my dissertation.
A few days later I went to the fishing tackle shop in Penzance and brought some fine looking blue bottle maggots.
£2 a pint, cheaper than the pub!
I put the skulls in a tub covered with soil and emptied the maggots on top. They had to be kept warm-ish so they would be lively and eat the flesh. I put them on the mantle piece but took them down after a day and night as I didn't want them to cook.
Now they are sat behind the loo in my house in Bristol. They have probably died of cold now seeing as it's been snowing the last few days. I just want to wait a bit more before I empty them, somewhere on the Downs in a wide open space. I checked on them a few times but it smells so awful.
