Yesterday, I had my first full workshop day at the nerve-center of the Midsummer Watch Parade in Chester. I was introduced to Ron, the other assistant artist working on the project and found Vicky already at work in the studio when I got there.
Russell showed us how to use double-weight tea bag paper and latex to begin fleshing out the basic withy structure of our birds; made at our interview. I eventually got the hang of it, but I hadn't really thought about how I would cover the structure when I was making the frame, so found the wings a little bit awkward to cover.
covered bird
We are going to be constructing three green men, and had all brought bits of research; visual, literary and historical, which were pinned to a board.
My visual research is also available online, I've not had chance to do any sketching.
I told Russell about my epiphany with center cane, and suggested it might be useful for getting some lovely organic vine-like shapes.
Russell had already made a start on a green man, this head blinks its eyes.
Once the birds were finished, we started work repairing existing puppets. Ron took the red dragon built onto a pram, I took the green-hobby-horse-style-dragon and Vicky took a crow on a stick.
I had to remove the dragon's head and adjust the direction of his neck a little
Using gaffer, i patched up the holes I found and then covered those with latex and tea bag paper
The underside of the dragon hadn't been painted, and so the latex had become brittle and discoloured, it needed re-covering and painting to stop this from happening again.
Some of the internal structure needed strengthening with cable ties, and so I spent a good while inside the belly of a dragon. Once the structure was solid and all of the holes were patched, I set about painting over the patches; bringing to the fore my complete incapacity in mixing paint.
In the end it looked fine
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