Ageing the Teddy Bear (2)

Continuing with the Teddy Bear, I unpicked some stitching on the stomach and patched this up with some coarse hessian material. I chose this material as this would have been around in World war one, sacks and some clothing would have been made from this. This will also show an example of "make do and mend" on the bear.

I tried to put PVA glue on some bits of the teddy to clump the fur together. This wasn't really noticeable and especially for theatre, this wouldn't be seen by the audience at all.

I also totally unpicked the Teddy Bear's head from the body and stitched it back on. I wanted one side of the head looser than the other so that it can slope to the side. I also left visible stitching to give the impression that the mother has repaired it a few times.

I continued wearing down the fur with sandpaper on the head.

Ageing the Teddy Bear (1)

Keeping with the narrative of the 7 year old boy, I am going to create another prop around this.
As Teddy Bears were popular from the early 1900s onwards I want to create an aged one.

I bought a 1900s style Teddy Bear from the Imperial War Museum a few weeks ago and I want to age this. If I had more time I would have made the Teddy Bear myself, however I don't think that it would have looked as good as, or would be made to a high enough standard as the bought bear.

The most obvious way to show wear and tear on the bear was to replace an eye with a button. So I started to cut the fabric around the eye and after some time it came out. I replaced this with a wooden button.

I then experimented with tea staining the fabric. Once dried I couldn't see much difference in colour so tried watered down brown acrylic instead. This was much more effective so I decided to use this instead.

I decided to stain one side more than the other because I want to base my narrative around Peter (the little boy) dropping the Teddy Bear in the fields where his father was working.

I also wore the fabric down on the right arm as this is the arm Peter holds to carry the Teddy Bear. I cut the wooly fabric first, close as I could to the core of the Teddy Bear. I then sandpapered over it to wear the fabric down even more.

Making bread & cheese from polystyrene

Bread

• Start with a block of polystyrene (white, loose grained polystyrene) and draw an oval shape onto the top. 

• Using a carving knife (not a Stanley knife!) cut small sections of the block until you get to the edges of the shape. 

• Using the tools (like big files) shape the block by rounding the edges etc. 

• Using the rounded tool, make the grooves on the top of the bread. 

• Then sand the whole thing to its final shape. 

• Cut some muslin into small squares. Mix PVA glue with some water and stick the squares down using the mixture and a brush. Cover the whole loaf. 

• Leave to dry. The muslin creates a hard surface which makes it more durable to be used on stage. Once dry you can paint it!

Cheese

• The polystyrene I used to make this prop is a lot denser than the last lot of polystyrene used, but the same process applies. 

• Draw the desired shape onto the top of the block then cut to that shape. 

This polystyrene already gives good texture when cut for cheese

• Use the tools and sandpaper to get it into the correct shape. 

• You can then use the PVA and water mixture with the squares of muslin to cover the cheese. 

• I used Idendant (a white putty) on the sliced cheese sides as I wanted to add the hole detail to it and it is easily shaped. It still gives the same hardening effect as muslin. Idendant can also be used to make shapes on the white looser polystyrene. A heater can then be blown over the surface of the polystyrene and it will melt, leaving the shape in Idendant remaining. (Stamps can be created like this.) 

• Leave to dry. You can then paint it. 

Ta daa!

I've finished the tin!
Over all, I'm really pleased with how this has turned out. I think the lid looks effective from a distance and I also like the crayons; how simple they were to make but how authentic & effective they look.

I would be happy for this to be used on stage, however if this was to be used on film I would make the tin differently as much more detail would be needed e.g vacuum forming, casting and moulding?

Making the bullet & book page

Making the bullet

I'm really pleased with how the tin is going, but I thought it would be nice to add an item that shows the war around the child that he could find and add to his tin.

My first thought was bullets, so I researched some images.

I like the idea of adding a bullet to the tin to show the contrast of the innocence of the toys but bloodshed of war.

I found a chunky lid to a pen in my room and covered this in paper. I then made the tip to a point with PVA and tissue and waited for that to dry.
I then filled the bottom of the lid with Plasticine, then coated the whole thing in a layer of the gold acrylic paint.

I painted red and white detailing on the bottom of the bullet then dabbed brown paint over the whole thing. I then scratched into it with sandpaper.

Making the book page

I also want to include something of a soldier's so I started to think about that. I remembered that I bought a World War one replica pack from the Imperial War Museum a few weeks ago. The pack has replicas of medical reports and national registration certificates which I was thinking of making, however these are items the soldiers would have kept on them and wouldn't fall into the hands of a child. 

I was reading a replica of "When to join the ranks" and found some of the rules and language used quite interesting, so I made a page from this to include in the tin, as this is something that probably would have been easily lost in World War one. 

I created this page in Word. The text is size 9 Times New Roman font. This page would have been more effective if I had a typewriter, but Times New Roman was the closest font I could find without one. 

I aged this by tea staining the paper (surprise surprise!). I wanted darker patches too, so I watered down some brown acrylic and dabbed this on with a tissue, which I think looks quite effective. 

Making the marbles and crayons

With my research on children's toys I headed to good old Poundland and bought some marbles and crayons.

I aged the marbles by covering them in black acrylic then scratching into them with sandpaper.

The crayons were made by removing the wrappers to them and measuring them. (7.4cm x 3.7cm)

Then looking back at my research, I went to Photoshop with the aim of creating a replica of the wrapper that was used on the crayons in the 1900s.

The old wrappers were surprisingly easy to make on Photoshop! I created a coloured rectangle (I made 3 versions as I wasn't sure of the right colour) I then selected "Engraving" font and typed "CRAYOLA" in bold capitals size 12. "Studio and school crayon" was size 9 directly under it. "Trade Mark" was arial size 9 font. I then made the wavy line marks with the brush tool and playing with the brush type.

I chose the bottom wrapper as this was the closest colour I  could make to the original. 

I then wrapped these around three crayons and wore the ends down to show that they have been used.

Painting the lid... again

I woke up this morning, looked at the tin lid and decided it wasn't quite right.

I went back to it and added some lighter bits (the criss- cross section at the bottom and the leaves in the centre) to make them stand out more.

I felt like some of the detail was lost so by adding in the faint highlights I was able to see the detail more easily.

I also mixed the brown and gold acrylics and painted on a different shade where dirt etc would be which I think makes it look more realistic.

I am much happier with how it looks now...

Painting the lid

Now that the lid is completely dry I started to paint it.

I gave it two layers of gold acrylic paint.

I then got a flat brush and dipped this in black acrylic. With hardly any paint on the brush I went over the lid (dry brushing) as Andy told me to. I liked the effect this gave but it wasn't obvious enough so I gave it a second coat.

I faintly added detail such as Queen Mary's face and a few shadows such as underneath the sword.
I then scratched over the lid with some sandpaper.

Ageing the tin

I covered the lid completely in a second layer of tissue and PVA glue and left it to dry again.

Whilst I was waiting for that to dry I started to age the tin.

First off I dabbed some scrunched up tissue into black and brown acrylic and dabbed this onto random places on the tin. I built up a few layers of this.

I went over this lightly with sandpaper. I liked the effect this gave but wanted more prominent scratches.

I then worked into the tin more with a pair of scissors, pressing hard to get deep scratches.

I then smudged brown acrylic paint over these with my finger so that the paint would get into the grooves.

I wiped off the excess paint with tissue leaving visible brown scratches in the tin.

I was pleased with how it was looking, but wanted to age the tin more because the tin's time in the trenches would be evident, but also now that it belongs to a child more wear & tear would occur.

I started looking around my room for ways that I could age the tin and resorted to bashing the tin on the edge of my desk.

I also started scraping the edge of the tin on my outside window-ledge. (My flatmates probably think I'm mad!)

The first layer

I traced the shape of Queen Mary's head (from the scaled down sketch of the lid) onto thin card and cut this out.

Looking back at my mock up version of the lid, I realised that making Queen Mary's head stand out more would be more effective. I cut another layer of the card out, which will look much better on my final prop.

I then cut small leaves from this card to put around the centre circle. I chose to use cardboard for the leaves because it is thicker than paper or a doily (which I was considering using) so will give better definition of the leaves when covered in tissue.

I covered the whole lid in a layer of PVA and tissue and left it to dry.

I only realised after I had made this layer that I didn't leave room on the lid for the M's either side of the centre circle. If I was to try and put them in now I think the lid would look overcrowded, so I have decided to leave the lid as it is. I am pleased with how it is looking, also this prop is for theatre therefore not as much detail is needed as if this was a hero prop for film. 

Here it goes...

Right, here it goes... I'm making the final tin lid!

I started by cutting a piece of paper the same size as the lid and drawing the basic shapes onto it. (The lines, centre and small circles etc)

I stuck this to the tin lid and began making the raised straight lines by sticking down the thin wire (used in my mock up) with tape.

The wire was good to use for the centre circle as it gave a definite edge, but as with the mock up, the more fiddly smaller bits needed to be done with tissue. 

I took thin strips of tissue, soaked them in PVA glue and twisted them to make thin strips (like string). I used this to make the small circles either side of the tin, the shapes on the top & bottom, the knife at the top and the criss- cross pattern at the bottom.

I want to leave this to dry fully before I do anything else to the lid. 

My Boy Jack

Finally a film about World War 1 I've actually enjoyed!!!
My boy Jack is about author Rudyard Kipling (David Haig) and his family during the first World War. After his son Jack (Daniel Radcliffe) is refused entry to the army because he failed an eye test, Kipling uses his influence to gain his son entry.

I liked this film as it was more about family life and how a father who at first pushes his son into the army then deals with his death, rather than war itself.

The Kipling family were high class therefore the set of their home had wood panelling on the walls and grand furniture etc. so this wasn't useful for me in terms of my props based on a poor farming family. 

I did however find the costumes and tools used in the scenes where the mother and daughter go out to dig useful, as this is similar to what farming families would have worn/ used. 

This film draws the audience in so they begin to know and love Jack. They know what will happen but when he does die  it is still devastating to watch. This gave me a tiny sense of what life must have been like at the time and how families felt not knowing if their son would come back from war. I think this is why the film is successful in my eyes. 

I enjoyed seeing the different props and how they were made to fit the time period. E.g Jack's cigarette packet and matchbox. As with all the films we have watched, I've looked at the props and to the standard they are made, which I aim for myself with my props. 

Adding more detail to the lid...

I showed Andy my mock up today. He talked to me about adding slightly more detail and looking for alternatives other than tissue and wire to create the shapes on the lid.

Even simple things like a paper doilies can be used to create the leaves around the centre circle, so its worth me looking around for different materials.

I went and slightly changed my simplified sketch to give it slightly more detail:

Original sketch

Slightly changed

I added the sword at the top, the M's either side of Queen Mary's face and the cross pattern at the bottom. I noticed that from far away you can see these more clearly so I'm adding these features onto my design.

Andy also spoke to me about dry brushing once my piece had been finished, which I'll have to experiment with on my mock up.