Back to the test pieces

Cellulose paint finish, PVA (top) and plaster (bottom)

Plaster, (left) and PVA (right)

After trialing these two coatings, I decided that plaster gives a generally more smooth finish when painted as the PVA shows all the imperfections in the foam's surface underneath.

Changing the fabrc pieces

Sections layn out in order of layering

Pieces fixed together with contact adhesive

Once I had reached the stage ready for assembly, my tutor suggested that I applied a different finish to the foam wings. He suggests mixing PVA with plaster for a smooth, hard finish which can be painted in metallic gold. I now need to remove all the fabric and salvage the foam and wire underneath.

Paint touching-up

Sanded back paint detail

Fine paint detailing requiring cleanup

These photos show areas that require attention due to smudging and rough edges. Whilst applying T-cut to the black paint, this also smudged onto the white. As a result, I decided to apply another coat of white paint, only for the spray can to start spluttering. I hope the areas where it has spluttered and run will be removable.

Touching up the headpiece

Despite my best efforts, the masking tape did leave some sticky residue on the white paint finish. Most of this was removable with Tcut and a cloth. As small areas of paint have run, I wish to apply one final coat of white to the main areas of the headpiece once the detailing has been fully painted.

Resulting shoulder finish

Once I was content with the green areas, I could then begin to mask off these large areas, leaving the raised detailing exposed for painting.

Masking the back detailing

Masking these lines proved tricky due to the design's intricate nature. Once sprayed, I found that these areas required touching up with a fine paintbrush as some of the paint bled through the tape.

Black is sprayed

The black cellulose paint is noticeably matt in contrast to the high gloss white on the rest of the model. I have decided to keep this texture to the front detail as it adds interest.

Masking the headpiece

This image shows the intricate masking off of the front detail, to be sprayed black. The masking tape is slightly de-tacked on my jeans before being applied to the model. The handle of the scalpel aids with pushing the tape in position before the cog detailing was cut out. Larger widths of tape were then added around this to help protect the rest of the headband.

Fabricating the wings

I have covered all the foam pieces as neatly as possible, using scrap material to cover gaps where the seam does not match up. As each piece has been covered, it is difficult to see the order in which they will need assembling.

Finishing the shoulders

The sprayed layer of blue paint has been repeatedly sanded back to reveal the texture of the green hammerite underneath. The resulting finish reminds me of weathered copper as it oxidises. The raised details have been carefully masks off so that I can later paint these gold.

fabric wing pieces

Testers of spray detail on two types of fabric finish These wing sections are coated in PVA before fabric sections are wrapped around them, joining at the back. Fixing the material to each section has it's difficulties as the fabric creases and some of the blue foam appears at the fabric's seams.

Painting the headpiece

White radiator paint over grey primer

Sanded surface with green hammerite detail

To give the best possible shine to the headpiece, I had to prepare the car body swills surface. I have worked through various grades of sandpaper to reach a glass-like surface onto which I will apply a light grey primer coat. I applied and sanded back two coats of primer to fill any small imperfections. Onto this I then applied two thin coats of white radiator paint. The plastic tenancy in this paint really brought out a shine to the piece in areas such as the side vents. Finally, two coats of metallic white car paint were used to achieve the shiny white plastic finish I desire.

Cleaned up casts alongside original sculpt

Once sanded back I am able to compare the new pieces with whats left of the original sculpts. The fibreglass lining inside is uneven though this will be padded with plastizote foam and lined with black felt.

Pieces fresh from the mold

Using a slightly thicker swill of car body filler and resin, these pieces were produced from the shoulder molds. There are a few cracks in the surface to clean up where the clay had dried out during the molding process.

De-mold

Silicone removed from plaster bust

Using a broad chisel, the fibreglass easily came away from the original silicone mold. These pieces required much less of a clean up than on the headpiece so that the silicone keys would fit back into the jacket.

Fibreglass jacket with drill holes

Once both sides of the shoulders had been fibre glassed, I trimmed off the excess with the osculating saw to later help with the removal of the fibreglass jacket. Holes were drilled along the flange so that the two halves could later be bolted back together.

Correcting the silicone piece and preparing for the fibreglass jacket

The silicone is cut back to reveal the keys. Clay is added to plug any gaps around the silicone where the fibreglass my fix onto the original clay sculpt. The blob of clay at the bottom is an attempt to rescue a key that was not fully formed under the bulk of silicone. I was advised that this was not worth keeping so I later cut it completely off as it would have hindered, rather than helped the molding process. The back of the plaster bust is coated in beeswax to prevent resin form sticking to it. The clay wall is added on one side and the back of the shoulder is covered in gel coat.

Whilst the layers of silicone were setting, I started work on securing wire through each piece of the wings. The welding rod not only supports the blue foam, but will allow them to join a metal back plate as a base later. As I could not simply poke the sire through the thin, delicate blue foam pieces, I have cut it in two and bent the wire to fit within this curve. The inside of both halves of blue foam is slitted to help the wire sit in place. Contact adhesive will melt the foam so I have simply used PVA glue to adhere the wire and two halves of the foam. Masking tape holds the piece together whilst this sets. The join line should not show through the covering fabric.

second, third and fouth coat

This photo is missing a crucial step. I realised in time to pull the layer of gel coat off and take a step back to cut out the desired shape of silicone. As the mixture naturally overflows the clay walls, I forgot to cut it back within these parameters and to remove the surrounding clay.

Thixatropic and accelerator can be added to the following coats of silicone. I have also cut keys from excess silicone and placed them along the shoulders, careful to not place these a long the centre line where the clay wall will be built for the fibreglass jacket. Washing up liquid smooths over the top coat of silicone.

moulding

I have used the same quantity of silicone for both pieces as I used on the headpiece. The first coat was placed in the air vacuum to remove bubbles within the mixture. As I applied this coat towards the end of the day, I did not use thixatropic or accelerator within the first coat of silicone.

As with the headpiece, a clay wall is built around the area to be moulded. As the plaster bust sticks out from it's foam base, I had to build up the back to allow the wall to be raised up above the height of the shoulder piece sculpt. This is neatened up to ensure an even height around the piece and keys are cut out.

Further paint tests

At the base of this piece I have sprayed the green colour I wish to use on the shoulders over two layers of Hammerite. I am happy that the effect of the paint shows through whilst the colour of the spray paint is prominent. In the top left corner I have sprayed metallic white over the white base coat. I am also happy with this finish though I am conscious that small scratches in the carbody filler's surface have shown through the paint. I will have to ensure that I sand my headpiece to a high quality finish before painting.

Finalising sculpt

Using water and my scalpel, I flattened the surface between the raised areas. As the clay relief is curved over the shoulder, it was also important to keep the relief at a consistent height above the shoulder piece, adding and removing clay where necessary. Finally, the edges were straightened with a metal sculpting tool.

Detail is added to the front and back of both shoulders. I was constantly checking to assure that they met along the centre line on each shoulder and that the pattern was consistent.

Shoulder pieces

The pieces are sculpted over the bust and cleaned up around the edges to assure symmetry. The lines provide a guide for where to add detail.

Clay bulks out the plaster shoulders to give a looser fit to the pieces. By providing a smooth surface to sculpt over, I aim to make the inside to the shoulder pieces more rounded without any impressions from the damaged plaster shoulders. The undercut between the plaster and yellow foam is also filled in to help the moulded pieces come away from the bust later.

Two blocks of yellow foam help to raise the bust up and provider a larger space to work over. Looking at the state of this plaster cast, it is just as well that I did not use an expensive mannequin or coloured fibreglass cast to work over. To continue the shape of the bast and shoulders, I used a hand-held power sander to shape the yellow foam in line with the plaster cast. Much excess fibreglass resin and silicone were also sanded off the plaster shoulders.

Wing pieces

Blue foam sections cut on the hot wire. Each section is numbered and was cut around a card section of the stencil shown below. As the hand-held power sander proved too vigorous to use on blue foam, I have began to hand-sand the pieces to a uniform thickness on a sanding block. The edges will be rounded off for a softer finish.

Card template for the wings. I have decided to make these larger from my original test pieces and straighter at the middle joint. This template will double up for the reverse side of the wings to ensure symmetry.

De-mold and clean up

Cleaned up head piece

White radiator paint acting as a primer on test piece, this allows me to see how the scratches may show up through the paint finish

Gold fabric samples, the next stage would be to see which takes to black paint detail better

Hammerite paint test on first cast piece. According to the tin, I should try layering up several thin coats and avoid it from running as shown here.

De-moulded piece, aside from the chip at the front I am very pleased with how this came out as most of the excess car body swill was easy to break off and sand back with sand paper. For thicker areas and to smooth the inside surface of fibreglass tissue, I used a sanding fixture in a electric dremmel.

Janelle Monáe - Dance Or Die, Faster & Locked Inside [1st March 2011 - R...

Metropolis footage used at 6.38.

2011-03-01 Janelle Monae @ Roundhouse - Overture, Dance or Die, Faster

On Tuesday evening I went to see Janelle Monae perform live at Camden's Roundhouse theatre. This fan footage shows how the show opened and the following look and style to her stage show. The opening songs are performed in order to her Archandroid album, using her costumed backing singers to highlight significant themes and messages behind each song. In the second clip I have posted, the background imagery is more clear, showing black and white footage from Fritz Lang's Metropolis during the song, "locked inside". The entire show was incredibly cinematic, using the distinctive Paramount pictures mountain logo and replacing the title as an "emotion picture" experience.

Sourcing materials

I have purchased three car spray paint cans from Halfords as these metallic tones are unavailable in the University spray room. The most difficult decision was deciding which white to purchase, as the colours are sorted by make of car and I had to find the exact level of metallic sheen I was after. In case I run out of white primer at university, I have also brought back some white radiator paint to cover the grey car body filler before painting metallic white. In addition to the greenish paint colour, I have acquired some Hammerite to experiment with different, lass polished finishes to the shoulder pieces. By painting on the Hammerite before spraying, I hope to achieve a stone, cracked effect in the paint's surface.

The gold fabrics are offcuts from a fabric shop in Croydon. I was unsure which gold I preferred so I will test how each looks over the foam sections that will make up the wings. It may also be a good idea to see how each material takes to a spray painted strip of black detail.