Author: Clementine Alexander

Miniature Model

Markus has been making a model farmyard for an external film project. The plan is to show the landscape now as a pig farm then 400 years prior as a lush and biodiverse forest.


It’s interesting talking with him, I assumed miniature makers were very specialist but he said he’s not necessarily had any training or done this extensively before. He’s worked with the theatre and Oliver a lot before and has learnt as he’s done various projects with them.

Me and some other interns who were on a production course were asking how Oliver got into puppet making and this work of theatre making. He said he slowly fell into it and developed his skills. He recommended if we want to get more into puppet and theatre making that we should just do what we can in our own time and offer our skills to friends or local projects, talk to others about it, post about our work online and generally let it be known that we do this kind on work.

Pattern cutting for puppets

I was asked to help out Markus making the bodies for the mother and librarian puppets as he was having trouble figuring out how to pattern an hourglass form. I used my costume cutting knowlege to sketch a basic bodice bloack for the pattern, as if making a mannequin. I adjusted the shapes to match the design and proprtions compared to the father.

Mother pattern ver1; darts at the shoulder and waist to create the hourglass form.
Darts taped closed to create shape
Pattern ver 1 compared to fathers body – its too narrow as the father has side pannels meanwhile mother is based on a bodice black made of just a front and back
Pattern version 2 ; still needs to be a little wider and slightly less sloped shoulders
Final pattern for the mother.
Final puppet body
Body with costume – i draped the fabric over and sewed on the turtle neck collar

For the librarian character, they wanted a similar shape to the mother, but a little fuller and with a slight hunch back. I remebered on of the tailoring books i used at kingsleys had an extemsive section on pattern adjustments for different body types so referenced that to create the hunchback pattern.

Headteacher Puppet Process

Digital design reference
Full puppet design
Paper pattern created by sculpting the face in reusable oil based clay, cover in cling film, cover in tape, mark out pannels, cut and enlarge by 150% on a photocopier
Cut out pattern in plastazote
Glue pattern pieces together using contact adhesive
Face before being heat gun shaped – looks too round and undefined
The lips needed building up further, it took many attempts to get the expression right
Finished face – I used the heatgun to define the shape of the nose, bridge, forhead, cheekbones
Sketching ideas for the shoulders – it needed to support a graduation gown and a neck support
I used the hand drill to cut out a large hole to feed the coping saw blade through
Cutting out internal shape to make the structure lighter. Later I switched to a handheld jigsaw
Dremel to sand all cut edges smooth
I used disks of plastazote to build up the shoulders
My work on the puppet complete! She will have her face covered in pleather, painted and her hat attached

Craftivism and SIPs Ideas 16/03

“Most people have a relationship with craft, even if they don’t at first realise it”

” I took advantage of this and used craft as my voice, my way to reach out and form relationships. Reaching out to those around us builds community; making ourselves approachable and open to new things allows friendships to develop”

“I believe the simple act of making something, anything with your hands is a quiet political ripple in a world dominated by mass production”

Faythe Levine, an independent researcher, artist and curator, in her essay Craft: Embracing Empowerment and Equality in the book Craftivism by Betsy Greer

Ive found this essay really inspiring, Ive been trying to brainstorm ideas for my SIPS project based on my values and my skills timeline I outlined previously. The way Faythe spoke about her experience of the punk community made me think about how important the cosplay community was to me growing up. Personally, it was a way to express myself and meet people who shared the same interests as me, use costume and craft to form connections and participate in LGBT culture. My best friends found opportunities to explore their gender and find other young trans people. These connections made us who we are and It could be an amazing project to explore people’s experiences of cosplay, fandom and dressing up.

On another hand, a more down to earth practical SIPS project idea could be around political activism. I really want to use this project to support causes I care about ; trans rights and sustainability in our everyday lives are at the top of my mind, especially in the current political climate following the recent attack on trans access to medical care in the UK and the US election results.

I got this UAL; SHOP tote bag in my first year. It was the perfect size for class but had this ugly logo so since then I’ve been covering it in screen prints, hand drawn patches, pins, charms, embroidery etc. I get a lot of compliments and its a great conversation starter. It makes me think about if i could make and distribute my own patches?

Patches and battle jackets are an iconic part of punk culture, and creating political patches is nothing new but educating people about the messages on the patches, teaching DIY skills on how to use the patches to repair and upcycle damaged clothes, making the patches entirely from scrap materials, and donating any profits to charity could do a lot of good.