CASTING & MOLDING
Foam bread and muffins for Into the Woods
Baked goods for UW Madison's University Theatre & University Opera production of Into The Woods (February 2019). Expanding urethane foam is poured into aluminum bread tins and silicone cupcake molds, left to rise and cure, then is painted with amber shellac to give a "freshly baked" golden finish. Some of the muffins are topped with sawdust "streusel" during the curing stage, and some of the loaves of bread are topped with a mixture of rolled oats and flex glue between the curing and painting stages. Food props by Lydia Berggruen (Props Master), bakery counter built by Greg Silver (Master Carpenter). See Faux Food page for more details on bakery spread. Materials: Smooth-On FlexFoam-iT! X, Smooth-On Universal Mold Release, amber shellac, flex glue, sawdust, rolled oats, aluminium and silicone baking molds.
Rubber intestines for Little Shop of Horrors
Silicone intestines for UW-Madison's University Theatre production of Little Shop of Horrors (July 2018). A plaster mold is created using a length of hemp rope, then a two-part silicone rubber is poured into the mold and left to cure. This process is repeated once, then the two sides of the intestines are trimmed, glued together along their flat edges, and secured with zipties while they dry. The prop is finished with acrylic paints that are worked into the crevices to give visual depth and a bloody finished appearance. Prop fabrication by Lydia Berggruen (Props Master). Materials: plastic bus tub, Plaster of Paris, hemp rope, Smooth-On Universal Mold Release, Smooth-On MoldMax 30, Smooth-On Sil-Poxy adhesive, plastic zipties, acrylic paints
Severed toe for Into The Woods
Florinda's severed toe from UW-Madison's University Theatre & University Opera production of Into The Woods (February 2019). I started by creating an alginate mold of my own toes, then poured plaster into the mold. Once the plaster is cured, the big toe is cut off of the casting and used to create a smaller mold of the single toe using MoldMax 30 silicone. The final prop is created by pouring Dragon Skin 30 silicone, tinted with a flesh-colored silicone dye, into the mold, and trimming the excess. Prop fabrication by Lydia Berggruen (Props Master). Materials: alginate, Plaster of Paris, Smooth-On MoldMax 30, Smooth-On Universal Mold Release, Smooth-On Dragon Skin 30, Smooth-On Silc-Pig flesh color tint
