Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Canapes ala JT

Hey afauxcionados, welcome to this week's blog. This week, we have a special guest contributor. My friend JT is a propster in Texas, and has some lovely canapes to share with us. I'll just let JT take it from here:

For a recent production of 'Much Ado About Nothing', the director requested a tray of simple canapes. I decided to go with a cheese spread on bread garnished with vegetables. Some were fake and some were consumed.

For the project you will need:
- Bread (I bought Pepperidge Farms pre-sliced stuff)
- Cheese spread
- Matte Acrylic spray
- White Acrylic caulk
- Tint (yellow ochre for this particular cheese)
- Oregano



I wanted to seal the bread that was not going to be eaten, so I let it dry out over night then sprayed it with four coats, or so, of matte acrylic spray. As a warning, the bread did shrink and warp a little when it dried so it’s probably not a good idea for close distances.

Next, I spread some cheese on two pieces of bread and enjoyed a snack while analyzing the cheese for color and texture.

I put some caulk in an appropriate mixing container and added just a little bit of the yellow ochre tint. I guess it was my lucky day because I was able to match the color without adding too much tint.

To simulate the herbs in the cheese spread I liberally added some dried oregano to the gourmet caulk mix. The oregano helped with texture, but was not visible as herbs in the cheese. So, after spreading some caulk mixture onto the bread I sprinkled more oregano on top and mixed it just enough to lightly coat the oregano in caulk but so the green color still showed. After the caulk cured I sprayed a little bit of satin acrylic spray over it to give it a little gloss.



 The (almost) end result was:


Left to right, the first 2 pieces of bread are real cheese and the third is caulk. For the show all of the canapes were dressed with shreds of real carrots or cucumbers, which were (obviously) replaced each night on the fake canapes.

Anna again-
So, propsters, do you have a lovely food project that you would like featured on the blog? Send it on over to propsanna@gmail.com along with photos and an explanation of your process. If I like what you sent, I'll put it on the blog. Happy propping!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thai Take Out


 
This project was for our production of “Happy Now” last season. The couple is unpacking their take out Thai food while they have a fight, and the noodles end up spilling all over- with an instant clean up, of course.

These noodles are the ones that stayed safely in their containers, and they are a very simple recipe. The noodles are made of thin slices of translucent visqueen. I added some tofu chunks (upholstery foam), some cilantro (plastic herbs), and some fake peapods, and then tossed it all in the sauce. The sauce is flex glue, with a little bit of raw sienna acrylic paint mixed in. The flex glue works well, because not only does it give the look of sauce, it also helps to hold everything together.

The spillable noodles were made from hot pour vinyl, also cut into thin strips, and tossed in baby powder to keep them separated. They were also garnished with fake cilantro and peapods. To keep the lid ready to fall off, I filled the lip of the lid with hot glue, which made it sit on top of the container without latching. The noodles spilled convincingly, but also were easily swept back into the container for clean up. Once the containers were preset in the take out bag, the couple was all ready for their fight.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Getting Settled

I have arrived safely for my summer opera gig. My internet access is very limited right now, but I'm trying to remedy that. It is my hope to be posting again soon- I have a safe dial casting project, a nativity casting, some thai food, and other treats coming up, so check in soon.

Happy Propping,
Anna

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