Slammin' Ham! - FFFriday Guest Post from Victoria Ross

After a brief and accidental hiatus, guest Fake Food Friday's are back, and it's back with a bang or rather, a slam!  This excellent ham is courtesy of Victoria Ross at Triad Stage and was mentioned on Silk Flowers and Papier Mache Hearts in Episode 37 - Skin of A Dragon. This post is also a return to casting and molding, which we haven't had in ages.  

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Raw, Bloody Ham - Two Trains Running at Triad Stage 2019

What a glamour shot... or should I say hamour shot?

Materials: Smooth-On DragonSkin, Vaseline, mineral spirits, Smooth-On Silc Pig, Smooth-On Psycho Paint, leftover silicone (for filler)

Tools: ham mold, mixing containers, stir sticks, Personal Protective Equipment

Safety Note: Though DragonSkin is Certified Skin Safe, always read the Technical Bulletin for any casting and molding materials before you use them, and follow common sense safety procedures.

Step One: Procuring a Ham Mold

The mold was created for a previous production molded off of a real ham, and it was originally intended for expanding foam. Since I would be casting in silicone, I needed mold release. I made my own release from vaseline and mineral spirits, which worked like a charm! To limit the volume of Smooth-On Dragon Skin needed, I filled the core of the ham with a silicone 'pit' -- a pink chunk left over from past materials (we save everything for this exact reason). I secured the two-part mold with ratchet straps, cradled it in upholstery foam scraps within a box, mixed my parts and began to pour.

Step Two: Washing a Ham

Our ham was cast from Dragon Skin tinted with Smooth-On Silc Pig pigments. I made the rubber a fleshy hue with subtle white and red streaks to provide a 'base coat' of color.

I washed the mold release off the ham to prepare it for painting.

Step Three: Painting a Ham

Painting with tinted rubber is a blast! I used Smooth-On (are they a sponsor yet?) two-part Psycho Paint with the Silc Pig pigments to create my pallet of pinky flesh, reddish brown blood, and white fat marble. I based my highlights and shadows from a research image, and I used popsicle sticks and my fingers to paint the rubber paint onto the ham.

Step Four: Slamming a Ham

Once the ham was dry and all silicone paint had bonded to itself, I gave the ham a thorough bath and handed it off to stage management. The ham interacts with stage blood on the actors hands, so having it be washable was a must. It also is slammed on the counter, and the weight and slap of rubber makes the effect truly deliver. The lighting designer even gave the ham its own spot light - a most appropriate lighting for a ham, after all.

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What a gorgeous ham and epic lighting!  Thank you Victoria for sharing.  You can check out more of Victoria's projects at http://www.propertyofprops.com/.

And no ham post is complete without one of my favorite gifs of all time: 

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Hammy Sammies aka Hammy New Year!

Materials: Upholstery Foam, Liquid Latex, Microfoam, Fake Tomatoes, Jaxsan

 Hey, all. Sorry that it's been a bit since my last post. I've had a perfect storm of three big shows at work, one freelance show on the side, and the holidays! Boy Howdy! Well, I'm two weeks away from opening one big show and one side show, and the holidays are....well, tomorrow they'll be over. So, here I am, bringing you another fun and exciting post about food fakery.

These Dagwood sandwiches were fun to make because they are meant to look a little over sized and proppy. They are for our upcoming production of 'The 39 Steps,' a humorous take on the Hitchcock film of the same name.  We're not going for realism here, we're going for humorously over sized,  fake sandwiches that are obviously made of ham and tomatoes.

The bread is foam and latex.  I cut out a vague bread shape from upholstery foam and coated the 'loaf' with several coats of liquid latex. After a quick spritz of Design Master for that oven browned look, I sliced up the loaf with my trusty Olfa knife.

Next up were the tomatoes.  Commercially produced fake fruit and veggies can sometimes be a good starting point for built food. In this case, I had fake tomatoes with foam cores.  I sliced the tomatoes (as you would a real tomato) which gave me the correct size and shape of a tomato slice, as well as a finished edge. Then, I coated the foam with flex glue, and painted the surface with acrylics to look like a tomato slice.

The ham is made from microfoam packing material coated with Jaxsan and painted with Design Master and acrylics. I spray painted the pieces with Dusty Rose, and then painted the edges with Burnt Sienna for that ham skin look.

Hehe. Ham stack.

Once all of the components were created, it was time to assemble!  I wanted these sandwiches to be as sturdy as possible, so I stitched them together in layers with nylon thread, after using green glue to hold the folded ham slices together.  Since I didn't want the stitches to show on the top and bottom slices of bread, I used rubber cement to glue the last pieces of bread on.

Now, if these sandwiches were supposed to be more realistic, I would have done a few things differently. First, I would have worked to make the bread look more convincing by trying different types of foam and adjusting the color. My approach to the ham would have been similar, though I would have taken more time with the paint job to make it look more realistic. Perhaps I would have pepper crusted the edges.  The tomatoes? Well......thinner slices and fewer of them.  Also, I would have added some more details. These sandwiches are rather cartooney. Some purchased fake lettuce goes a long way towards adding texture and interest to a fake sandwich.  Also, I would have dressed them on a plate with chips or potato salad,  something to help with context and realism.

As it is, the sandwiches are pretty funny. I had a good time walking around the shop with them before they were assembled and letting them explode and bounce all over the floor.  All in all, not a bad way to start the year in the Fake-n-Bake kitchen.  Coming up soon (most likely) a floofy graduation cake, Garibaldi biscuits, and the epic tale of life casting, failed materials, and a fast approaching deadline.

NOM NOM NOM

So, from me and the sandwiches, Hammy New Year. May your 2011 be filled with excellent food, both real and fake! Happy propping!

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Sham ala Keli

This lovely ham is yet another picnic prop for 'Albert Herring.' Crafted by our resident sculptor Keli Sequoia, and painted by our talented painters, this ham is a vision in foam and flex glue.  The body of the ham is carved from bead foam, and the slices of ham are microfoam sheeting- that thin, translucent foam used for packaging.  I believe the bone is made of bamboo. Keli did something very clever here, which was to reinforce the edges of the ham slices with wire, allowing the slices to gracefully drape from the ham. The slices of ham were attached to the body with green glue, and the ham was coated with flex glue (I believe) before being painted. The final touch is the real cloves, which you can see Keli placing in the photos. Well done, Keli, another beautiful prop from a talented lady!

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Fauxsciutto Part 1

 The real deal. Check out that awesome stache!

 So, sometimes I like to take a break from my job of making fake food to spend a little bit of down time making fake food. I also like to tout new, exciting things that are happening in my neighborhood- especially new foody propsy things!  A few weeks ago, some good friends, my husband, and I toured a new meat curing facility in our neighborhood. Bolzano Artisan Meats is the first dry curing facility in Wisconsin, and is owned by a charming couple who are clearly passionate about their product and their process. After touring their facility, and sampling several of their delicious products, we got to talking. While we enjoyed our lesson on the history and process of meat curing, we wanted more, we wanted visual aids! So, we mentioned this to the Bolzano Meatsters, and they mentioned to us how they'd been dreaming of a display prosciutto, and we mentioned to them that Jen and I made fake stuff for a living, and somehow an idea was born. We decided to create a fake prociutto, modeled off of Bolzano's speck prosciutto.  I would do the sculpting, and Jen would do the painting, as Jen is a far better painter than I. So, step one is completed, I have carved the prosciutto, and I am handing it off to Jen today. Here is the process thusfar:


Materials: Insulation Foam, Green Glue, Dowel, Jaxsan, Cheesecloth


Step 1) Research Photos
I was lucky enough to get some in person research for this one. Scott (see above photo) was kind enough to allow me to come in and photograph one of his prosciutto from every angle. I also took measurements on the prosciutto, noting them on a quick sketch in my notebook.  (Note the gloves, beard net, hat, and white jacket. These guys are serious about sanitation.)

Like so.

And so.

Step 2) The Foam Blank

This project, like so many, is carved from pink insulation foam, which is available at most home improvement stores.  Pink foam, like blue foam, is easy to carve with a band saw, hand saw, utility knife, etc, and can be sanded smooth when the carving is done.  It is lightweight and durable, and is an invaluable theater material. If you've seen a play in America, there is an 84% chance that you've seen insulation foam carved into something else. (Ok, I made that statistic up.)  I decided to place a dowel through this piece as well, to give the thin part of the leg some extra stability. I layered the foam in the usual way, sticking the layers together with green glue, having first cut a v shaped trough for the dowel. Once the layers were together, I trimmed the sides on the block so that the blank was nice and square, and traced the basic shape of the prosciutto onto the faces of the blank.

Step 3) Carving the Shape
When cutting, it's important to remember this: It is always easier to remove more later than to add material back on, so err on the side of caution. Because I squared off my blank, I was able to do most of my cuts on two planes. What I mean is this, I carefully cut away the excess from the ham shape. Then, I taped the excess foam back onto the shape, as if it hadn't been cut away. I then rolled the blank over 90 degrees, and cut the profile shape of the ham. When I removed all of the excess, I had a basic shape cut into all four sides of the ham.

Ta-da!

Once I had the rough shape cut into the ham, I used the research images to lay out the details. I used my trusty Olfa knife, a hand saw, a Japanese saw, and course sandpaper to whittle down to the correct shape, before smoothing it all with some medium grit sandpaper.


Step 4) Coating and Texturing
This coating was a tough one. I was hoping to try out some casting latex, but none was available. I considered flex glue, but decided that it wouldn't give a tough enough skin. I finally went with my old stand by, Jaxsan. For the bottom of the prosciutto, or the top of the leg, whichever you prefer, I used cheesecloth covered in Jaxsan to give a striated look. I also used a bit of cheesecloth up over the hoof to give the little toes a bit more stability. Once I had the Jaxsan on, I used a spray bottle of water to wet down the Jaxsan, and smooth it out more. Then, I hung the whole thing to dry overnight.

For the most part, the project went really well. If/when I make another, I'm interested to play around with new coatings, and also to get more detail on the hoof.  Once I have photos of the painted item, I will post them! Also, if you like the fake ham, you should definitely try out some of the lovingly crafted Bolzano products, available in Milwaukee, and at their online store.
















                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

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