Dirty Martinis

Hey all! Sorry for the delay in a new post. I worked on a commercial shoot these last two weeks that completely took up my time. Please enjoy this week's post!

Materials: Acrylic Water (the kind florists use), Martini Glasses, Toothpicks, Sculpey, Acrylic Paint, Spray Paint

So, this is a project with a couple of issues- one was an I-D-10-T error (I was being an idiot) and one was more about being unfamiliar with the materials.  I'll explain both when we get there.  These martinis were made for  Milwaukee Repertory Theater's production of  'Cabaret.' We needed spill proof champagne and martini props for the Kit Kat Klub patrons to wave about while they caroused.  I did a few samples before I settled on the Acrylic Water. Neither Smooth Cast 325 nor the year old Zeller Opti-Kleer that I had in stock was water white or bubble free, so I ran over to my favorite floral wholesaler, and picked up a bottle of Acrylic Water.  This is a two-part acrylic resin that is used in the vases of silk floral arrangements to simulate water.  It is easy to work with, water white, virtually bubble free, and has a beautiful refractive quality in a glass. I've never used it before, but I was eager to give it a shot, and I'm glad that I did. (There was no MSDS, and I didn't have time to request one, so I took the same precautions as I would with any two part resin. I used the appropriate PPEs, and worked in a ventilated area.) 

Jim Guy, my boss, and Props Director Extraordinaire, found these acrylic martini glasses at World Market.  Aside from having a nice look, the thick stems are sturdier than a typical martini glass, which helps to keep them from breaking or tipping when the acrylic makes them top-heavy.  Aside from the glass, the most important identifying characteristic of a martini is the olive.  These olives are made from white Sculpey brand polymer clay. 

Aren't they hilarious? White model olives!

White was the only color of Sculpey that I had on hand, so I had to paint them.....but I'll get to that later.  I shaped the olives by hand, and used a pen cap to give them the round impression that looks like a pimento. I decided to put two olives in each glass, to add color and help take up volume. Then, I made a stupid mistake. 

I decided to put the two olives on skewers before baking them. This was not the stupid mistake.  I went down to our stock hoping to find metal toothpicks. Faced with the decision between wooden toothpicks and plastic toothpicks, I chose plastic. The voice in my head said "Don't do it, they'll melt in the oven," but the tired part of my brain that had been working too hard said "Nah, it'll be fine." STUPID!  Here's something I've learned in theater and life. If that little voice in the back of your brain pipes up, it's usually right, don't ignore it.  So I baked the Sculpey olives on their plastic toothpicks, and I melted the plastic toothpicks. I didn't melt them entirely, just enough to make them misshapen and saggy.  Stupid.  Since I was working with limited time, I did my best to straighten them out, painted them silver, and carried on, hoping that the refraction of the acrylic in the round glass and the distance to stage would help me out.  Luckily, for the most part, they did. 

Olives before baking.

I also painted the olives. For the green of the olives, I used Design Master spray paint, for the pimentos, I used red acrylic paint.  I probably should have given the spray paint a bit more time to cure, but as I said before, we were pressed for time.  I dropped a skewer of olives in each glass, mixed the acrylic according to the directions, poured the martinis, and left them to cure for 24 hours. 

Once cured, the acrylic is beautiful and durable,  The overall effect from stage is actually very good. There was no reason not to send these martinis on stage. There was, however, a swirl of paint coming off of the olives into the martini.  It looks pretty cool actually, but it isn't part of what I intended the martini to be.

See? GRRR!

I think that if I were to duplicate this project, I would use green and red Sculpey instead of attempting to paint white Sculpey. As it was, we said that I meant to do it, called it a dirty martini, and sent it onstage. I highly doubt that the audience, or even the performers, noticed that anything was amiss.  It wasn't  the perfect prop that I would have liked it to be, but I learned a few things, and got to try a new product, so I can't complain too much.  But hey, if I did it perfectly the first time, what would be the fun of doing it again? Cheers!

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Pickled Herring with Onions

Materials: Paraffin Wax, Candle Pigments, Microfoam, Fake herbs

This is one of the dishes that I made for the engagement party scene in 'Cabaret.'  In the scene, the counter is covered in party food; punch, sausages, St. Lucia rolls, fruit bowls, and pickled herring.  This pickled herring is made of a material newly discovered to me- paraffin wax.  Well, okay, I knew about paraffin wax before, but the idea of using it to replicate translucent foods is on the newer side. My boss suggested it last season for a smoked salmon platter that was on the list, and I decided to use it for this project.  The paraffin is nice because it is easy to carve with an olfa knife or carving tools, easy to tint with candle coloring, has a great translucence for things like fish, and you can buy it at the grocery store. Also, you can melt it down for re-use.

 I started by finding a few research photos.

This is one of them.

 

 

 

 

Next, I went out and bought some candle pigments. Okay, I asked our shopper to go out and buy me some candle pigments. Candle colors come in packets of small, intensely colored wax diamonds, like tiny diamond shaped crayons.  I bought my pigments from a candle supply company in my neighborhood which I will now shamelessly plug. Not only can you find candle and soap making supplies at The Candlemaker, you'll also be dealing with a small, local and web-based business run by a delightful woman that boosts tax revenues in my neighborhood. Also, she's really nice.  Please check her website out for all of your candle making needs.  Again, that's www.thecandlemaker.com

Okay, the shameless promoting is over for now. After buying the pigments, I carved the paraffin wax into pickled herring shapes. I carved the shapes with my trusty Olfa knife, and used a clay carving tool to smooth them.

Like this.

 Once the shapes were carved, it was time to add some color.  Using a makeshift double boiler (tin cans in a bath of boiling water) I made three wax washes; one yellow, one gray, and one black.  The yellow was just to cut the bright white color of the wax, the gray and black were to give the appearance of skin.  Keeping the colored wax warm and liquid, I used acid brushes to paint it onto the pieces of "herring."

Like this!

 Once the herring was finished, it needed some garnish to make it believable.  The dill was easy, I just pulled some plastic fish tank plants out of our stock.  The onions were more fun. I cut microfoam packing material into thin strips, and glued it into rings using rubber cement.

Neat, huh?

Once I had herring, onions, and dill in hand, I just had to glue them down. I used a combination of hot glue and rubber cement to do this. Turns out, rubber cement doesn't stick to wax, and hot glue doesn't stick to microfoam. Fun, no?  Anyway, once it was all together, I was very happy with the effect. 

Not too shabby.

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Proppy, Proppy, Punch Bowl

 Materials:  Punch Bowl and Ladle,  Artificial Fruit Slices, Clear Acrylic Sheeting, Design Master Spray Paint

 Behold the proppy, proppy punch bowl from our current production of Cabaret*!  This one surprised me, folks.  I went back and forth with my boss about what should be in this punch bowl.  The conversation went something (nothing)  like this:
Me: Jello?
Boss: Spoilage
Me: Acrylic? Resin?
Boss: Heavy and expensive.
Me: Punch?
Boss: Now you're not even trying.
Me: Well, what do you suggest, smart guy?
Boss: We used to do this trick in opera with Plexiglas and spray paint.
Me: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Boss: You got any better ideas?
Me: ..........................

And that is how the proppy, proppy punch was born.  Frankly, its success surprised us all. 

First of all, I taped a fill line around the inside of the bowl. Then, I cut a piece of acrylic to fit into the bowl at the fill line, and cut out a notch along the edge for the ladle.  Once this was done, I spray painted the inside of the bowl, and the bottom of the acrylic.  I used design master paints, Cherry Wood Tone and.....one of the berry colors. Cranberry, maybe.  I wanted it to look more like a wine punch than Hawaiian Punch, so I tried to keep the color subdued.

All that was left was to assemble the punch. I used snot tape to hold in the fake orange slices and ladle, and even to hold in the acrylic top.  I most likely could have used something more permanent to hold in the acrylic, but I wasn't sure what was a better option.  At least this way, I can disassemble and reuse the pieces when the show comes down.  A few orange slices on top completed the punch (one small slice behind the ladle hides the notch.)

 And that's it, the proppiest punch you ever did see! It sat on top of a buffet counter loaded with treats, and surrounded by beautiful people in their undies.  Did it steal the show? No. Did it do the job? Yes.

 If I were going to put a punch bowl smack down-center, this technique might not cut the mustard.  Scratches in the paint give it away, as well as the tell tale clear edge of the acrylic, (though perhaps this could be remedied with some judicious Sharpie action).  It is by no means a perfect solution, but it is light weight, simple to make, and effective from afar. 





 *(I will not title this post 'Punch and Jew-dy Show', I will not title this post 'Punch and Jew-dy Show')

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Sunday Hot Links- Menus and Food Timeline

From the LAPL menu database. Part of a menu from the Seven Homes Restaurant in Denmark, circa 1960s.

This week on the Fake-n-Bake blog, I bringing you two new phenomenal links that I have recently stumbled upon.

Los Angeles Public Library Menu Collection
The first is a database of period restaurant menus at the LA public library.  You can search for menus by Keyword, Restaurant, Cuisine, and Date. This is useful in many ways. Not only is this a gem for ephemera buffs and paper props creation, you can also us it to research food history! Wondering what was popular in New York restaurants in the 1930s? Pop onto the database and browse menus from that period. Some of the menus even have images of their restaurant decor and meal selections, what more could you ask for? Take some time and poke around, I'm sure you'll be thrilled with what you find.

Food Timeline
Reference librarian Lynne Olver has put together this database which is an invaluable tool for food craftsters. From "a la carte" to "zweiback" hundreds of articles discuss the history of food, and a timeline dating back before the beginnings of agriculture lays it all out.  Whether you need to know what Christopher Columbus was lunching on or need a recipe for popcorn balls, you'll find what you need here.

Happy Propping!

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One Last Herring Cake

This cake is the last of the opera's Albert Herring food-stravaganza, and it happens to be the one that I made.  Here is the research image:

Isn't it darling? You just know that whoever baked it was wearing pearls and a crinoline!

I started by using the band saw to cut a bevel into my bead foam base, and then cut a hole into the middle of the cake.  I then sanded the edges to soften them.  Next, I mixed some color into my acrylic caulk, and frosted the cake.

Once the frosting dried, I decorated the cake using items I found in stock; some foam lemon slices that I painted orange and some little silk daisies. Ta-da!

                                                    

Note: There is actually one other Herring cake, a lovely strawberry number by Keli (of the Sham ala Keli entry.) Unfortunately, I do not have photos of said cake. If I come across any, I will post them!

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Cakes ala David

This is another lovely foam con-caulk-tion! David Russell is our Master Craftsperson, and boy, can he fake some cakes! This one is a lemon cake based on a research photo from County Living.

See?

David's other cake is a lovely sugared violet number. Here is the research image:

Is this not the most precious cake you've ever seen? Thanks Kids Cuisine.com

He started out with an insulation foam base, and added little foam lady fingers around the edge. To texture the lady fingers, he coated them with Elastomeric and sand, and handed them off to the painters for that fresh-baked look.

The frosting is our good old standby, acrylic caulk.  Unfortunately, the caulk took a while to dry, and before if was cured, some curious performer left a few fingerprints in the top. No worries, though, a few judiciously placed violets solved that right quick. The resulting cake was far sweeter than this photo shows.

Lord, I need a new camera.

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Cherries Cake ala Ellie

This is another of the 'Albert Herring' cakes. As you can tell, we put together quite a spread for the picnic.  This lovely cake is the work of props apprentice, Ellie "Biceps" Bye, another talented and sweet young props artisan.  Ellie used the standard recipe of insulation foam and acrylic caulk to make the base of her cake. The cherries on top are purchased artificial cherries from our stock.

Ellie is just nuts for fake cakes!

The real charm and cleverness of this cake is in its nutty exterior. Ellie used cork crumbles to simulate copped walnuts, pressing them into the caulk before it dried. The result is a cake that is beautifully textured, and looks good enough to eat. Yum!

If you'd like to read more about Ellie, you can take a look at this article at PhillyBurbs.com

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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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Herring-Do Part 3- Sugared Pansy Cake Ala Oona

Lovely Oona and her lovely cake. The photos don't do either of them justice.

This is a fine example of pastry fakery from a lovely young woman who claims to be a costumer/couturier but is just aching to let her inner propster out.  Oona Tibbetts created this lovely bundt while overhiring in our shop this summer.  I hope you'll all forgive me, my sub-par camera has led to some sub-par photos of this lovely cake. I assure you, the 'real' thing is far more scrumptious looking than these pics give it credit.  If any of you many wealthy readers want to see better photos, please send a Canon Rebel EOS to Anna Warren, C/O Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and I'll do what I can.  Now, back to Oona's cakery.

Here is the research image that Oona was given:

She decided to make a few adjustments based on size and the flowers we had available in our stock.  The cake that Oona made is taller and has a smaller diameter than the source photo, and she used violets instead of pansies. You see, my friends, adaptability! Oona started by carving the cake form from bead foam. After patterning the cake, she set the bandsaw table at a 10 degree angle, and cut the cake with a lovely bevel.  From there, she used an Olfa knife to carve away the scalloped pattern around the edge of the cake, and sanded the top to a graceful curve.

Once the shaping was done, a coat of Jaxsan (the magic prop goo) was applied to seal the foam and provide a paintable surface.  One of our talented props painters (Ilana Kirschbaum, I believe) painted the cake. Once dry, Oona glittered up a few silk violets (mmm sugared flowers) and applied them to the top of the bundt. Et, Voila!  Another darling addition to the Albert Herring picnic table.

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Herring-Do Part 2, Strawberry Cream Cake ala JT

Some of you may remember my first guest contributor, JT Ringer, from his earlier post Canapes ala JT. Well, he is back on the Fake-n-Bake blog with his towering strawberry cream cake! Yet another picnic delicacy for 'Albert Herring', this cake is a delight for the eyes.

JT based his cake on this research photo:

We decided against the grapefruit.

Each layer of the cake is carved from bead foam, which lends itself well to the spongy nature of the angel food cake. After a coating of Jaxsan, the layers were painted by the talented Ilana Kirschbaum to give them that golden brown, fresh-from-the-oven look.

JT assembling the cake layers.  Notice his use of splash proof goggles, nitrile gloves, and a respirator. You can't tell from the photo, but he's working outside to spare his co-workers the fumes. How considerate!

The cream in this cake is made with Great Stuff expanding foam.  The foam is adhesive, so it holds the layers together, and holds the (purchased) fake strawberries to the top without additional glue. It is lightweight and durable as well, and is very useful in the making of food props.  The thing to remember, though, is that Great Stuff expands as it cures, so it's important to plan ahead.  Notice how the prop cake is slightly more towering than the research photo? Yup, expanding foam. Luckily, this precarious tower of angel food cake is the perfect opera prop- scrumptious looking, and ever so slightly larger than life.

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Herring-Do Part 1- Candy Sticks

Hey all! I've just returned from my summer gig and boy do I have some sweet fake sweets for you! The next several posts will be dedicated to the talented props artisans and apprentices of the Santa Fe Opera, and their sumptuous creations for our production of 'Albert Herring.' This opera is the story of a young, innocent man who comes of age during a rum-fueled night of debauchery following the Loxford May Festival and his crowning as May King.  Naturally, the picnic table at the May Festival is an operatic smorgasbord of delightful treats, but we also find a few faux edibles in the Herring family grocer's shop.  To start us off, we have some of the candy treats from the shop, a sweet little piece of set dressing on a grand wall of propliness.  These confections are the work of John Daugherty, a young man who volunteered in our shop after his hours in the Orchestra Services Dept.

These candy sticks are simply made, but oh-so-sweet! First, John cut some 3/8" dowel (painted white) down to 6" lengths, and lightly sanded the ends. Next, he used hot glue to attach varying types of ribbon to the dowels, spiraling each ribbon around the dowel to create the swirled look of the candy.

Once the candy sticks were decorated, John wrapped each one in cellophane, twisting the ends and using a bit of Scotch Tape to secure the wrapping.  Such a simple process for such adorable treats! The candies went into jars onstage, just one more finishing touch on the lovely set.

See how proud John is of his tasty treats? Hip Hip Huzzah!

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Short and Sweet- Candy Links

Hey all, I was looking online for vintage candy wrappers when I found these two websites.  I haven't given them thorough scrutiny yet,  but they both seem to be worth a peek.

http://www.candywrappermuseum.com/
This is one person's collection of candy wrappers past and present. A good resource for your propping needs.

http://mistertoast.blogspot.com/2006/06/candy-bar-wrappers.html
This is just a short, fun blog post with some sweet old candy wrappers.

Enjoy!

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Spilled Cokes

Just a quickie this time, folks. My friend's mom is decorating the lobby of a theater where she works, and asked for a few spilled sodas.  These sodas are just Smooth Cast 325 casting plastic with a little bit of brown So-Strong pigment.  I poured them onto plastic wrap, and removed the plastic wrap once they were cured. See those flaws in the one in front? That's where there were wrinkles in the plastic wrap. Smooth out your plastic wrap!

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Safe Dial Part 2- The Casting

I cast the dial from Smooth Cast 325 using what they call a 'cold cast' technique, or what I call, schmooeying bronzing powder into the mold. This technique gives a metallic look to the resin. Here is how the process works.

Once I finished demolding, it was time to reassemble the mold.  The bumps and ridges formed by the cured rubber actually act as registration points for the mother mold. There are three important things to remember here. First, make sure the mold is seated well into the mother mold. The rubber should be solidly seated into the plasti-paste, without any wiggle.  The seam should be flush, and almost invisible, you don't want any leakage. Second, the mother mold should be clamped/taped/banded together- whatever it takes to get it secure and level. Leveling is very important for this casting, more so than usual because the back of the dial needs to sit flat on the safe, and the large surface area makes it harder to sand flat. Third, RELEASE RELEASE RELEASE. I used a liberal amount of Universal Mold Release in the mold before applying the bronzing powder. Release agent is important! Urethane resin is adhesive, and it will stick to all sorts of things- so I like to get some release agent pretty much anywhere I think I might get casting resin.

After the mold release was applied, I brushed bronzing powder into the mold. The idea here is that the resin will trap the powder in its surface and the finished casting will have a metallic look. Bronzing powder is another dangerous substance though, so before you use a soft brush to apply an even coat of powder to the inside of the mold, make sure to wear proper respiratory protection.

Once the bronzing powder was in place, it was time to pour the mold.  Following the directions, and wearing the proper protective equipment, I mixed the Smooth-Cast 325 and poured it slowly into the mold. It's always good to pour into the lowest point of the mold, and slowly allow the resin to rise. This will help prevent bubbles from forming in the casting. 

Once cured, I demolded the dial by gently removing the mother mold and peeling back the urethane rubber mold.  TA-DA!

 
I actually made two castings of this piece so that we could cut the center piece from the outside ring, and mount them to the safe so that the interior could spin.  To store the mold, I like to keep the mold in its mother mold, in a cool, dry place.

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Safe Dial- The Mold

So, I haven't blogged about many of my casting projects here on Fake n' Bake yet, even though apparently this is some sort of blog 'dedicated to casting and molding....blah blah blah.'  The reason is that fake food is just so much more fun. Sure, sure, casting is great, I love my job, but who doesn't love fake cocktails? Or fake TV dinners? Am I right? That said, casting and molding really are a large part of what I do, and there are some fascinating things to be done with casting and molding- so I thought I'd start to share a few fun things with you. 

This first little project is a dial for a safe.  We have a beautiful antique safe dial in stock, it just happens to be permanently attached to one of our other prop safes. So, what to do? Our carpenter, Erik (a props GENIUS) asked if I might lend a hand by taking a mold of the existing safe dial and casting a new resin dial for our new vaccuformed safe.

Materials: Visqueen, Universal Mold Release, Smooth-on Brush On 40, Smooth-on Sonite Wax, Smooth-on Plasti-paste, mixing containers and utensils


Safety Gear: Splash Goggles, Apron, Sleeves, Nitrile Gloves, Ventilation Hood, Respirator

I started by making sure that my original was clean, and by shielding the things that I did not want to cast. I placed a layer of visqueen on the safe, cutting a hole for the dial, and taping the edges of the opening down with packing tape.  Next, I applied a release agent. This is so incredibly important in casting and molding, especially when working with adhesive mold materials like urethane rubbers.  I applied two liberal coats of Universal Mold Release, making sure to cover all of the nooks and crannies of the original.

I made the mold out of two layers of Smooth-on Brush on 40.  I like the Brush-On 40 because it is brushable (who would have guessed), strong,  and just the right amount of flexible. Also, you can really glob it on to get nice thick, strong support for undercuts, and spread it thinner where you need more flexibility.  Be sure to read all of the directions carefully, and don't forget about the MSDS. Although they play it down in the literature, and although the Smooth-on guys do demos at trade shows without any Personal Protective Equipment, all two part urethanes are bad for you.  They contain sensitizers, which means that the chances of allergic reaction increase each time you are exposed to them. While you may never have a reaction, why risk it? I say, err on the side of safety. So yeah, read the MSDS, read the Technical Bulletins, and protect yourself.

Once both layers of the mold were cured (I tinted the second to ensure coverage, hence the pink), I began on the mother mold.  Before smearing on the Plasti-Paste, it was time to put on another release agent.Smooth-on Sonite Wax is a petroleum based wax that works as an excellent release between the cured Brush-On Rubber and the Plasti Paste. Because the rubber will not be fully smooth, the Plasti-Paste can register into all of those little nooks and crannies- making it difficult to de-mold.  The Sonite Wax is thick and slippery, and helps the de-mold process immensely.  I made the mother mold with Smooth-On Plasti-Paste, a thick, goopy two part plastic which hardens into a strong mother mold.  This is another Urethane, so use that safety gear! Also, the Plasti-Paste can become very sharp if it is peaky when it dries, so try to smooth it as much as possible. The mother mold is made in two parts to allow it to come off of the mold easily. I waited for the first half to cure, then applied more Sonite Wax and spread on the second half.

Once the mother mold is cured, it's time to de-mold. I removed the mother mold, and then used an X-Acto knife to carefully cut a slit in the mold....just enough to allow the head of the safe dial to slip out. Any seam in your mold is a potential flaw in your casting, so it's important to plan ahead and cut carefully.

Next, the casting.....stay tuned!

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