Coursework process photos (Fairy Tales Book Cake)

This is part 05 of my coursework process photos, and is also the last and shortest part.

This part is on the centerpiece, the Fairy tale book cake.

I used paper clay to create the flower and leaf shapes by molding them into moulds and then painting them when they are dry.

I created the basic shape of the book cake by cutting and folding cardboard into a box. Then I taped a piece of paper (those big and thick ones) onto the top of the box, taping only the edges of the book and the centre of the paper down to create the shape of the opened pages. I stuffed newspapers into the empty space between the paper and the cardboard box so that the paper would be lifted. And TADA the basic shape of the book was done!

I paper-mached the entire book twice, which used up a lot of white glue, newspaper and time. Then I painted the whole thing with a layer of gesso then white paint for an even base colour. I decided to paint the top of the cake with various hues of brown to give it an "old" feeling, as though it is some old fairy tale book. The wrinkly texture of the top of the cake also helped to create that image. I finally glued on the flowers and leaves along the borders of the book to create a pretty fairy tale book.

This is a photo of me painting the sides of the cake, probably taken by Zhi Ping. I used paper to dab brown paint along the sides of the cake, making it a chocolate cake, so that the colour matches the top of the cake. I also added in a layer of purple so that it would be a layer of blueberry jam in the center. Imagine if the whole cake was just brown, isn't it just plain boring?

The above photos show how the sides of the cake looks like!

I squeezed yellow acrylic paint to form the words "Once upon a time" and "Happily ever after". I chose yellow so that the words would pop-out more and the audience would notice it first when they see the book cake. However, I painted the "?" a dark red colour, which was similar to the red-brown colour of the book, so that the "?" would not be so obvious and would need the audience to discover it on their own.

The paint-squeezing method was to create an icing feel. If I painted the words on, it would exactly emphasise that this is a book CAKE is it? Also, the words are a tad bit scrawly, which is what I would imagine the Mad Hatter's handwriting to be. The squeezing of the paint was very frustrating as the air inside the bottle would always create bursts of paint while I was trying to write the words out. I had to cover all the splattered yellow paint with brown paint, and that took a lot of time and patience.

I think I did quite a good job with this book cake, even though it was not one of the main items for my coursework. My classmates and Zhi Ping's sister could tell that it was a cake, which was a major plus! 

Coursework process photos (Three Blind Mice)

This is part 04 of my coursework progress photos.

This part is on the Three Blind Mice.

I used plastic toy plates that my little cousins used when they play "pretend chef" to create the basic shape of the plates for the Three Blind Mice. I obviously paper-mached them because paint does not really stay that well on smooth plastic.  

I chose yellow for the Three Blind Mice because yellow is the colour people first think of when they think of cheese. However, you can tell that the paint didn't stay on very well because I forgot to use gesso before I painted the base colour. So I had to paint them over again with a layer of gesso then repaint a few layers of yellow again.

I painted orange spots of different sizes in hopes of making the underside of the plate look a tad bit like cartoon cheese. Some people said it does look like so I am happy. However, sometimes I wonder it is just because they do not have "high expectations" for how cheese actually looks like.

Anyway, I only painted the bottom because I thought it would kind of promote self-discovery and make my work seem more like a form of interactive art. If I painted both sides, then no one would bother to look at the bottom at all to know that it represents cheese!

I filled the metal tart container thing with smooth plaster. However, the first batch didn't go very well because the plaster refused to dry completely even after 2 days. So I decided to use the failed tarts to experiment when the medium and how well it works with paint.

These are some sample ones that Shi Yin played around with and created rather delicious looking tarts :D However, you can probably tell something went wrong with the plaster by how it does not really fill up the container well.

The second batch of tarts went well but they look the same as the first batch (just a metal container filled with white plaster) so I decided not to post a photo of it.

I used paper clay to create the kiwi slices for the tarts. I decided to use kiwi because kiwi is the most common fruit that has a bright green colour. I created a slight gradient using different hues of green to make it look more appealing and not as dull as it would have been if I painted the entire thing green.

The crust is made up of 2 long, thin strands of paper clay that is twisted around each other then glued around the edge of the tarts.

I painted the crust a golden brown colour to give the tart a nicely-baked colour. Doesn't it look crispy?

I painted the part in between the kiwi slices a dark brown so that the combination of the kiwi slices and the dark brown strip looks like a cat's eye.

I like this art work the best because it looks the most delicious and realistic of them all! A lot of my friends also like the tarts the best because it looks pretty and yummy! To be truthful, this ensemble was the easiest of all because I do not have to make the plates (unlike the seashell bowl for The Little Mermaid or The Big Bad Wolf) nor do I have to paint a "human" on the plate (unlike the golden plate for The Fairy Godmother). Also, the tarts were not very difficult to make! 

Coursework process photos (Big Bad Wolf)

This is part 03 of my coursework process photos.

This part in on The Big Bad Wolf.

This was my first attempt to create a dog bowl for the Big bad Wolf. I tried to use the same method as I did with the Little Mermaid's bowl (on a bucket though) but failed D:

So below few photos are of my second attempt to make a dog bowl and it succeeded :D I used plaster of paris and plastered the bottom of a bucket. This made the overall surface of the bowl rather even, except for the rims which I purposely trimmed only very little to retain the slight "savage" look for the bowl.

I painted the dog bowl a bright red colour as it is a colour of a typical dog bowl and might be more recognizable to the audience. However, I tried to create a slightly dirty image by dabbing a slight red-brown colour around the edges, the bottom and the underside of the bowl (which are the places that usually get dirtied easily). I mean, after all, a wolf can exactly be really clean can it?

I created some scratch marks to emphasize the animal side of the Big Bad Wolf, like how a dog chews on his dog bowl. Also, they sort of represent the "dark side" of the story as they show the "dark side" of the Big Bad Wolf. I am not really sure how to explain this.

I used tennis balls for the basic shape of an ice cream and paper-mached them because it is obviously hard to paint on the fuzzy surface of a tennis ball.

I actually wanted to paint my ice cream all sorts of bright colours as a sort of distraction, but then I realised how they might not seem like ice cream if they are painted all sorts of weird colours like lime green or bright purple. So I ended up painting the traditional ice cream colours: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry!

I used paper clay to make tiny chocolate buttons on the ice cream to create pig snouts. Do they look like pig snouts? 

I used paper clay to also make pig tails to attach them to the ice cream. This one is the vanilla flavoured one! I somehow cant find photos of the chocolate and strawberry pig tails but they can be seen in the following photos.

I thought maybe putting all the pig tails into the dog's bowl hide them more. But then I thought: Would the viewers totally overlook them? So I decided to let them "pop-out" more and decided to let them "come out" from the pig-snout-ice-cream-balls. This also creates some sort of warped pig without its body. So that was rather interesting.

To be truthful, I think I could have improved on the ice cream balls by giving it more of a ice cream texture, and probably create the melting ice cream shape at the bottom of the bowl so that the ice cream would look more realistic. But most people could actually tell they are ice cream because of the colours, so I am glad that I have chosen to paint them these colours and not neon pink :D

Overall, I am rather satisfied with this work!

End of part 03 (The Big Bad Wolf)

Coursework process photos (Fairy Godmother)

This is part 02 of my coursework progress photos.

This part is on The Fairy Godmother.

I created the basic shape of a cake but cutting the shape out on cardboard and folded it into the cake shape. I used masking tape to tape the whole thing together so it would not fall apart.

I paper-mached the cardboard cake so that it would be easier to paint on and would create a softer look for the cake (without the edges).

I painted the cake a rather plain colour so as to not attract too much attention from what was actually meant to be discovered. I used paper clay to create a 3D/pop-up feel for the chocolate frosting. I had painted on the chocolate frosting, it would not have looked as appealing and as realistic.

The above few are various ways I thought I could have arranged the lizard around/on the cake.

I decided to just place the lizard in the most prominent place so that it would be quite obvious. However, I painted the lizard the same colour as the chocolate frosting to not only make the lizard seem like it is part of the frosting, but also to slightly camouflage it. So there is another irony for you! The bright red strawberry was to distract the audience from noticing the lizard too quickly. Did it work?

I spray-painted a plate and a set of cutlery gold to create a high-class and elegant feel that would suit the classic Fairy Godmother. Also, what refined Fairy Godmother would eat with her hands? This creates an irony when the audience realised that she is using these "refined" cutlery to eat lizards.

I sketched the Fairy Godmother on the plate so as to make her seem like a narcissistic person, a person that only thinks about herself. This seems like a major contrast to the actual Fairy Godmother who seems like a generous person and let Cinderella go to the ball with no conditions what-so-ever (except that she has to return by midnight of course)

I modified the features of the Fairy Godmother to be slight mean and evil, which is of another contrast to the actual Fairy Godmother. I painted her using acrylic colours, trying to create the exact colours of the actual Fairy Godmother. Did I succeed? :D

This was taken before the hands were painted in, but it was the only photo I had of the painted plate.

Above few are different ways I thought of placing colourful rubber lizards around the plate and cutlery.  I chose the last one because I liked how the lizards are not only placed around the cake and the plate but also on the fork and spoon. This not only makes the fork and spoon more like they are part of the ensemble but also makes it as though the Fairy Godmother wants to stab the lizards and spoon them into her mouth. This makes the lizards a less distant part of the work.

I am actually rather proud of this work, especially when someone tells me how they like my Fairy Godmother or how they thought my lizards were interesting. I enjoy when my audience enjoy my work :D It makes me happy when my art is understood and is attractive to the viewers. 

End of part 02 (The Fairy Godmother)