NICK GARDIN
Properties Artisan
FAUX FOOD
This is a collection of Nick's faux food props. Techniques used include molding and casting, faux paint treatments, and creative use of materials.
Please click on the pictures for a larger view.
Styrofoam Pot Roast
 Finished Pot Roast |
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 Pot Roast Close Up |
 Plated Pot Roast |
 Unpainted Pot Roast |
 Foam Pot Roast |
Last Night and the Night Before- Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2023)
I needed to create a pot roast for the show that had slices the audience could see be picked up and served. We wanted the slices to have a realistic droop to them when picked up with serving utensils. To achieve this, I molded a resin slice of roast from stock, then cast it out of Vytaflex 20 with So-Flex II to lower the durometer of the rubber. The loaf part of the roast is carved styrofoam and coated in Vytaflex 20 so the finished matched the cast slices. I then painted the whole project with alcohol inks and spray paints to achieve a roasted meat color.
Foam Pretzels
 Finished Pretzel |
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 Finished Pretzels |
 Unpainted Pretzel |
 Unpainted Pretzels |
 Foam in Mold |
 Mold Box |
Chlorine Sky - Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2022)
These pretzels are molded off of a real pretzel using Smooth-On’s Mold Star 16 Fast. They are cast out of Flex Foam-It! 15 tough stuff. I painted the castings using a variety of spray paints. The salt is plastic filler beads for stuffed animals, which I crushed and then glued on with E6000. We needed pretzels for the show that were not consumables but looked realistic on stage.
Foam Pretzel Bites
 Finished Bites |
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 Bitez in cups |
 Unpainted Bites |
 Bites Chain Mold |
Chlorine Sky- Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2022)
These pretzel bites were molded off of real pretzel bites using Smooth-On's Mold Star 16 Fast and cast out of Flex Foam-it! 15 tough Stuff. The process was the same as the full-size pretzels. However, for this mold, I made a chain mold to cast multiple bites at a time. There is a false bottom in the cups to reduce how many castings were needed, as well as weight in the bottom of the cups to keep it bottom heavy. The pretzel bites are secured in place so there wasn't any worry of them falling out of the cup.
Silicone Fruit Punch
 Fruit Punch |
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 With Straw |
 Cups of Punch |
 Centering Straw |
 Removable disk |
Chlorine Sky - Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2022)
My assignment was to create cups of fruit punch that could be swapped into new cups and have straws replaced for sanitary purposes. To do this, I used Smooth-On's Ecoflex 00-45 Near Clear. I crumbled up some tin foil, then poured some unpigmented silicone on it to make crushed up ice. While that was curing, I made false bottoms and weighted the cups to limit how much silicone was needed. After the ice was cured, I put it in the cups on the false bottom and pigmented more silicone with Silc-Pig pigments to create the fruit punch color. I poured the pigmented silicone over the ice and let it cure. Since silicone sticks to silicone, I ended up with solid, removable disks to transfer from cup to cup that could also be washed with soap and water.
Peach Cobbler
 peach cobbler |
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 peach close up |
 salt dough |
Last Night and the Night Before- Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2023)
This peach cobbler has a false bottom made of lauan, then salt dough built up to create the cobbler texture. The bits of peaches are made of styrofoam coated in Smooth-on's Epsilon Pro and pigmented with So Strong pigments. The sauce is also Urecoat and So Strong pigments. the salt dough is baked in the oven then painted with acrylic paints and spray paints.
Collared Greens
 Collared Greens |
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 Close up |
 Base Layer |
Last Night and the Night Before - Steppenwolf Theatre Company (2023)
These collared greens are made out of some fake cabbage from stock. I made false bottom for the bowl, then lined it with cabbage to create a base layer of coverage. I then cut up more leaves to make a shredded mix. I used spray paint to tone the leaves, then Urecoat to glue them all together and give a wet, glossy coating. The meat is scrap pieces from the pot roast project that I sliced up and glued in place with Urecoat as well. This was table dressing and did not need to be served. The false bottom was removable, so the bowl was able to be saved for future use.
Pancakes, Berries, and Syrup
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 Finished Pancakes |
 Process pancakes |
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 Syrup close up |
 Counterweight |
 empty bottle |
 Berry Mold |
Store Display (2022)
To make this display, I molded some pancakes with Mold Star 20T and cast them out of Flex Foam-it! 25. There is a resin counterweight passing through the pancakes which also acts as the anchor for the acrylic rod holding up the syrup bottle. The syrup is cast out of Urecoat, and the berries are KX Flex 60. I used various pigments and paints to achieve the various coloration throughout the project. I also created the labels on the syrup bottle using a photo editing software.
FAUX BANANA PEEL
 Finished Peel |
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 Finished Peel |
 Finished Peel |
 Leather Cut to Shape |
 Rough Cut with Washers |
 Stem Detail |
La Traviata- The Glimmerglass Festival (2019)
The director requested a banana peel for characters to slip on during a comedic moment in La Traviata. To build a durable banana peel that could be repeatedly stepped on, I chose to make the peel out of leather. I patterned off of a real banana peel, then increased the size by 20% to read better on stage. Once I cut the shape out of leather, I added washers to the interior side to help weight the peel to fly better when tossed. the inside of the peel is white felt that I melted with a heat gun to better replicate the texture inside. The stem is make from EVA foam that is wired into the peel for strength. After completing the construction, I painted the peel with leather paint to help prevent the paint from peeling.
CASSEROLE
 Casserole |
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 Casserole |
110 In The Shade- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2018)
The casserole is made from chunks of Styrofoam, flex glue, egg noodles, and a variety of sequins, beads, and pipe cleaners. I also added tinted gel wax to create the look of a sauce filling in the casserole. The dish was tinted with Design Master Glossy Wood tone to make it look like it has been baked in several times.
CHRISTMAS COOKIES
 Finished Christmas Cookies |
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 Baked Salt Dough |
Personal Project- (2017)
I created these Christmas cookies for a photo booth at a Christmas party. They are salt dough cookies that were tinted with cinnamon to darken. The frosting is puff paint and gel medium.
PIE
 Finished Pie |
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 Finished Pie |
 Foam in Salt Dough |
 Gel Wax Over Foam |
 Gel Wax Over Foam |
Carousel- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2016)
I built this faux pie with a salt dough crust. The filling is chopped up upholstery foam, and it is coated in tinted gel wax to replicate the sauce. The powdered sugar on top is a dusting of crushed chalk.
COTTON CANDY
 Cotton Candy |
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 Cotton Candy |
Carousel- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2016)
This cotton candy was created by taking mats of cotton batting, then adhering them to paper cones, and teasing the batting to give it a more cotton candy shape. It was then dusted with a pink Design Master spray paint. Under the stage lighting, the dusting of pink made the batting glow the perfect cotton candy tone and the parts left white helped create highlight and shadow.
 Plated Bacon and Eggs |
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 Eggs in Progress |
Blithe Spirit- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2016)
The bacon and eggs were created by spreading acrylic caulk on plastic wrap, and then painting it the correct colors. The bacon was given its warped texture by pinching it once the caulk had formed a skin. At that stage, the caulk was tacky enough to stick to itself, but not make a mess.
POTATO SALAD
 Completed Potato Salad |
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 Completed Potato Salad |
110 In The Shade- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2018)
To build this potato salad, I used pieces of Styrofoam, flex glue mixed with yellow paint, sawdust, sequins, and foam colored purple for onion.
NEOPRENE WAFFLES
 Neoprene Waffles |
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 Real Waffle In Clay |
 Plaster Mold |
 Neoprene Waffle with Flashing |
 Real Waffle |
Molding and Casting Class Project- Ohio University (2018)
These neoprene waffles are from a mold of a real waffle. I made a mold of a waffle out of plaster, and then ran neoprene in it to create a thick skin. After pulling it out of the mold, I cut off the flashing. The reason the waffles are two different colors is because I used two different batches of neoprene with different flexibility.