NICK GARDIN
Properties Artisan
TIAMAT THE GREEN (CRAIG)
She Kills Monsters (2020)
Tiamat the Green (Craig) is build by making a rough structure out of plywood used to lash wet rattan to in order to make a basket-like frame for the head. Once the rattan was dried, the plywood structure was removed, leaving just the form. The entire form was covered in plastic and duct tape to make a pattern for an upholstery foam skin. I drew a scale pattern on the foam, then used a woodburner to etch in the pattern. Then, the whole head was covered in green spandex and painted using spray paints and acrylics for highlights and lowlights. The eyes are EVA foam with a vacuuformed clear dome to create depth. The teeth are upholstery foam as that are shaped and glued in place. The control pole for the head is secured inside the structure on a hinge. The lower jaw rests against the control pole. As the head is tilted forward, the degree of the pole becomes larger, which makes the mouth open wider. This gave the actor the ability to use forward momentum to actuate the mouth. The tongue is mounted on drawer slides, so it sticks out when the jaw opens and retracts as the jaw closes. It is also split in the middle for the actress fighting the dragon to cut the tongue off. Lighting in the eyes was installed by the electrics department.
CAT PUPPET
Rhinoceros- Tantrum Theater
For this handheld cat puppet, I converted a stuffed animal cat into a puppet that looked like the actress was holding a cat. To do this, I removed the head of the stuffed animal and created a knob mounted to a plate that I was able to stitch into the bottom of the inside of the head. This is how the actress controlled the head. I then cut a slit in the torso of the cat on the underside that was wide enough to pass a hand through. After removing a bit of stuffing, I used a tube sock that I cut apart to create a channel from the opening in the torso to the opening where the head was removed. I then stitched a second tube sock to the base of the head, then passed it through the first tube sock and stitched it to the opening in the torso. This gave the head the ability to move around without getting caught up on anything. I then took a tracing of the actress's hand and got a glove from the costume designer that matched the gloves that the character would be wearing. I used the hand tracing to cut a hand of upholstery foam to stuff the glove with. Next, I stitched the glove to the cat so it held in the same position and sewed an opening in the palm to the opening on the cat's torso. this allowed the actress to put her hand through the wrist of the glove and up through the cat to the handle, helping complete the illusion that her hand was in the glove and that the cat was alive. Please go to the video page to see prototype videos of movement
DODO BIRD PUPPET
Crafts Class Project (2020)
To build this Dodo bird puppet head, I first sculpted the shape of the head in half scale to get the proportions that I wanted. I then covered the sculpt in plastic wrap and masking tape in order to get a flat pattern. I then cleaned up the pattern and make a mockup out of 1/4" foam to test the pattern. Once I determined the pattern was good, I scaled up it up to full scale using a Xerox machine. The hood of the Dodo is reticulated foam and the face is EVA for rigidity. I sculpted facial details into the foam using a Dremel, then coated it in Plasti-dip and painted it with acrylic paint. The eyes were created by making a small vacuform machine out of scrap wood and a Shop Vac. I used plastic from a poster frame and a heat gun to make the eyes on the vacuform machine.
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ARGYLE SOCK BREAKAWAY SNAKE PUPPETS
The Secret In The Wings- Purdue University (2016)
I built the structure of these puppets from a foam pipe cover, which I cut notches out of in order to allow articulation. I attached dowel rods to be used as the control mechanism for the movement. One of the tricks to the project was that one of the snakes was to cut in half with a shovel, then healed by the other snake and put back together , all without being directly touched by an actor. To achieve this, I created a joint with magnets that allowed for the flexible motion of the snakes, but with a quick snap of the dowel rods towards each other, the joint broke apart. Then the actor had to simply slide the two halves of the body back towards each other to repair the snake. Please go to the video page to see prototype videos of movement.
"OGRE" TAIL
The Secret In The Wings- Purdue University (2016)
This tail was for an ogre character. I was given a rough sketch from the costume designer for a bone tail. The core of the tail is for cleaning out dryer hoses and vents. It is a flexible plastic that I was able to shape with a heat gun to hold the curve. I then made a mounting bracket to attach to an elastic back brace. The pieces of the tail are Styrofoam to be lightweight. Because of the flexibility of the core, and the pivot point, the actor could control the tail movement by swinging his hips or changing the gait of his walk. This allowed for different movement for different emotions. Please go to the video page to see prototype videos of movement.
KRAKEN TENTACLES
The Spirit of The Sea- Texas Shakespeare Festival (2016)
I built these tentacles out of pool noodles and cut notches into them to allow flexibility. I ran fishing line from the tip to out the back. They were skinned with plastic to allow movement. With the back end of the tentacle being offstage, someone could pull the fishing line. This caused the tip of the tentacle to curve up from the tension on the string inside. Combining this with rotating the tentacle, they had extremely dynamic movement. Please go to the video page to see prototype videos of movement.