Re-Story Presentation Preparation

With our idea in mind, we then proceeded to create a mock up in preparation for Thursday that will also give us a glimpse of how difficult our project is and allow us to experiment with different techniques.

We started out by getting spare pieces of MDF cut and proceeded to glue them together to make a corner in which we will build our mock up on.

Some of us then went out to buy paper, PVA , miniature skulls, tissue paper and invisible thread. We started off by tearing up bit and pieces of paper and via a paper mache technique, started to put together a sheet of paper that will represent the hanging sheets. Because we had little to no recollection of how to do paper mache, we googled a technique and proceeded to follow it. However, due to mixing to much water into our PVA glue, our first paper mache was too wet and wasn't very strong so when a group member went to dry it, the paper mache just came apart and went everywhere. Because of this incident, we then decided to forget the water and just use PVA glue. Lots of it. We also decided to rip up bigger pieces of paper and instead of drying the paper mache under a dryer, we just left it to air dry.

Because we were unable to find miniature skulls, we had to compromise and buy polystyrene balls instead and attempt to carve then into little skulls using craft knifes.

We then proceeded to cover the top of these skulls with tissue paper and PVA. This was proven to be quite challenging as tissue paper is easily tearable when wet and therefore several struggled to cover the polystyrene skulls. Through trial and error, we have figured out that by covering the skulls with PVA first, it is then easier to attach the tissue paper on. We have also learnt that by wetting the tissue paper partially, it would be easier for us to push the paper into the nooks and crannies of the skulls.

Unfortunately , our paper mache has not dried in time of our presentation so I had to compromise and use tissue paper instead. I started by crumpling the tissue paper then adhering it to the MDF with masking tape. Where the tissue paper became too low, I pierced the paper then threaded through the invisible thread in order hold the paper up.

When trying to hang the skulls, we realised that the skulls were far too big and therefore we will not be able to hang as much as we initially wanted. Therefore we took some of the skulls, cut them on an angle, and glued them to the sides of the MDF to create the effect of skulls emerging from the walls.

We then went on to hanging the remaining skulls onto the MDF.

Halfway through attaching the skulls, a group member suggested cutting holes in the paper and so we did. At first we didn't want to cut holes into the tissue paper as it is very fragile and therefore it was quite fiddly. However , we bit the bullet and did it in the end and we are very glad we did.

Looking back at it, the paper mache not drying was a happy accident as we ended up really liking the way the tissue paper looked.