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Monster Prop and Costume Workshop
with Hunter Jackson
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Date & Time
August 4, 2009, 7pm–10pm
August 6, 2009, 7pm–10pm
August 11, 2009, 7pm–10pm
August 13, 2009, 7pm–10pm
January 1, 2009
Location
Machine Project
Map
Pricing
$225 for members
$250 for non-members

Are you already planning for Halloween? Do you want to turn heads at Burning Man? This course is designed to help you bring your crazy ideas into reality!

Students will be amazed by how easy it is to carve shapes out of Foam Rubber and coat them with a skin of Liquid Latex Rubber to design and create their own props and costumes.

Each student will be given a kit of tools and supplies including enough Liquid Latex to complete a simple project. You must bring your own foam rubber (one easy way to get some is to take it from the seat cushions of couches that people have put out by the road). We’re just going to make something small and simple like a mask or a pair of shoulder pads or a cartoony rubber prop of some sort — what you want to make is up to you. Hunter will teach you some simple, basic techniques in how to carve your project out of foam, coat it with a durable rubber skin, and paint it.

The piece that you will come out with in the end will be something that you would pay someone at least 500 to 1,000 dollars to make for you. Along the way Hunter will share all the suppliers information for you to continue on your prop and costume making adventures. This class is really going to be fun and will give students a good basic foundation for bringing their own creative ideas to fruition.

Workshop instructor Hunter Jackson was the original creator of the costumes, characters and concepts for GWAR.

Class 1
Tuesday, August 4, 7pm–10pm
Orientation
with Hunter Jackson

Bring a Sketchbook!

Hunter will show slides of some of the projects he’s done and talk about the simple techniques to making them. Then each student is going to work on sketches (no matter how skilled or crude they may be, it’s not a drawing class, you just need to put your ideas on paper to comunicate them to others). The main purpose of this is to find out what each student is making so Hunter can guide them on what is and isn’t possible in our allowed time frame and cost limitations. We’ll talk about how to acquire sponge foam rubber (not included in your supply kit). He’ll go over where to buy foam as well. Some people may want to buy a used helmet or shoulder pads or rollerblades or baby carriage or whatever to alter into a Cthulu creature, so we’ll discuss that, and he can help you find resources, but you should take this into consideration as well.
Class 2
Thursday, August 6, 7pm–10pm
Carving Foam Rubber!
with Hunter Jackson

We’ll give out the tool kits and hopefully some people will scrounge extra to make up for the inevitable stragglers and after a brief demonstration of the basics, the whole class should be happily hacking away at our projects, bringing them slowly into shape while carefully considering the logistics of whatever strap systems are needed to make the whole thing do whatever you design it to do, like stay on while you jump around.
Class 3
Tuesday, August 11, 7pm–10pm

The Latex Rubber stage!
with Hunter Jackson

DON’T WEAR NICE CLOTHES!! – blowdryers optional
This is the fun messy part where we will be slopping liquid latex all over our projects and ourselves. Liquid Latex DOES NOT come out of your clothes, you have been warned. Using a paper mache’ style technique this class will be about how to put the rubber skin over your project to make it strong and durable. If you can bring a blowdryer or fan you will be able to make your project dry faster in between coats.
Class 4
Thursday, August 13, 7pm–10pm
Painting and finishing - strap systems
with Hunter Jackson

This is the funnest part. If you’ve ever worked with latex rubber you know that no paint known to man will stick to it for very long, but Hunter will reveal to you the answer to this most baffling riddle. Never fear your paint job will be permanent. There are two main painting techniques, drybrush and wash, that most artists are familiar with and he’ll show you how these easy techniques can be applied to working with rubber.