Props

A whale that was made for the Penkhull Mysteries plays. It was used in the story of Jonah  and the Whale and the story of the river Trent which rises on Biddulph Moor and travels through England in a North East direction to eventually flow through Nottingham and on to the Humber Estuary at Hull. This was made of willow withies held together with masking tape then covered with water based glue and newspapers (papier mache). It was painted white to block out the printing and then painted in grey black and white. The makers added serrated teeth and the jaw was articulated so it could open wide. I think the throat and tounge were painted pink and white. We made lots of props for the plays including a set of horses, butterflies, flowers, plants, and all sorts of other objects. I used to help paint some of them and also large flat boards that were joined together as scenery. I hope we get to do more this year.

Making again

Today was all about making and painting things for the Penkhull Mystery Play this year. I reused two boxes from previous plays. I was asked to paint them black and then to use gold and yellow paint for the decoration.

The idea was to create boxes which would look like they had been decorated with Chinese lacquer. I didn’t know whether the idea would work, but it seemed OK.

Other work to do include sticking paper plates together to make them strong enough to be passed between 50school children and painting two large papier machè birds that represent the birds on the willow pattern plate.

One box has a landscape on the top of it, the other has a circular coin like shape on the top.