The Costumer's Manifesto is written by Tara Maginnis, and proudly hosted by William Baker.

THE MANIFESTO IS MUTATING!  IT IS TURNING INTO A WIKI THAT CAN BECOME THE HIVE MIND OF ALL COSTUMERS, FINALLY LIVING UP TO IT'S SLOGAN: "COSTUMERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!" YOU CAN HELP IN THIS PROCESS BY MOVING PAGES TO THE NEW SITE AT THECOSTUMERSMANIFESTO.COM, HELPING TO EDIT THE PAGES THAT ARE THERE ALREADY, AND ADDING YOUR OWN ORIGINAL INPUT.

 

Note:  This workbook was made in 1984-85 as part of my my MA Project at California State University Fresno.  It was intended as a text workbook for the Advanced Costume Construction class to use in the costume properties portion of the class. Certain portions of the text now border on the antique because of the date at which it was written, for example under "Materials" in 1985 a hot glue gun was an unusual craft supply, only obtainable at hardware stores.  I hope you will bear with these small oddities and look to the basics of this work, intended as an introduction to several basic costume crafts processes. --TM

PROJECT 6

CAST ACRYLIC JEWELS

Making cast plastic jewelry for The Taming of the Shrew as CSUF.

Acrylic casting resin, is used for a variety of things in the non-theatre world, the two most notable uses are for casting 3-dimensional objects like statuettes, lamp bases and paper weights, and for use with fiberglass to make chairs, speedboats, and auto body parts. Acrylic casting resin is   extremely versatile; it can be colored, clear, painted over,  sanded, used as a glaze, cast, and so on. Its use is up to the imagination and experience of the person working with it. 

In theatre, it is most often used in conjunction with fiberglass to make armor, and clear cast to make imitation jewels. It is the latter use which is taught in project #6. Cast acrylic is best used for large unusual pieces which cannot be found in jewelry supply stores. It cannot effectively be used to create things which are similar to small rhinestones. However, for large barbaric jewelry pieces, it is the perfect medium.


Cast Acrylic Jewels

P u r p o s e:

To create or copy large costume jewels in acrylic resin.

M a t e r i a l s :


Procedure:

2003 NOTE: EVEN WITH A RESPIRATOR THIS PROJECT SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED IN A WELL VENTILATED PLACE LIKE A PAINT BOOTH OR BREEZY OUTDOOR AREA

A. Start with large jewels that have a flat backside or sculpt jewel dies out of plasticine, shown. Make jewel dies with a flat backside.

06a.jpg (50663 bytes)

B. Lay the jewels or dies flat side down on to newspaper. Spray with "PAM". Also spray the surrounding newspaper to prevent it sticking to the latex mold.

06b.jpg (76608 bytes)

C. Rub soap into paint brush. Paint latex with stippling action over jewel top and surrounding area as shown. Be careful not to leave bubbles. Dry. Repeat 5 to 15 times depending on the thickness of latex.
Always dry between layers.

06c.jpg (56177 bytes)

D. Carefully peel mold off of newspaper, around edges first. Carefully pop jewel or plasticine out of mold. Check to see if inside of mold is fully dry. 

E. Prop mold up to a level position on newspaper, as shown. Spray inside of mold with "PAM" or mold release. PUT ON RESPIRATOR AND RUBBER GLOVES.

06e.jpg (70598 bytes)

F. Mix acrylic resin and catalyst according to directions on can in a disposable (not foam) cup. Mix in colorant, a drop at a time to desired shade. Stir slowly to avoid bubbles. 

06f.jpg (49586 bytes)

G. Slowly pour resin into mold. Fill all corners. If you overfill mold wipe away excess while wet with a paper towel. Allow to dry hard as per directions on can. Throw away extra resin. DO NOT POUR BACK IN CAN.

06g.jpg (42900 bytes)

H. Pop hardened jewel out of mold. If necessary, sand sharp corners on back and cover sanded parts with clear nail polish. For extra shine on clear jewels apply silver leaf to backside of jewel. (See project#1)

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