We need a toilet that a 14 cm doll can sit on and puke in. And we need a washing machine and a sink. All in scale 1:29.
Some client requests are more unusual than others.
At Backa theatre they made the pricewinning puppet show Oxcytocin. It is a story about the every day lives of young people, friendship, fears and the dramas. The show was absolutely wonderful, and the puppets were a piece of art every one of them.
I was very happy to be able to contribute to the set and had a good time building the attributes.
Wood, glue and paper and the perfect olive can
I used a range of materials to make the items. The washing machine is built out of wood, covered with putty to give it a very smooth surface. The window was made out of polytretane plstic that was heated on a mould. To make the interiour of the washing machine we went hunting in the supermarket for the perfect metal can. Fortunately it contained olives, which is a thing I like. We ate a lot of olives.
The sink is made of paper and glue. I made a plaster mould were I glued bits of paper with PVA glue. It is a great material, gets really hard and you can shape it into almost anything. It was then covered in a kind of fine putty and smooted down. And as with all of the items, lot of glossy varnish.
Opening new possibilities – making a toilet
Toilets. Used every day and yet when you start to really explore the design you find that it is most intricate. It is straight and rounded and weird shapes everywhere. And it needs to open.
I built the toilet in clay. Because of it´s design I needed a mould consisting of three pieces. Silicon was not an option because the amount of material an object of this scale would use. But it all came out well and I could then cast it in Jesmonite. It is a great material, durable, echofriendly and you can make a lot of fine details. As I still had som issues with the mould not coming out perfect I could sand down the trouble bits with a good result.
I eventually managed to figure out how the toilet seat could be opened. I used wood and paper to make the seat, and metal wire to fasten the lid.