Unfeatured Features

Everything is aware and alive in Halfland.

You might see someone you know as you walk by them in the garden.

Unfeatured features, I had intended to have random eyes and ears appearing in the background of botanicals in the various landscapes of Halfland when this fellow sprouted-up as a whole face put together. I won't call attention to it in the film, the mouth of this puppet will simply close a bit as the camera moves past it on the way to something else marvelous. As always my challenge is to show you something that is half of one thing and half of something else. (you know, Halfland) I'm hoping you'll slowly realize that there are beings all around that we don't notice right away. This one is a more obvious one in order to train the eye to look for them carefully. Below covers how it came about... (left to right)

1. A trumpet seed pod appeared in my garden that looked very much like a mouth to me. I picked and painted it when fully dried.

2. A 1/2L reference image was nearby on the table and I thought to attempt to make the mouth part of a cohesive complete botanical face.

3. Separately, I was inspired to make two small flowers after someone gave me one that dried in an interesting way.

4. I replicated them larger to match the size of the seed pod mouth and attached them to good aluminum wire stalks. I hand glued sesame seeds in two colors to the center of these for their pupils and was surprised at the amount of expression the depth gave the eyes.

5. The mouth opens and closes via an embedded metal hinge in the back that's all it will need to do. Other details were added in layers of gloss and matte medium inside and out, but how would the nose of a botanical character be created? My answer was to layer two silk leaves together and carefully sculpt the void between them into nostril shapes so they could breathe.

6. It's strange to glance over to the worktable and see something looking back at me when it starts to become something.

7. Petals were folded to create eyelids.

8. The tongue was the seed pod's own seed but the two little teeth are made from two of my precious woad collection.

9. I unified the flaws of the stems and leaves by dusting them with custom-mixed flocking powders onto wet painted surfaces. It hides a lot of distracting issues on a quick build and softens harsh edges.

10. The final step was to shade areas with my favorite rich brown walnut ink to age and finish.

I just finished this character and wanted to share the fun process of making him—but no more delays, I simply must tell you about that amazing kiss...