Begin by making a working drawing somewhat like the illustration. Now make drawings of the face of Myles just as you imagine it, front view and side view. Always consider the age of the character you wish to model. Faces of the young are smooth and round, the brow unwrinkled; those of the middle aged less smooth and round, with the jaw, chin, and nose more clearly defined. In old age, sagging muscles produce lines and hollows around the eyes, nose, and mouth. You must also consider the structure of a face. This means giving attention to the shape of the jaw, chin, nose, lips, and the eye sockets. In modeling the face of Myles in Men of Iron, you would naturally give him a forceful chin and nose, and a large, firm mouth. If you were modeling Lady Alice in the same play, you would express her daintiness and lightness by giving her a delicate nose, smiling lips, rounded cheeks and chin. Lastly, you should study the expression of the face. Have you ever noticed what happens to the muscles around the mouth when a person smiles or is sad or angry? When we smile the muscles lift the corners of the mouth upward; when we are sad the mouth droops at the corners; when we are angry our lips become straight and firmly set. The brow is very tell-tale and can show different moods. In surprise, the brows are arched. Curiosity draws the brows together, anger draws them together and downward. Sadness is shown by the drooping of both brows and mouth.
If you are to become a successful puppet maker, keep a small sketch book in your pocket and make numerous sketches of many different types of faces and of human figures.
Modeling. With your drawings before you, take a lump of clay or plasticine and model it into the general egg shape of the head. The small end will represent the chin. The large end will represent the crown of the head. Add the clay for the neck. Draw a light line on the clay to locate the brow, the length of the nose, and the position of the mouth. Now while you hold this egg-shaped head in your hands, place your thumbs just below the line of the brow, and gently and firmly press the clay down and out and up to form the eye sockets. Then build up the nose and lips. It is unnecessary to model the ears. In the first stages of your modeling, you cannot expect the head to resemble your ideal character, because you will be striving for the general proportions of the face. When once you have attained these proportions you can then begin to work for a likeness. Besides your ten fingers, you may find an orange stick or a sharpened match a valuable tool.
Making a Mold. After you have finished the head it is necessary to make a plaster of Paris mold of it. One way to do this is to take a small cardboard box that will hold the head and allow an inch of space on all six sides. Grease the box on the inside with vaseline. At the same time grease thoroughly and evenly with a brush the clay or plasticine head. Now mix about one half pint of plaster of Paris with enough water to give it the consistency of thick cream. This must be done with quickness, for the hardening process cannot be stopped once it has set in. Pour this mixture into the greased box until it is half full. Then place the head, back down, into the plaster. Allow fifteen to thirty minutes for the plaster of Paris to harden. Now grease the exposed surface of the clay or plasticine head. Mix more plaster with water and cover the face thoroughly. Allow this to stand overnight. The next day, when you remove the box, the two halves of the plaster cast can be separated. Out will fall the clay or plasticine head, which you will no longer need because you now have the two molds for making the papier-mâché head.
A simpler way to make the mold is this: Mark the clay as in the illustration. Then insert pieces of tin or stiff paper, such as oak tag. When the clay is dry, apply a coat of vaseline to it and to the tin or paper. Then apply the plaster of Paris and keep applying it until you think it is fully an inch thick. After the plaster hardens, proceed in the same manner with the other side of the head. When both sides are hard, separate them from the clay and you will have two molds.
Papier-mâché. You are now ready to make the papier-mâché heads. Begin by making a small quantity of flour paste. Take two heaping tablespoonfuls of flour and mix with cold water to the consistency of cream, add two cups of hot water, place over fire and stir constantly until it comes to the boiling point and boil for two minutes. A few drops of oil of cloves will keep the paste fresh in hot weather.
Now tear wrapping paper into small strips about five inches long. Soak them in water for a few minutes, then wring out and dip into the flour paste. Take a piece and rub it gently between the fingers until the paper feels like wet chamois skin. Then press it into the back of the mold for the head. Continue to cover the surface with piece after piece. If necessary, you may tear the paper into smaller pieces. There must not be a wrinkle, but the pieces should overlap slightly. In this way you cover the entire surface with paper of one color. For the second layer use paper of another color. For the third layer use the first color, and so on, alternately, through the fifth layer. This alternation of colors will help you to keep account of the layers, and insures uniform thickness. Allow the edges of the paper to extend over the edges of the mold.
Do the same thing with the mold for the face, but use much more care to see that every depression is smoothly and evenly filled in order to bring out the features properly. The paper should stay in the mold until dry. The two halves of the head and neck can then easily be removed. The edges should be trimmed off. The two halves can be held together and fastened with strips of papier-mâché.
When you have finished making the head, cut out the crown as you see in the illustration. A round stick is now pushed down into the neck with its lower end extending through the neck as you can see. This stick should fit very closely. If it does not fit closely, a few tacks will keep it from slipping. Now, take glue and rags, and fill them into the small spaces between this stick and the upper part of the neck. Do not spare the glue. The crown can now be fitted back onto the head and fastened with a few strips of papier-mâché. The following day, when the glue is thoroughly set, you can insert a screw eye into the base of the neck. The head is then complete.
It is possible to make marionettes which can open their mouths. This is done by cutting out the lower lip and chin in one piece and then fastening it to a rounded piece of wood, and inserting it through the crown of the head. The illustration is a working drawing of the Duchess in the Adventures of Alice and shows the way the piece was weighted and then fastened inside the head. This same principle can be used in various ways in constructing the heads of marionette animals.
The body consists of the trunk, arms, and legs. For the trunk, you will need two pieces of wood shaped as you see in the illustration. Here is a table for approximate measurements for the shoulder and hip pieces for the 15- and 18-inch marionette:
18-inch marionette man—shoulders 4 inches wide, hips 3 inches wide
16-inch marionette woman—shoulders 3 inches wide, hips 3 inches wide
15-inch marionette man—shoulders 3 inches wide, hips 2½ inches wide
13½-inch marionette woman—shoulders 2½ inches wide, hips 2½ inches wide
Keep your character in mind. A warrior will have broad, heavy shoulders and be deep of chest. A slender young woman will have a light frame. Take the shoulders and hip piece, and place them on your working drawing as in the illustration and then fasten them together with a strip of cloth, tacked as indicated.
Hands. Arms, hands, legs, and feet are yet to be constructed. Let us begin with the hand. Its length is that of the face from the chin to the line of the hair. Into a piece of wood drive seven brads as in the illustration. Take a piece of light-weight copper wire, such as a strand of aërial wire, about thirty inches long, and attach one end to the lower wrist brad. You then loop the wire around the brads loosely, in the order indicated, beginning and ending with “A.” When you return to “A,” lift the wire loops from the brads carefully, holding the wrist loop. Now thread the loose end of the wire through these wrist loops in order to fasten them together. With the loose end, you now begin the tying of the two wires of the thumb together by going under and over as the illustration indicates. From the thumb, go to the fingers, taking each in turn. After tying the little finger, return to the wrist and wrap it three or four times before cutting off the last bit of wire. This wire frame corresponds to the bony structure of the hand. Small pieces of plasticine or modeling wax are now applied, long narrow strips to the fingers, heavier strips for the palm of the hand. A hand should show character. Keep this in mind as you are shaping it. The last thing to be done is the wrapping of the hand with quarter-inch white tape. Begin at the wrist, then wrap the thumb, carry the tape back to the wrist, then wrap the palm of the hand. When the hand has been carefully wrapped, then take a needle and thread and close any openings, such as those at the ends of the fingers or in the palms of the hands. The hand can now be pressed into any number of lifelike positions.
Arms. The upper and lower arm are made in one piece from white stockings or any other soft white material. The illustration indicates fairly wide seams. Begin your sewing at the wrist and follow the arrow around and back to the wrist. Now stuff the upper arm rather lightly with cotton. When you reach the elbow, stop and sew twice across, leaving one-fourth inch between the rows. This will make the arm flexible at the elbow. Then stuff the lower arm until it is quite firm. Into the open wrist insert and sew the hand. Attach a small piece of tape to the top of the upper arm and then tack it to the shoulder piece as in the illustration.
Legs and Feet. The leg consists of an upper and lower part and a foot. These three parts may be made of cloth or of wood. If made of cloth, cut and sew and stuff according to the illustration. For a dancer a long silk stocking should be drawn over the entire leg to conceal the mechanics of the knee. This was done with the marionette dancers in the ballet Petrouchka. It is sometimes necessary to have a barefoot character, as in the play of Tom Sawyer. In that case the foot is made in much the same way as the wire and tape hand was made, as you can see in the illustration. If you prefer to carve the leg and foot out of wood, there are several ways of doing this. A very simple way is shown in the illustration. When forming the upper and lower leg, keep in mind the fact that the marionette’s lower leg works just like your own, which goes backward but never forward or sidewise. The attaching of the cloth legs to the hip piece requires thought and judgment. Two tacks should be used to fasten each leg securely. If these tacks are well placed, the legs will hang evenly and the feet will point forward.
Attaching the Head. When the arms and legs are attached to the body, take the head and place the screw eye in the hole that is in the center of the shoulder piece. A brad driven through from front to back will secure the head and allow free movement in any direction.
Painting. For this type of marionette you will have better results if you paint the face and hands with oil paints, rather than with water colors or tempera. Remember that there is a tinge of yellow-orange in the white man’s skin, deep red and orange in the red man’s skin, brown in that of the Negro, and yellow in that of the Oriental.
You might think that you were now ready to costume your marionette. Not so. The reason for this is that if you costumed your marionette without consulting the group, you might find that your marionette would not fit into the stage picture at all. Therefore the next step is group discussion of the background, and of the colors of the costumes seen on the stage together.
Backgrounds. A background may be either light, medium, or dark. If the background is light, the costumes which appear against it should be somewhat darker. Likewise if the background is dark, the costumes which appear against it should be lighter. You might think that a costume could be seen quite easily if it were of a color unlike the background. This is not true, if the costume and background are of the same color value. If you experiment and observe your stage picture from a distance, you will discover that you must use light-colored costumes against a dark-colored background, or dark-colored costumes against a light-colored background. This contrast between light and dark need not be a strong one. However, there must be some contrast if the figures are to be seen from a distance. Stage compositions build themselves about the most important characters of the play. Therefore, the costumes of these important characters must be outstanding. They must be in contrast to the background and to the other costumes. The costumes of the less important characters should not rival those of the principal characters. With these suggestions in mind, you are ready to begin the costuming of your marionette.
Costuming. In the family scrap bag you will probably find all the materials you need: cotton, wool, silk, satin, velvet, ribbons, laces, and braids. Your marionette may represent a character of a particular period and country. If so, it must have a costume similar to the costume worn in that country at that time. In your library, you can probably find books of historic costumes from which you can make sketches or tracings. It is well to sketch several of the costumes that seem best suited to your character. In this way, you acquire, not only a knowledge of the costumes, but of details such as headdresses, shoes, and ornaments. Also make careful color notes. On the tree of the marionette, you will find a gay company of little figures in historic costumes of many lands. They are worth studying.
Suppose your character is an imaginary one, such as an elf, fairy, or gnome. Then turn to the books illustrated by such artists as Dulac, Rackham, Nielson, and Bilibin. They will inspire you to create and costume your own elves, fairies, and gnomes. Remember to choose suitable materials and appropriate colors. For example, thin, gauzy materials would be appropriate for fairies, while coarse, dark materials would be appropriate for gnomes. Try to express your conception of a character in the colors you choose for its costume.
With your sketches and materials before you, cut out the costume in the same way that you would cut out doll clothes. It might be wise to experiment with paper patterns before you cut into your materials. Avoid wide seams, as they make a garment clumsy. Both your mother and your sewing teacher can give you valuable suggestions for both cutting and making. When your marionette is costumed, drive a staple into each shoulder for the shoulder strings. It is a fine art to costume a marionette. It requires not only research and thought but it also requires skill, taste, and subtle character appreciations.
Controller. Here is a sketch of a controller suitable for the true marionette. The frame is made from wood, the loop is of leather. Follow the measurements and directions as indicated.
Strings. Black and white woven fish line makes the very best strings for your marionettes. It is strong, it does not tangle, and it is almost invisible. Unfortunately it is expensive. A fifty-cent spool will string but two marionettes. Strong gray linen thread may be used instead. If you cannot get gray linen thread, then use white linen thread and gray it by rubbing with a cloth that has been dipped in black paint or in India ink. If you use black thread, gray it by rubbing with white chalk. Strings should be made as nearly invisible as possible. If the linen thread is rubbed with a little beeswax, it is less liable to break and to become tangled.
Cutting the Strings. It is an exciting moment when you begin to cut the strings, for the strings bring the puppet to life. The first to be cut are the head strings. They should be at least forty-two inches long and should be tied securely to the head staples. Next, measure and cut the hand strings. These will be longer, since they are measured from the palm of the hand as it hangs down. Allow three extra inches for arm movements. The back string is measured from the small of the back. The knee strings are measured from the knees. The shoulder string is not cut at this time.
Attaching the Strings. The head strings are the first to be attached to the controller. Next in order, attach the back string. Now you are ready to measure and attach the shoulder string. It goes from one shoulder up through the screw eyes in the swinging bar, and then down again to the other shoulder. When the knee strings have been attached to the separate horizontal bars, your marionette is complete.
It is possible to make a surprising number of different kinds of animal marionettes. There are many plays in which they are indispensable. For instance, in Men of Iron, the horses are indispensable, as there could be no tournament scene without them. The bear and the doves are not indispensable but they add a touch of humor and lively interest. When we gave the play the making of these animals presented an interesting problem. Two boys asked to be responsible for the horses in Men of Iron. They went downtown and looked about in the toy departments of the largest stores until they found two wooden toy horses exactly in scale with the 15-inch marionettes which were to be used in this play. They began by taking the horses off their wheeled platforms. These toy horses were very stiff. In order to enable them to move their heads, necks, and legs, it was first necessary to saw off the heads, necks, upper and lower legs. The drawing shows the way these parts were again attached so that great freedom of movement was possible.
For the bear marionette, a teddy bear was used. Since a teddy bear is very stiff, it was necessary to remove all the stuffing from the head, body, and legs. In order to make the head drop forward, the snout was weighted with a small three-cornered sack of shot. The paws were also weighted in order to make the bear stand naturally. The bear was very lightly restuffed. The strings were attached to each side of the head, to the shoulders, lower part of the back, and to each of the four paws. The marionette was reweighted no less than four times, in order to get the right balance to make its movements seem natural and bearlike.
A girl was responsible for the three doves used in the second scene of Men of Iron. She decided upon the proper scale and then cut a pattern for the body and another for the wings. The body she made from soft gray silk and weighted it near the tail. The wings were wired along their upper edges and then attached to the body. Each dove required three strings, one for the center of the back and one for the tip of each wing.
In the Adventures of Alice, it was necessary to have a caterpillar, a frog footman, a Cheshire cat, a pig baby, a dormouse, and a March hare. The Tenniel illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were closely followed. The students who made these animals tried to give to each one the character which it had in the story. The heads of the caterpillar, the frog footman, and the March hare were first modeled in clay. Molds were then made from these modeled heads. Then papier-mâché heads were made in just the same way as the papier-mâché heads of the true marionettes. To the papier-mâché head of the caterpillar was attached a body. Nile-green silk was used for the upper part and yellow-green silk for the under part. Half hoops of dress cord were stitched to the under side of the back, in order to indicate the segments. A rubber tube for smoke passed through the body from mouth to tail. Because the caterpillar was almost human, he was given hands and arms. The frog footman had a frog’s head, throat, and webbed hands, and the body of a footman.
The March hare had the head and forepaws of a hare and the body of a country gentleman. He was made to appear rather simple, credulous and bland. He had great ears, side burns, and an engaging air, which belied his occasional impatience. The white rabbit was brisk and dapper. He was conscious of his shell-pink ears, fetching whiskers, and the large elegant watch which he drew from his pocket with a flourish.
Marionette animals such as dogs, cats, and pigs may be made from cloth. Even dragons may be made from cloth. Every animal marionette presents a new problem for your ingenuity to solve.
The directions and suggestions which are given in this chapter are meant to guide and to help you. However, it will be your own experiments and inventions which will give you the greatest satisfaction and lead you on to new achievements in the art of puppet-making.
The stage is made. The puppets have a floor to walk upon. Is anything more required? You say, “Oh, yes, there must be scenery before it will be a real stage.” Who shall plan and make this scenery? Shall this be the work of one pupil or the work of the whole group? All will want a share in it. This means that the large group should be divided into smaller groups and that each group should be made responsible for a scene.
Let us suppose you have dramatized Howard Pyle’s Men of Iron and made a play of four scenes. In order to give the same note of unity to the scenery that you are trying to give to your play, every scene must be in harmony with every other scene and with the whole idea of the play.
Three scenes of Men of Iron are laid in Devlin Castle, England. What do we know about castles and about English castles? When were castles built? We go to the library and find books that give us both illustrations and descriptions. In one of these, Quennell’s History of Everyday Things in England, there are drawings and descriptions of castles of the XIth, XIIth, XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth centuries. The story of Men of Iron is laid in the year 1509. Devlin Castle had probably seen many generations of the Mackworth family come and go long before this time. It probably was built in the XIIIth or early XIVth century. Let us follow, therefore, the plan of a XIVth Century castle. On page 86, we find a ground plan and a picture of such a castle. Read the description of its massive stone walls and towers, colorless and gray, and of its courtyard and great hall. The first scene of the play is laid in the courtyard. The second scene is laid in the ladies’ garden. The third is laid in the great hall.
Your problem now is to give your audience a picture of this castle, and the varied life of its courtyard, its ladies’ garden, and its great hall. On a stage measuring 30 inches by 55 inches, how can this be done? If the settings are wisely planned, the audience will have such a vivid impression of the courtyard, the garden, and the castle, that they will feel they are living in the time of the play.
You may be interested in the way a group of boys and girls planned the stage settings for this play. The first scene was laid in the courtyard. Instead of trying to show every little incident and detail of the life of the courtyard, every stable and blacksmith shop, every well and water trough, they asked themselves what important things happened in this first act and listed them as follows: First, Myles practised at the pells. Second, the armorer worked in his shop. Third, Myles played with the squire, and threw a ball over the wall. Then they took the ground-floor plan of the XIVth century castle, as they found it in the book, studied it carefully, and planned this setting. Every stage setting must give the actors enough room to move about in. It must have exits. It must be a well-composed picture. It must be related to the scene that follows. You can readily see how this careful planning met each of these requirements: First, it gave room for their puppets to do what they were required to do. Second, it gave them the two necessary exits, one into the castle, the other out to the drawbridge. Third, it made, by the arrangement of wall, towers, and armorer’s shop, a well-composed picture. Fourth, by this arrangement of the first scene, they were able to carry the imagination of the audience, with Myles, when he climbed over the wall, into the ladies’ garden, in the second scene.
Another group planned the second scene. They imagined themselves on the inside of the garden, on the other side of the wall shown in the first scene. They asked themselves, not what do we see, but what happens in the garden during this scene.
First, Lady Anne plays a lute and Lady Alice dances.
Second, Myles tumbles over the wall.
Third, the Earl of Mackworth comes from the castle and returns into the castle.
Here is the plan they made. You can see how they planned first to have plenty of floor space for Lady Alice’s dance, and then, to keep the wall away from the back drop so that Myles could climb over it. Second, it provided the necessary exit. Third, through the arrangement of ivy-covered towers, trellised wall, and garden bench, it made a charming picture. Fourth, by means of the exit into the castle, the interest of the audience was carried into the third scene.
Still another group planned the third scene which is laid in the great hall of the castle. Their purpose was to make the audience feel the spaciousness of the great hall and of its galleries and corridors. Again it was necessary to think of what happened in this scene. The first difficulty to present itself was this: How can enough space be provided for eleven puppets to be on the stage at the same time, to move about freely and moreover keep the stage picture beautiful? A clever boy thought of making a gallery at the side for Lady Anne and Lady Alice to sit in. This gave them a place in the picture and enabled their puppeteers to stand behind the wings of the bridge. Here they were out of the way of the other nine puppeteers who stood on the bridge behind the back drop. These illustrations will show you the floor plan and elevations. Another boy ingeniously planned the doorway seen in the elevation, for a rear exit. He made two back drops. In the rear drop he made a stained-glass window. The forward drop he made in two parts. As you can see in the illustration, he placed one section just a little in front of the other. This provided space between the two parts, for the passage of the strings of the king and all the other characters that should enter from this doorway. To the eyes of the audience there appeared to be no break in the wall above the doorway, neither did the eyes of the audience detect the painting of the tiled floor on the rear back drop, done in perspective, another bit of cleverness, which seemed to give width to what otherwise would have appeared a very narrow corridor. Whenever one sees a puppet going out through a door, or passing by outside a window, he is interested, because it gives the suggestion of life and activity beyond the stage.
You have a chance to show yourselves artists in the placing of doorways and windows. Doorways that open upon courtyards, or that give glimpses of distant landscapes, and windows that open out upon gardens, are charming details when appropriately used. Avoid, if possible, painting doors and windows on to your scenery.
The group that made the tournament scene had the problem of providing plenty of space for the puppet spectators. It was decided that a very effective scene could be made by placing the royal box, for the king and his court, at the rear of the stage. Directly in front of the box there was space enough for the tournament. The entrances for this scene were on the right and left, and were large enough to admit the horses and their riders. On the back drop was painted a landscape of the surrounding country, with hills, trees, and a distant castle. It usually happens that certain members of a large group are more drawn to one scene than to another. If there are too many in one group, some pupils, realizing the importance of equalizing the size of the groups, will, good-naturedly, turn to the assistance of the smaller groups. There should be boys and girls in each group, and a chairman selected for each, who will be responsible for his group. Each chairman meets with his group to discuss the requirements, general arrangement, and the color scheme.
Do not be in a hurry to begin. Have the impression you wish to convey to your audience clearly in mind. Close your eyes. Can you see with your mind’s eye the place where the scene is laid? Can you see its color, the movements of your characters, and hear their voices? Does the picture which comes to your mind’s eye put you into the mood which you felt when you first read the story? If it does, you are ready to begin. Take a sheet of paper about 14 by 17 inches. Let the rectangle you draw on this be the same proportion as the proscenium arch. As you plan within this rectangle, keep in mind the picture your audience is going to see when your scene is presented.
When the plans for a scene have been submitted, choose the best one, or put all the best ideas into a new plan. Remember, if you understand proportion, everything is possible. You can show lofty cliffs that seem to tower into the air. You can show level plains that seem to stretch miles to the horizon.
When you have finished your plan for each scene, you are ready for your tools and materials. Here is a list of the things usually required:
Suppose that you belong to the first group. Take your plan and place it before you. For the back drop, wall, and wing, you may use beaver board, heavy paper, canvas, or muslin stiffened by a thin coat of boiled starch. Now go to your stage and measure the height and width of the back drop and the wing frames. Then cut out the back drop and wing from the material you have chosen. Place these in their positions on the stage. Take a piece of charcoal, or soft lead pencil, and lightly sketch your design onto the back drop and wing. Now step back, at least ten feet, in order to see if your arrangement, perspective, and scale are correct. You may find that your distant tower is too large or too small, or that your trees are too small or too tall, or that your arrangement is not according to your well-worked-out plan. Make your corrections. Then take the back drop and wing from the stage, and lay them flat on desks or tables. With your scenery in this position carefully complete your sketch.
Now take a piece of white chalk and draw on the stage floor the ground plan. If the tower nearest the front is made large, and the one farther away slightly smaller, you will get the effect of distance. You will observe that the larger tower is not round, although it appears so to the audience. By making it flat at the back, you gain floor space for the marionettes that may be waiting to go on the stage. The bases and tops of these towers are of wood; the sides are of strips of wood which serve as a foundation for the burlap cover. The armorer’s shop, too, may be made of wood and beaver board. The effect of stone may be produced by covering the surface of these towers, walls, and shop with a mixture of sand and gesso.
Colors. When you are ready to paint the scenery, you can use ordinary house paints, showcard colors, or water colors. House paints are ready mixed. Water colors are practical and inexpensive when bought in powder form, but when you use them you should add several tablespoonfuls of a fixative made from flake glue dissolved in water. Various kinds of showcard colors are clear and pure and very easy to use, but they are comparatively expensive. If you cannot afford many colors buy red, yellow, dark blue, and white. By combining them you can get a wide range of colors. If you are not limited in the amount you can spend, add to your list orange, light green, light blue, mauve, and magenta.
Color Mixing. You probably know something about color and the mixing of colors. However, you may find the following directions helpful. First let us experiment with yellow. If you add a very little bit of blue to the yellow you can see the yellow turning to greenish-yellow. As you gradually add more blue you can see the greenish-yellow turning to yellow-green and finally to green.
Let us begin again with pure yellow. If you add a very little bit of red to the yellow you can see the yellow turning to orange-yellow. As you gradually add more red, you can see the orange-yellow turning to yellow-orange and finally to orange.
Let us begin once more with pure yellow. If you add a very little bit of blue and red to the yellow, you can see the yellow turning to a grayish-yellow. As you gradually add more blue and red you can see the grayish-yellow turning to yellowish-gray, and finally turning to a neutral gray.
Let us experiment with red. If you add a little bit of yellow to the red you can see the red turning to yellowish-red. As you gradually add more you can see the yellowish-red turning to reddish-orange, and finally to orange.
Let us begin again with pure red. If you add a very little bit of blue to the red you can see the red turning to a bluish-red. As you gradually add more blue you can see the bluish-red turning to reddish-purple and finally to purple.
Let us begin once more with pure red. If you add a very little bit of yellow and blue to the red you can see the red turning to a grayish-red. As you gradually add more yellow and blue you can see the grayish-red turning to reddish-gray and finally turning to a neutral gray.
Let us experiment with blue. If you add a little bit of yellow to the blue you can see the blue turning to greenish-blue. As you gradually add more yellow you can see the greenish-blue turning to bluish-green and finally to green.
Let us begin again with pure blue. If you add a very little bit of red to the blue you can see the blue turning to a reddish-blue. As you gradually add more red you can see the reddish-blue turning to bluish-purple and finally to purple.
Let us begin once more with pure blue. If you add a very little bit of yellow and red to the blue you can see the blue turning to a grayish-blue. As you gradually add more yellow and red you can see the grayish-blue turning to bluish-gray and finally turning to a neutral gray.
Brown, which is not a pure color, is made by adding a little blue to orange. There are yellow-browns and red-browns, but some blue is used in making every one of them.
Value and Intensity. What do these technical terms: “Color Value” and “Color Intensity” mean to you? There is a certain satisfaction in understanding their meanings and in being able to use them correctly. Value refers to the amount of light reflected by a color. Light red is lighter in value than dark red. A color is always made lighter in value by the addition of white. Intensity refers to the strength or brilliancy of a color. Pure red is intense. When a little yellow or blue is added to it, it becomes a grayish-red, and consequently is less intense. If white is added to pure red, its intensity is lessened.
Brushes. For the painting of the scenery you will need several brushes of different sizes, varying in width from the small sable brush to the inch or inch and a half bristle brush. Use large brushes whenever possible. Work from left to right, using horizontal strokes or vertical downward strokes. Brushes are expensive, and should be given excellent care and thoroughly cleaned after using.
Let us suppose that you are ready to paint the scenery for Men of Iron. Let us take Scene I: what is the time of year and what is the hour of the day? You answer, “It is a day of sunshine, in early spring.” Spring skies are clear and may be painted light blue; the trees may be painted yellow-green with splashes of pure yellow to give an effect of sunlight. The castle towers, wall, and armor shop, should be painted a warm neutral gray. An occasional touch of darker gray at the top of wall, windows, and tower suggests thickness and adds to the illusion you are creating. The distant castle tower on the back drop should be painted a lighter gray because it is far away.
In the second scene, the time of year is midsummer, and the time of day is mid-afternoon. Therefore, the sky was painted a deeper blue than that of the first scene. The trees were painted a richer green; the flowers were painted in brilliant colors. The castle walls and towers were painted a yellowish-gray, while the vines that clambered over them were painted a rich green. In order to carry the imagination of the audience into the castle, a circling stairway was painted on the right wing. The audience caught a glimpse of this stairway at the right of the tower.
In the third scene, which is laid in the great hall, the back drop, wings, and walls were painted a lighter gray than the outside walls. Sand and gesso were mixed with the gray paint in order to give the suggestion of rough stone. The great stone walls, as you know, made the old castles cold and colorless. This coldness was relieved by stained-glass windows, rich tapestries, hangings, and colorful costumes.
The boy who painted the tapestry for this scene went to books and to the old tapestries in the art museum for his inspiration. He produced the effect of rich tapestry by painting directly on the beaver board, with thin vertical strokes of pure color. Another student produced the effect of stained glass by making a design on tracing paper, painting it on both sides with water colors, and then fastening it to the window opening in the back drop. Manila, Haytol, or oak tag paper may be used instead of tracing paper; you can make them translucent by brushing both sides with a little linseed oil after the water colors are dry. A light placed behind these stained-glass windows brings out their designs and colors.
In the fourth act, which is the tournament scene, the time of year is late summer, the time of day is late afternoon. On the back drop was painted a landscape of the surrounding country, hills, trees, and a distant castle. The sky was painted a pale gold to signify the success of Myles in the combat. The royal box and fence were painted a dark earth brown. The box was enriched with gold and colorful hangings.
These directions are not meant to be followed. They are merely offered as suggestions, to assist you in meeting the problems your play may present. Every boy and girl ought to feel free enough, in every phase of his work, to express his own ideas. This should be equally true in arranging or writing a play, in making a marionette, in planning and constructing properties and scenery, and in experimenting with lighting. Few pleasures in life compare with the pleasure of creating something. In planning your scenery, much depends upon the plan and the type of stage you have chosen. No matter what the play or what the stage, you can make no mistake if you keep your backgrounds simple. Some of the greatest artists use no scenery. They produce their effects simply by means of curtains and lighting. Begin your experiment by using curtains. A light gray curtain for a back drop and the sides of your stage can give many charming effects, as you will discover when you begin experimenting with colored lights.