Now, to get back to business and show you the final process of this massive project. This section will be a commentary beneath each picture to give you an idea of each stage.
Detail of the fairy floss tree. I liked it but felt it needed a little something more.
So I painted and cut out individual love hearts. I also added an extra section of 'bush' to extend the prop.
No Candy Land would be complete without candy-canes!
The lollipop flowers were extremely fiddly & time consuming to paint, and were painted directly onto the background, as apposed to the candy-canes which were cut out and stuck on. The flowers weren't as bold as I'd hoped, but they added to the overall image.
The white daisies were left-overs from a mural project. Details of that to follow in another post later on.
I should mention that before adding the candy canes, I had to turn the whole prop face down and glue each section together with off cuts and liquid nails. At this stage, it hadn't been sealed, so the process was harder than I expected. I decided next time, it would be better if I cut, glued, and propped the set design up before painting.
To stand the prop and still keep it lightweight, simple garden stakes were used. My fiance assisted by made basic frames for me (nailing isn't my strongest skill) and I glued them to the backing with liquid nails.
Success! A freestanding, lightweight prop section :) This piece, due to its size, was designed to be put together on stage. The piece on the ground has a protruding candy cane, designed to overlap and help join the pieces.
At last, one half of the stage prop sealed and completed. To get to this point, weeks had passed.
Work starting on the opposite single piece now. I decided go with cutting, gluing sections together and attaching the stands first after challenges with the first sections. Here, everything heavy and on hand was used to weigh the wood down to help it stick as it was a bit warped.
Now that this piece was up, I had a blank canvas. But here lies the problem. An upright surface with runny paint (I used Dulux Design Silk), and with only a basic frame as a backing, made painting on it a nightmare- it wobbled and it dripped. A lot. After all this, I realised that I was on the right track, but should have gone with just cutting the shape, gluing it but still painting it on the floor.
The framework was secure enough that each piece didn't require a huge amount. This made it very light, and very flexible.
Some dripping present, but thankfully, the green would cover that.
A laborious effort, but getting there. Never again painting lollipop flowers on an upright flimsy surface!
A garage filled with Candy Land :)
Now, to get it to the stage! I won't go into that, as it's a whole other story. Rest assured, I learnt what not to do, and how to do things better, by completing this project. So, in effect, it was a complete success.
The stage was huge, and considering my limitations, I was pleased with the outcome and what it added to the night.
I hope that keeps you satisfied for now :)
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