Conceptual packing

Here is the wasteland.

The empty desert that is February and March, often January and sometimes April... no work.

Little work.

Work that trickles in as you beg friends to pay you to hem pants and repair pockets...

and sometimes you get to alter Cristo-esque blankets that cover set pieces...



This is the season when one questions the path that has led to art as a career... and pines to tell your younger self "go into biology!" "How about you try computer programming"

Soon all of the shouting about being out of work should result in a tsunami of jobs that (hopefully) will make me wonder why I was ever so despondent about this paucity of work.

(fingers crossed)

Tomato!

I designed and built this tomato jacket for an educational kid's show... makes you want to eat healthy food... right?

No, I didn't print "Tomato" backwards... that's just how my computer's photo booth works.

Lettuce Head

Just a quickie today... covered a top hat for a lettuce.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Look like a Pro

I have now worked for the San Francisco 49'ers. It's a company I never expected to need me. It seems that the sports uniform industry is one that would have a full set-up that wouldn't need to call independent costume designers.
This odd job was to dress their "Look like a Pro" fiberglass figurine. The old uniform was torn from the awkward way you needed to get into it, and anyway he was wearing the old uniform.

It was interesting looking at the differences between the old uniform and the new one. Subtle things that really only a football player is ever going to notice were in my hands, as I cut it up and glued it together. The new jerseys have shorter arms, giving a better ability to reach and move arms around. The new pants were cut without a crotch seam (less binding). The new socks however are much cheaper than the old ones. Hopefully the players just toss their socks every game because the new socks are mostly disposable...

Here is the guy I worked on. We added handles to the inside,and pillows for the knees. The uniform needed to be glued and bolted onto the figure. Apparently drunk fans often will try to steal parts of it in plain sight. The guys who work at the stadium seemed to like their jobs but all found a way to mention with a groan the drunk frat boys who make their lives difficult.

After a couple afternoons in a Candlestick Park storage closet we managed to get their guy all new and shiny so that fans can get goofy photos taken.

I love that my work has so much variety to it.

Jack behind the scenes

Everyone in this photo went to school and got a degree to do this.

The fellow in the swim cap can recite Shakespeare on command. The Man holding the mirror underwater for the light effect can make a palace out of plywood and foam, and the woman in the foreground has all of the major papers in the SF Bay area on speed dial... and yet here we are doing a publicity photo shoot. The Shakespearean actor must act goofy, hold his head up and "make bug eyes" under goggles for a camera 6 inches from his face, while the scenic artisan splashes water to make ripples in the water that the journalist will assess for its artistic merit.

Jack Goes Boating; Opening at The Aurora Theatre soon...

Porter Pan; the cow head that refused to grow up

This beautiful cow head was created in less than a month. The flocking is especially impressive. The artisans who made it, coated the foam rubber with medical adhesive, charged the whole thing with electricity in a special room and blasted it with cow hair... a very realistic effect.

What I am making this week...

So today I was at the fabric store buying six yards of lime green corduroy.  The woman measuring the bolt casually asked "so what are you making?". With equal ease I answer "I'm making a giant Peter Pan costume for a cow"

(pause)

The woman stops as though in a time warp and looks up. 

"yes, for a cow"

Time continues and all the woman can say is, "bring a picture, that's something I'd love to see".

To keep afloat in these dry patches we must find interesting jobs to get us through...
I cannot publish the preliminary plans for the Porter Pan or any of the other cow-stumes I'm helping with but below is the cover for this year's cow calendar just to give you an idea;