Shadowbox a la Pee Wee's Playhouse

I have been doing a lot of commissions and suddenly...nothing. It's bad for the wallet but good because I actually have some time to make friends shadowboxes. This is a birthday present for a friend who is really into Pee Wee Herman. You might remember in the playhouse, Pee Wee had an art farm. Here are the ants at their Hawaiian luau:

Experimenting with Oil

While I was exhibiting my shadowboxes at the third annual Geek Flea, I was commissioned to create a shadowbox of Cthulu. I had never heard of Cthulu except for the song on Ride The Lightning. (I guess I'm not much of a geek because I have yet to read any of H.P. Lovecraft's novels).

This is the first time that I am making a papercut of a creature with bat's wings. Since they are somewhat translucent by nature, I've decided to do a little experiment with oil on the papercut sketch of Cthulu. I have painted a little extra virgin olive oil onto the wings. Only the best for my buyers.

It's been too long since Cthulu last had his wings oiled.

I am hoping that the oil will create the effect of letting more light through without changing the color of the paper too much.

At this prelimary stage, I spy slight purple tones in the oiled paper when I hold it up to the light.

I will just have to wait 'til it's dry! 

Geek Flea Market!

Today was a chilly day but geeks from miles around made it out of their Rancor pits for the third Geek Flea Market. I was there with my shadowboxes and am happy to report that the Frankenstein shadowbox sold just as I predicted it would.* Nothing makes me happier than seeing a shadowbox going to a good home...except for eating a dirty water dog.

Fig 1: A Starving Artist

The delightful gentleman I sold the Frank-box to is a puppeteer as well. Though he is a marionettist and I'm a shadow puppeteer I believe that the two can coexist in peace. He is in the process of creating a Halloween show about Frankenstein and said he was thinking of using the Frank-box in his show. I was/am honored to be a part of his art in some small way. There was a real feeling of brotherhood throughout the day...and by brotherhood I mean Lambda Lambda Lambda.

Proud to be a Tri-Lamb!

I still have a few shadowboxes available! Check out my shop on etsy. Til next time, make mine Marvel! 


*Making Shadowboxes: Part 1

Making Shadowboxes: PART 2

Now that the papercut is done, we will start building the circuit. The shadowbox is lit up with the cunning use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are pretty awesome because they have a longer life than your boring-old, poopy-old incandescent bulb. The LEDs are connected to resistors which make sure that the LEDs have the right current flowing through them.

A green LED connected to a resistor.

The LEDs are soldered to the wire to connect the LEDs in a series. We try not to burn ourselves but sometimes we do...that's precisely why the "Helping Hand" tool that you see in these pictures was purchased.

Mmm, smells like roast husband in here!

 

After all of the LEDs are connected to the wire, it is fitted into the shadowbox and connected to the 9 volt battery which you can see in the bottom right corner of the photograph below.

The 9 volt battery is also connected to a switch so the battery and LED life spans are preserved when the shadowbox is not in use. Now that our shadowbox is done, let's hang it up on the wall!

The Bride and Monster. 

All lit up and nowhere to go! 

The Bride and Monster.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this little tutorial. If you'd like to order a custom shadowbox, contact me!

Making Shadowboxes: PART 1

I'm preparing for the upcoming Geek Flea Market by making a papercut of Frankenstein's Monster. Frankenstein's Monster is a real hero to geeks like me so I'm sure there will be someone thrilled to hang this shadowbox on their wall. Since Boris Karloff's Monster is the quintessential Frankenstein, I search the web for a good image of Karloff in his Frankie Make-up. Then I draw it on black paper and begin cutting it out. Here is the papercut of Frankie in various stages of progression for your perusal.

Frank, emerging from his cocoon! 

As you can see, I use an X-Acto knife to cut the paper. I always start with a brand new blade. There's nothing like screwing in a brand new blade, it's one of those sensual, satisfying rituals that make working so much fun. 

He's going through that awkward phase...

I always plan out the papercut so that the most delicate (thinnest) parts are the last that I cut out. In Frankie's case, his lip is the last thing that I cut. I don't want it ripping.

"Friennnnd!"

Now, I will glue the papercut to the transparent paper (mylar) so that the LEDs are visible. Stay tuned for the construction of the LED circuits in Part 2.

Shadow and Light

What I really love about my projects involving shadow and light is the "romance" of it all. I am not sure if others feel the same way as I do about shadows and light, but it really resonates—on a very deep, theatrical level. Light and shadow can put us into very different frames of mind and emotion.

I like to think of this fascination with shadows as something as old as the caveman part of us; the torch light flickering over the animals they had painted on the cave walls made them seem alive. Shadows and light giving life to 2 dimensional figures. That is what I hope to do today.

By the way, you might enjoy this stop motion animation I made of the making of the Caves of Lascaux




            

A few of the shadowboxes I have made.

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"Bird in the Bush" shadowbox:




This is a shadowbox that I made expressly for a lady who loves to watch the birds. I chose the colors because I thought that they would be very calming, the way watching birds can be.





This is a shadowbox that I made for a little girl. Her dad told me she would want  "something with princesses." I remember back to when I was a young girl and loved to swing, loved flowers and butterflies...and this is the papercut that I came up with.

And the full effect with LEDs: