And here we go....

It's panto time again!  Yay!  Crazy chick that I am, I agreed to Direct this year...

 

We're putting on Treasure Island at Verwood Pantomime Society, and the performances will be the last week of January.  The more astute (ok, read long serving readers) will recall that we've done Treasure Island before, 5 years ago, and I blogged about it here.  Crazy enough as it may seem, and I'm still scratching my head about it now, Mr B has landed the role of Long John Silver (quite funny considering he's only 5'7").

 

Lunch Lady Jan, impetuous fool that she is (love ya, hunny) has been suckered into agreed to come and watch this year with the Gorgeous Gordon.  So who else out of you lovely ladies will be tagging along?

 

Oh.  I forgot to mention.  Lil Miss B has secured herself a rather plum role too.  She's the Sea Spirit - the same role I played last time.

 

Not that I had a say in this, I hasten to add.  The auditions are done in front of a panel of 5 judges of which I am only one, and in both cases my beloveds were put into their role without a word of choice from me.  Oh no, I didn't get a say, really.  I'd rather Lil Miss B hadn't been in it at all (she originally wanted to do back stage) and Mr B would actually have been rather lovely as the dame this year.  But we do have to consider the blend of cast carefully, and I have to confess that my co-judges have probably got it just about right...

 

So....

 

Here we go again!

WOYWW 96 - the one from the kitchen table

Just a quickie from me this week, and a late one at that!

This week's WOYWW (go here to see more info and jump onto the desk bus for all stops) is brought to you from my kitchen table.

Yup.

It's my desk this week.

My normal desk is still my desk, but this week I'm working from the kitchen table on.......

Danger Flying Arrows signs.

You see, every year we have a kit weekend for Wolfshead, and every year the paintwork on the Danger signs gets tidied up a little.  Only this year (just about a month ago) the signs were touched up...... and were then not finished, and to cap it all, the paint didn't dry.

So we brought them home and have been working on them.  Trimming them all so they all match and are the same size (having been made in fits and starts over the last decade or so), sanding them down, repainting them, and varnishing them.  I have about 18 to do - none are as yet completed, and only two have all the painting done.  All of them will need a coat of varnish.

So excuse me while I disappear - my paintbrush awaits me!

Oh, and don't forget to enter into my blog candy will you!?  It's HERE

PS.  We've decided on the Panto for next year and it's The Wizard of Oz.  Yours truly is the.....drumroll please..... set designer! Woohoooo!!!!!!

Panto Cards....

Well, I promised photos of the cards I made for our Peter Pan cast, and here they are. My apologies for the poor photography – I took the pictures for these on Mr B’s camera as my own was at the theatre in the dressing room. Tsk, stoopid me.

There’s also two cards missing. You know how it is. You run of four very basic and simple cards in a hurry because you’ve forgotten to do them the day before you need them, and then after you’ve finished and taken all the pics, you remember there’s two more to do. Fast. As you’re running late. I do remember that when we got to the theatre that afternoon, we arrived 30 minutes before the show, and got a round of applause for actually turning up. It appears they were just starting to worry about our whereabouts. Oops.

Anyway, onto the cards.

All the images were located via Google Images – I’m sure Disney would have a major problem with me using an image of Tink, but never mind, eh? It’s not like I sold them. I took basic images of Peter Pan, Tink and the Dames, matted and layered them with coloured and/or metallic card (or glitter, in the case of Tink), mounted onto either square or A6 cards, and then added card candy, ribbon or peel-offs. Or any combination of the above.

The two missing cards were for Smee and Starkey . So, for Smee I used a picture of, well, Smee, and as Starkey played a very camp gay pirate, I found an image of a rainbow flag with a black skull and crossbones on it. Perfect! That one was teamed up with plenty of pink, as that’s what was in his costume…

They all seemed to like them though, and I enjoyed the challenge of churning out as many as I could in the shortest space of time -  6 in 90 minutes!

WOYWW 86 - nearly done....

Good morning WOYWWers - Hi-de-hi!

LOL

Just a quickie from me this week as I'm rushing to get out and Lil Miss B needs dropping off at swimming before school.

Here's my desk - a bit tidier than last week and looking hopeful.  I did managed a little bit of crafting on Saturday morning - the Hookster suddenly realised he needed a load of "break a leg" cards for cast and principles.  I managed to rustle up 6 in 90 minutes, and will add the pics as soon as I get them off his camera.  My camera was still at the theatre from the previous night, so I didn't get a decent shot.  Aside from the cross-stitch I still haven't finishted, on the desk is a drawer full of my collection of Mill Hill beads....

And here, for your delight and delectation is Captain Hook.

Well, I think he's hot!

For those of you that might just be interested, the "metal" and gem plates on Hook's baldric (the slanty belt thing that holds his sword) were made with one of the Nesties labels dies, silver card, and the Cuttlebug textile embossing folder.  I then blacked the silver card up a bit to dull it down (not too twinkly under stage lights) and glued gems on.

Catch you around!

WOYWW 85..... oh no it isn't....oh yes it is!

Welcome to WOYWW!  For those that are aliens from Zog (or indeed, people who have just dropped in on a random bloghop), for more info on WOYWW, go and visit our chaperone and general desk jockey Julia here for more info!

So what IS on my work desk this Wednesday?  Well, I thought I'd be a bit different this week.  Panto is drawing ever closer - three rehearsals left (tonight, tomorrow and Friday) and then the shows begin.  Some of you (including Karen) have asked what I'm doing in the panto personally.  I mean, you already know Mr B is Captain Hook!  Well, I'm in the chorus as a random pirate for a start.  I'm also the sword fight choreographer (but they've epically failed to put that into the programme - I am so not chuffed about that) and scenery painter, and occasional prop hag.  I'm also a proud "Mum", as Lil Miss B is playing one of the Lost Boys, and a very proud partner to Mr B.  And also I'm sometimes the chauffeur, though Mr B does most of that.  Being so involved with the creation side of the panto, at present, this is my workdesk! 

To explain...

We hire some AMAZING (and some not, but that's another tale) backdrops from a fab company in Wales.  They have hundreds of different ones, but the snag is that you can't have them until the week before your show.  You can have a pic of what you're getting, to get an idea of what you need to do to the rest of your scenery to make it blend in, but as for colour matching, that has to wait until you have the backcloth under stage lighting in front of you to get the colours just right.  We have a set designer, but it's kinda my job to do a lot of the painting and direct others with what I'd like them to achieve.  I made the mistake last year, when I joined the group, of joining in with the painting and now they think I can paint.  I'd not painted a single piece of scenery before then.  In fact, my art teacher used to have to beg and cajole me to even pick up a paintbrush; I used to only work on A4 sheets with pencils!  Ulp!  I don't consider myself to be an artist - creative yes, artist, no.  I just happen to know how to make things look three-dimensional.

Thus, the entire theatre is my workdesk at the moment, and I even have little men running about in it doing my bidding.  Hmmm, maybe I should rephrase that.  Mr B might see this and he's up that ladder there....!!

Amongst this year's scenery we have a reservation scene, a beach scene, a flying scene (thankfully that's just a backdrop and some dry ice, no painting!), the nursery, and the pirate ship.  The ship backcloth is fantastic - I am SO in awe of who paints these! - but it's causing a major headache with the flats as we have to match the ship sides in.... scary stuff.  the palm trees were fun though, especially as people didn't "get " them when the trunks were bare....

and I had to reassure them that they'd be ok.  I think they're ok..... don't you?

At home, my real workdesk has even more panto on it.  Two tankards that started out as clear plastic and Mr B's hook.  It's been a bit fun trying to work out how to make it - we wanted it to be as realistic as possible, as most of the costume hooks you can buy still allow free movement of the wrist (something you are rather lacking when your hand has been eaten by a crocodile....LOL), so we've made up an arrangement that (just) fits under his costume, restricts his movement, and yet doesn't look quite so plastic.  We have to glue the hook to the armpiece, and I can assure you that it looks WAY better when he's wearing his costume.  Made from one costume hook, one boiled potato can, one coke bottle, and Ten Seconds Studio metal.  Eagle eyed folk might just be able to work out that I've used Big Daddy Mould #4.  LOL. (Picture was taken last night)



This  morning I finished off the tankards with a dry brush coat of silver to get the appearance of being pewter rather than plastic.  Fetching doncha think?

Ok, I gotta run..... Thanks to all of you who commented last week, will be commenting this week, and to whom I may not have enough time to visit.....  Catch you around on The Hop!

Oooh - and a big hello to Noreen who has just found my blog doing a search on the Panto, cos her daughter is involved with it!!!!  ROFL- welcome to WOYWW Noreen!

WOYWW 84 - the non-descript one

Good Morning all!  And how are we this fine day?  Tired?  Happy?  Bored?  Fed Up?

Likewise....

This is the worst week of January, methinks.  Only in my case it's tempered by the fact that my company pays us on the 15th - which this month will be the 14th cos the 15th is a Saturday.  Gives one something to look forward to! 

It's also a week where I feel suspended in mid air.  Coiled like a gazelle ready to spring into action.  In the distance I hear the ghostly chants of "He's behind you" and "Oh no it isn't" as we're almost at the panto.   Last night a photographer arrived from the New Forest Journal and I managed to get this somewhat humourous shot of Tink and Hook together:

The proximity to the main panto event should hopefully go some way to explaining why my desk looks like this:

Fairly bare, just a cross stitch piece on that I'm working on for the mo.  I should add at this point that I'm not just a stamper - I do loads of other crafts too (so many hobbies, so little time!) and every year I try to make an ornament for the Christmas tree.  I have three other charmed stockings on my tree, so I bit the bullet, ordered the remaining three just before Christmas, and now have some small projects to undertake before next year.  No rush!

In case you're wondering why I'm blathering on about my desk, every week there is a phenomenon, yes, truly a phenomenon (heheheh managed to get big word in twice!) known as What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Go and pay Julia a visit here to find out more.

I haz to dash............. see you on the bloghop!

WOYWW 77 - Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

Hello!!!!

Another WOYWW hits us like steam train in the middle of the week…

Ok, nothing interesting to report this week. I’m not even showing you my desk, because it got hijacked by a 10 yr old on a Christmas Card Fest, and it’s been left in a state of disarray.

What I WILL show you is what I did to that dagger. Nothing special, just made the blade a bit more silvery, and did a bit of the old Ten Second Studio magic to the handle with some black metal, one of their Big Momma moulds, and some sand paper. Oh, and the cup and ball tool. Not the best of work, but at least from stage distance, it’ll look good enough.

Before....

After...

Typical though, both me and Mr B think the finishing touch would be a skull as a pommel at the base of the handle. Can you find skulls in the shops, 2.5cm in diameter, less than a month after Halloween? Can you heck….

So, off you go after this brief glimpse into the mayhem of my particular WOYWW this week. If I have time I will persuade myself to photograph the desk. To go and see other much more fabulous examples than mine, visit The Stamping Ground and the lair of the great Julia Dunnit for more info and a list of devotees.

Other news - Mr B himself went into school today with 90 – yes, 90 – polystyrene balls. He’s doing Christmas decs with the class for their school Christmas Fayre. I’ve had my teeth done at long last, so have finally got my front teeth for Xmas! It’s a long, long story – suffice to say that the crowns I had put in 20-odd years ago weren’t right from day one, and it’s taken until now to get it all corrected. My wallet feels lighter, but finally I can smile properly again. Yay! If you’re lucky, I’ll show you a pic…… or perhaps not, eh….. Lil Miss B is settling in nicely at school and is teaching herself to play the piano. I’m so proud…..

Ride 'em, Cowboy!

Ok, that's a bit of a lame title, I know.  Especially as it has such a tenuous link to what we got up to on Saturday evening, but I thought I should post a little bit about what we did.

Verwood Panto Society hosted a fundraiser, and the Country band, Neon Moon, played for us for free.  We all bought tickets, and this meant that after the hall hire had been paid for, everything else went to the Society to help raise funds to pay for the new costume shed we just bought.  Neon Moon were ok - have to say that really cos the drummer is in the panto society! - but the music they played would only have been well known to fans of Country music.  It wasn't exactly a get-up-and-dance evening, except when Steve (the drummer) put his disco on when the band weren't playing.... Poor Lil Miss B was a bit bored most of the time.

Highlight of the evening?  The sunset on the way there.....



Scenery photos!

Well, as promised, here's a few pictures of the scenery I've been working on. The photos aren't brilliant, because the work has been done to look best on stage under stage lighting, and camera flash just burns out the dark bits and highlights the light bits, but you get the general idea! It's also pretty difficult to get pictures of the set while you're still painting it, with crew getting in the way (hence the step ladder!) and once people are on stage, especially if you're a cast member yourself. I might be able to get a few more done at some point in the next week, if not, I'll have to buy the professional pics!

Basically, the panto is Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and what you see below are a couple of bits (the sunset cafe, and the arch) from the market place in Baghdad scene, and then the balustrade inside Ali's palace at the end.




This is what the balustrade looked like before I started on it....



and then when I'd finished....




and then on stage with the backcloth:



I have to confess that I had absolutely nothing to do with the backcloths - they were all hired from a professional scenery company in Newport, and they are absolutely fantastic!

More photos soon I hope!