Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1980 - 17

Michael McClure's Josephine: The Mouse Singer required a huge
mousehole and a hill (Fig. 11). To build the hill, a model was measured to two-foot intervals along the back edge and angled rakes
were projected perpendicularly. The rakes were framed with 2x4's
and progressed from virtually 'h 0 to 6 0 , and up to 19'6" in length.
The lamination was quite easily accomplished using Ya" luan plywood
for the surfaces and 1 ~" honeycomb core.
The Y." luan was butt-joined on the ends, using laps of luan and
white glue. The longer strips were five sheets long totalling forty feet.
The preattached luan strips were pulled over the floor joist like raked
frame members, which served as legging on two-foot centers. The
skin members were pulled onto the frame and progressively attached
edge to edge with luan laps on the bottom of the sheeting. The core
material was then pulled out and laid onto the bottom surface, which
had been painted with white glue (Figure 12). The white glue, however, was too brittle and delamination resulted. Curing time had been

rushed and although white glue will set in a few hours, it requires four
days to cure--especially when its "breathing" is limited. The platform
was relaminated with Urethane adhesive.
With thin honeycomb core, laps in surface sheeting were placed on
the outside surfaces of the luan. With the bottom sheeting, this was no
problem, as the laps ended up under the unit. The laps for the top
sheet, however, when placed inside the lamination, prevented full
core-adhesion to the surface sheeting and a severe loss of strength.
With flexion in either sheet, the lamination is lost. Greater strength
was possible by placing the laps on top of the top sheet and later
grinding them into contour with body grinder. As the platform was to
be covered with Y." Ozite, the texture was concealed. Attempting to
notch for Y." lap joints would have been less than accurate, and very
painstaking.
When core repairs were made, we discovered that many materials
could be used to continue the surface integrity. Bondo fiberglass fill
worked well, as it was easily troweled into cracks between sheet
edges, could be ground to an even surface, and maintained structural
continuity.

Figure 11: Model for Josephine, The Mouse Singer. A simple paper
wrinkle Ihat represented a gentle compound curvature and honeycomb
challenge in non-static curves.

Figure 12: After building rake-joisling on two-foot cenlers, ~"Iuan was
end-joined and pulled across the suppor1s. 1 1." core was glued over this
skin with another surface of ~" luan forming the lop surface.

Free-Form Structural Platforms

The shape was turned over and strips of glued kraft paper were applied. This added a ply of paper lamination to the surface. The process was repeated for both surfaces until there were two or three ply
on both sides of the core. The shape was then quite rigid and could
easily be moved some distances. The process time was under one
week, including repeated applications of glued paper.
The "hill" was then taken to a local fiberglass parts-manufacturer
who shot the hill form on both sides with a chopper gun. The hill was
brought back, trimmed, painted, and used successfully in performance.
This free-form process was followed again to mold a large leaf for
the mouse world of Josephine, The Mouse Singer (Figs. 14, 15).

Constructing Hills

The most versatile application was explored in two examples of
free-form structural platforming. The first lamination was done for a
dance choreographed by Kelly Holt for the Summer Dance Theatre Institute. Again, a hill was needed. The hill had to support three dancers
simultaneously and also hide another dancer for about one third of the
dance (Fig. 13). As the hill was not large--about five feet in depth and
eight feet long-the free-form clay model's thickness was ideal. The
small hill could, however, have no interruptions in the minor space underside.
One-inch honeycomb core material was used to make an arched
"eggshell." In this case the process was interesting because the freeform sculpture's size was determined in its flattened position. This allowed the model to be duplicated easily from the flat dimensions. We
attempted to construct the shape using expanded core draped over
objects which would approximate the model, but this was difficult because core alone has limited drapability.
Butcher paper was laid out on the shop floor and glued together
with overlaps. After it dried, the paper was gridded and the desired
flat shape was transferred. The honeycomb core material was then
expanded and glued to the kraft paper sheets with white glue. This
process provided a single-surface core which could be readily draped
over objects to achieve free-form shapes with no damage to the core
and maximum flexibility.
Draping the core material alone, without the surface, proved unsatisfactory, as core tears resulted from corners. Once the proper shape
was found within the surfaced core, a top surface was applied to the
shape using strips of kraft paper dipped in white glue and applied like
papier mache. After the top surface was complete the unit dried overnight and could then be turned over while retaining its shape, as the
lamination principles applied. As long as either surface was unable to
slip past the core material, the shape remained static.

Figure 13: Dance set designed by Tom Corbett. Nole the hanging shape
cuI from featherpanel and hung from monofilament line.

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