Sweeney Todd: Finishing the Oven

Back in the workshop I reapplied papier mache to the oven's chimney to bridge the gap between it and the main bowl form. This made them look more like one single structure, as shown below.

Whilst this dried I worked back ito the bars on the grill of the oven. As you could see the lines in the cardboard I essentially plastered builder's cork over them to create a more metallic look. As the dry brushing effect had been quite successful on the barber's pole I thought I would incorporate it into the oven as well to give a sense of unison in the design's of the two set pieces, they exist in the same world after all.

Here you can see the bars I had already done and the ones were I had applied builder's cork ready to be moulded. As I had plastic gloves in the workshop this made the job of creating the metal effect on the oven's surface much easier thn when I had done it on the barber's pole. Instead of getting my hands covered in builder's cork I could sculpt it more easily without it sticking to my fingers as badly.

As well as working on the front I also applied a thicker layer of paper to the back of the oven, which I then thickly coated in grey satin. This would protect the oven from the heat of lights behind it and bounce the light off its surface as well.

My next step was to start painting the whole oven black, apart from the sections that were still drying. I had orginally painted the oven white thinking it would be much brighter than I had eventually decided. Also, it gave me a better picture of the oven as a whole and any sections that were uneven. However, as I would be dry brushing it I realised it had to have a black base coat.

While painting it black I took the opportunity to practise dry brushing the surface, to see what kind of textures I could bring out of it's surface. This gave me a chance to have a play around with the technique before it would be painted properly.

Although I still hadn't settled on exactly what colours I would be using, I knew I wanted it to stand apart form the barber's pole, but still seem related in design style. I decided my first step would to give it a grey base coat. Using a grey satin with alot of black mixed into the paint I began to dry brush the surfaces. This gave the surface a shine but not as strongly as gloss would. I imagined the oven was quite ancient and had been installed in Lovett's cellar long before she took up residency there. I therefore thought it should still have a shine but not too strong, this gave the oven a feel of faded grandeur as if it was from an older age but you could still see the metal shining slightly in the dark. As it would be lit I didnt want the surface to be reflecting light too strongly either so I used the black to dull down the satin a bit more.

After I had finished the first coat I felt it didn't stand out from the back board enough so gave it another, lighter, coat. This made it stand out more but also added definition and layers to the surface where the two slightly different colours blended with each other, as can be seen below.

Here the surface really began to look more realistic. The dry brushing effect had given the metallic look I was trying to achieve but also gave the impression that the oven was bathed in alot of shadow, as it would be in the cellar, with only raised sections here and there reflecting the little light in the basement.

My next step was to give the grill and other features a dark brown base coat that was more liberally dry brushed on. This didn't make it stand out too much, as it kept alot of the black/shadow in its surface, but set it apart from the rest of the structure enough. I also began to dry brushed brown here and there on the oven's surface, making it look older and dirtier and generally well used. This added a bit more character to the structure and made certain areas stand out more where they had been bashed or rusted from the dampness of the cellar.

I began to pick out individual details in the pipe work, grill, motif, coggs and anywhere I thought it was worth spending a bit of time on bringing out the details of the design; as is shown above and below.

I also started to use a lighter brown mixed with a mstard yellow primarily on the grill but also to pick out little details here and there. I was really pleased with the rusted look I had given to the surface, especially as it seemed to shine different tones fro different angles, as can be seen in the bronzed look below.

I then worked on the feet in the same way so they stood out form the main bulk of the oven. At this point I considered the oven finshed, although I may go over certain sections in the next week if I feel they need touching up a bit. I would also like to give the back board another coat of black so the oven stands out more, but its not essential if I dont have any time. I could spend forever nit-picking at little parts of the oven, however, I was happy with the standard it had reached at this point.

Sweeney Todd Steampunk Oven.