A How-To Guide

navigation links at bottom of page
 



Follow our step-by-step guide
and feel free to improvise!

Children come in all shapes and sizes and we did not have the money to produce actual costumes for each of our 30 youth performers [4th & 5th grade boys and girls]. So our artist decided that the kids would wear all black and move like fishes while carrying large-scale, costume objects. She then selected a New York choreographer, Elise Knudson, whose speciality is using objects in performance.

Below are LINKS to pictures and information about how artist, Cynthia Pannucci, created our fishes costume objects for the "Fishes Feed Us" premier performance. However, if she had been living near the ocean at the time, she said she would have done things differently...

She would have organized a student/family beach clean-up activity, and then washed the bits of colorful collected "trash," and "re-purposed" it to decorate the fishes. Instead of cutting the fish shapes out of cardboard, she would have experimented with using some sort of locally-grown reeds or thick vines to mold into the fish shapes. Then the fish shapes would be covered with pieces of "found" fish-netting, and finally the selected decoration [colored beach glass, sea shells, even colorful bits of plastic] would be attached... Voilą! 

WHAT CAN YOU DREAM-UP ?


OUR DESIGN CRITERIA:
1)  not expensive
We had a very limited budget, so instead of expensive artist acrylic [water-based] paints, we used semi-gloss, outdoor house paint. Instead of using flexible fiberglas rods inside a sewn-sleeve circumference on custom-designed fabric fishes, we used cardboard cut-out fish shapes.

2)  durable for kids usage
We used semi-gloss paints because they do not show "scuff-marks" like a matte paint does. The cardboard was double-corrigated and fiberglas reinforced from a local company that makes shipping crates for art and antiques shipping... really beautiful cardboard. The owner let us use some scrap sheets and we purchased the remaining. The fish designs selected did not have pointed snouts that would have easily shown "wear-and-tear" early-on during the 4-week rehearsal process.

3)  lightweight - for kids & shipping
The material selected for the body of the fishes needed to be strong, but also light-weight, because the kids would be carrying and making big movements with the cutouts over the course of a 15-minute performance.  Also, shipping 30 fishes costume objects to NYC would have been much more expensive if the material had been heavier.  At the time of design, we also had hoped that these fishes would be re-used at future venues, so shipping costs and durability would always be a concern.

4)  easily replicable
Since there were three different fish designs of 10 each to be produced, the amount of detailing on each needed to be considered. [The more detail, the longer it takes in time to complete each fish.] Stencils were used for the two detailed faces and an open-mesh fabric from a potato sack was used to replicate some one type of fish scales. Free-hand strokes were used where appropriate to create pattern, as they can be done faster than painting-in areas of chalk lines created via stencils.

5)  look like fish & show bio-diversity
Although Cynthia's drawings are styalized and sometimes the faces are almost playfully humanistic [especially the ocean catfish design], the costume objects did visually represent recognizable ocean fish.  Utilizing three fishes whose outline shapes, colors, and detail lines were very different from one another, creates an awareness of the bio-diversity of ocean fish species. PS>  Kids really, really love "glitter" and fake rhinestones!

NOTE:  Our choreographer divided the student-performers into three groups of 10 each, with one dance instructor assigned to work with each group during rehearsals.

MATERIALS & SUPPLIES USED:
~ sheet-rock [also called "box"] knife
~ strong corrigated cardboard
~ white drawing paper for making patterns
~ pencil & soft eraser
~ white chalk
~ a stencil [or "Exacto"] knife
~ strong, transparent plastic sheets for stencils
~ cisors for paper
~ paint [water-based outdoor house paint]
~ brushes for water-based clean-up
[assortment: stiff, pointed, flat - various sizes]
~ 3-4 inch paint roller [one for each fish type]
~ netting from potato sack [for fish scales]
~ small plastic bottles with applicator tips
~ silver glitter glue
~ fake, oblong rhinestones [for anchovy eyes]

STEP#1:
Drawings, Patterns, Cutting
of the three ocean fishes
Click here for details and images...

STEP#2:
Creating Stencils
Click here for details and images...

STEP#3:
Painting & Finishing Processes
Click here for details and images...

PLEASE LET US KNOW !
To our disappointment, the "in-process" photos that Cynthia took while she was creating the fishes did not turn-out well... too dark, and therefore not helpful. Please let us know if you have questions about making the costume-objects that we forgot to describe.  Send an email to:  [info***at***asci***dot***org] and we will be happy to respond!