MIRIN SCASSELLATI
Designer, Maker, Student
Lorelei Statue
(Summer 2021)
For this storyline to work, we had to create a statue that could be present for the entirety of the weekend, which we would then switch out for an identical-looking actress on Sunday morning for the big reveal.
Costume Renderings
This was certainly an unconventional build. The body of the statue was a fiberglass fashion mannequin. It took a lot of playtesting to negotiate a pose that would accommodate the mannequin's limited range of movement. We ended up needing to remove one section of her torso and replace it with a wooden support, in order to create the seated position. That support was then affixed to the chair along with securing her arms and legs to the chair limbs.
Meanwhile, I created the pattern for the dress, belt, and wimple for both the statue and actress. After making two identical versions of the costume, we had to alter the one for the statue (for instance, removing the "seat" of the dress) to fit around the areas where the mannequin was affixed to the chair.
Above, from left to right: Playtesting the mannequin with the wooden torso piece, the chair and affixed wooden torso support, the assembled mannequin with dress and shield piece.
To achieve the desired texture and make sure the finished statue would be weatherproof, the build team coated the fabric with fabric starch, and then several coats of polyurethane. Several adjustments were made with sculpting putty (ie. filling in the cracks in her hands, turning the mannequins open eyes into shut lids), and then the sculpture was painted to match the fabric color of the dress. We also experimented with makeup, to find one that would be the closest color match with heavy enough coverage.
At left: Kristi Hayes, Otherworld director and build team member, adds a final coat of sealant to the statue
The finished statues, played by our mannequin (left) and actress (right)