Semester/Term 2 - Props 2
Enlarged Matchstick 18:1 Scale

18 :1  Matchstick Prop

The match was the second practical assignment, to make an enlarged, roughly 20 to 1 scale matchstick that could be found in a fantasy film where people had been shrunk or were mystical or anthropomorphic animal characters etc. This effect was to give the appearance the characters were smaller by making ordinary objects appear larger.

A square post of balsa wood was whittled, power-filed, carved, poked, surform grated and otherwise formed.

To carve the shape and suitably texture a match stick with a realistic burnt wood and phosphorous appearance like the real match below, various paint and tool techniques were applied.

18 :1  Matchstick Prop

We started by burning matches like the one above to study them and told to create a similar match only roughly 20 times bigger. What I noticed was as that they burned, they tended to shrink and warp.

Mine was the matchstick on the left below to give the appearance of the warping effect on such thin wood as carbonized.

Carving and Texturizing.

Carving and TexturizingTools used included a power file to rapidly carve the basic shape. I then switched to a mix of sharp bladed tools such as scalpels, Stanley knives. A key tool was the Shinto (Below Right)  which was a surform with saw teeth on the underside which was an elliptical tool, used to both shave, scrap and scratch wood grain into the matchstick. This was mostly used two handed.

Various clay sculpting tools were used to carve out chunks and jab holes to build the texture in the surface. Although trying to balance out the shape and get the head right too much was carved out. The result still looked realistic

Painting

Painting was started with brown first, then black washes of watered down acrylic paint which both gave a smooth blend that also soaked deep into thew soft balsawood. White dry brushing and jabbing was used to add the phosperous residue ash.