Thread: Making jugs as Fallahin props

We would like to perform a Fallahin that makes use of the balas (water jug). Pottery ones are just too heavy to dance with. Does anyone have any experience making a balas from papier-mache? I'd love some help with ideas for constructing them.

Thanks!

Rachel - Farrah: The Egyptian Dance Artists
Farrah: Fananat al Raks al Masri, The Egyptian Dance Artists

Go buy a cheap one and paper mache over it. When the paper mache dries simply break the jug inside (with a few hammer taps) and remove the pieces.

I second Tanya's idea - I know someone who made fellahin jugs out of wire and paper mache and the results were great but the construction was a nightmare.

PM me if you'd like the email address of my friend.

Hmmm, I seem to recall that you can make things with paper mache over balloons and then break the balloon. Shape would probably be an issue though.

No, I haven't done anything like this, but I'm thinking that if you're going to do any balancing stuff with these, you should find a way to add incoporate some extra weight at center bottom.
Just a thought . . .
R

Originally Posted by bgordon2020

Hmmm, I seem to recall that you can make things with paper mache over balloons and then break the balloon. Shape would probably be an issue though.

If you are planning to use your jugs as balancing props (as opposed to simple carrying props or set decor), you're going to have to take weight into account, too. Paper mache by itself may not have enough mass to balance, which could make for a very embarrassing bounce, if a light breeze wafts it to the ground! (There's something to be said for the pottery jugs, miserably heavy as they may be. At least if they accidentally fall and break on stage, the audience knows they were "real.")

If you go with paper mache, you'll definitely want to incorporate some stable (non-shifting), permanent "meatiness" into your design. You'll also want to remember to spend a little extra time practicing how to carry something that's supposed to be heavier than it really is. A lot of dancers forget this last step and end up looking like Lynda Carter heaving styrofoam boulders at the bad guys on "Wonder Woman."

I have made a number of plaster jugs. At Hobby Lobby or any other craft store you can get plaster coated gauze. You blow up a large balloon, dunk the plaster gauze through water and smooth it over the balloon. After it is all covered, set it in a plastic cup upright like a jug.

Then this is the fun part. Cover your head with saran wrap (just the top, like a hat) and smooth the gauze over it so you have a "skull cap". Place this over another blown up balloon or something that will hold the shape till it dries. Make sure enough of the material comes down so you can trim it later. Do a fairly thin covering which you can cut with scissors later.

When all is dried, pop the balloon, sort of mash the bottom flat (lightly tapping it on the ground works usually). Using a marker, mark on the "cap" so you cut an even line. Trim it down and do another layer of plaster if you need to.

I usually add a styrofoam cup with the bottom cut out to the neck of the jug with more plaster to give it a finished look. You can add more plaster to the already dried plaster.

Glue the jug to the cap, so it looks like a base. Then trim, paint and decorate. I like to do red or yellow ochre paint with black designs, usually spirals or triangles. If you want to see a picture of one I made, I can get one to you. Make sure you fill your jug with dried beans or rice so it has some heft. You can also glue felt on to the underside of the cap for more friction, but it does make your hair stand up if you take the jug off during the dance. Good luck!

thanks everyone, especially jamielynn for the balloon + styrofoam cup idea - sounds like an easy way to construct it! And the "cap" for balancing is great, we're only planning to use them as a carrying prop but good to know. I'm going to have fun with this!

A dance friend did it. She used a simple vase for the base shape,cut it off the vase, added more papier mache to join the seam and add bulk, and also added a base made from cardboard for balancing (a cardboard ring). Painted in metallics and weighted inside with a bag of beans or rice. (This was for Tunisian.)

Sounds like a fun project. I always did the dance the hard way, with a real ceramic jug. Nerve-wracking, though.

Same friend loves handcrafts - she makes all of her costumes by hand, even the long seams, and crochets and embroiders. Nothing she likes better!!!

For our Tunisian pots (the real ones are just too expensive to import) I bought a bunch of regular/thin glass vases of an appropriate shape at the dollar store Then I bought a bunch of those terracotta pot bottoms/saucers (the saucers you place the pot in to collect the water that drains out the bottom hole in the terracotta pot...)

I superglued the terracotta bases upside down to the bottom of the vases. That formed a base that would sit/cup over the head. Then the ladies and I papier mached over the whole kit and kaboodle--make sure to use thin overlapping strips winding around the vase, smoothing carefully to avoid lumps and being sure to cover ALL of the glass.

When they dried, we sprayed them with a simulated stone finish type of paint to make them look like earthenware.

To dance, we put a bag with a handful of glass marbles/gardening beads in the bottom of each to help weight them down. Some ladies pressed a soft clay-type material (like Sculpy or another brand of no-mess plastic clay) into the underside (the terracotta saucer) to further sculpt the bottom of the pots to fit their own heads.

These pots are a little lighter than actual clay, and they *are* still breakable, but they're actually a nice weight, more sturdy than papier mache alone (or glass alone), and if one *does* fall and break, it's still held together by the papier mache, so there's no splintering glass/ceramic for the dancers to end up dancing through. (We actually tested this once with a previous pot made this way.)

I have process photos somewhere....

Great thread! My troupe will be fabricating a few more papier-mache ballases soon...