Matt Chappell - Houdini Séance

From Space Epics to Houdini

by Pam North

Matt Chappell cites the origin of his miniature-making as his boyhood playing with toys. “I was a detailed-oriented kid who also happened to be a huge Star Wars nerd. Every summer, I’d get together with my friends, and we’d stage these epic toy battles in my backyard. We’d collect egg cartons, soda bottles, cereal boxes, and assorted other found  objects , and we’d concoct these incredible play sets for our figures.” The need to create stuck with him, and he has been doing so ever since. He’s now a model maker who builds miniatures for film and television productions. “I had been creating miniature dioramas for years, and eventually I wanted to bring those creations to life,” he explained further. “The only real way to do that was through the power of stop-motion animation. It’s the perfect medium for a miniaturist. Everything in stop-motion is hand-built. I decided to go to CalArts because it’s one of the only schools that really specializes in that form of animation. The school was founded by Walt Disney, and many of my favorite artists studied there: Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Paul Reubens. It’s amazing to go to a school like that and surround yourself with creative people; it really energizes you to create cool stuff. Everyone always does a double-take when I tell them I build miniatures, but once they see what I’ve built, they all think it’s pretty awesome.” Matt recently graduated from CalArts with a degree in animation, and operates under the business name Particularly Unusual.
His most recent creation is called Houdini Séance. He came up with its concept because he admits to being “a big fan of haunted houses and dusty antiques,” and every year he makes a room box for Halloween. This year he wanted to build something reminiscent of the séance room in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. As he was researching Victorian spiritualism, he was inspired by a book he had read about the Houdini séances. “After Houdini’s death in 1926, coincidentally on Halloween, séances have been held every year in hopes of communicating with his spirit. I took elements of that story, mixed them with my obsession of the Haunted Mansion, and created my own version of a Houdini séance.”
Matt tries to hand-make his miniatures as much as possible, relying on other crafters for assistance only when certain elements, such as lights and fabrics, are outside his skill set. He utilizes anything and everything he can find, accumulating  bins and boxes filled with things that intrigue him with possibilities of being re-purposed into something else. “As a miniaturist, I don’t throw much stuff away,” he admitted, “because you never know when you can use it; at least that’s what I tell myself to justify my hoarding habits. For instance, all of the roof elements of the Houdini Séance came from different places. The finial is from an old drawer handle; the middle portion is from a candle holder; and the dome is, well, I actually have no idea where I got that!”
One of Matt’s major modes of operation in creating miniatures is experimentation. “I use a lot of different techniques when I’m building miniatures. Some of my process involves kit-bashing; basically, I take dollhouse parts and create new pieces out of them. Furniture kits are great because they come with so many different odds and ends. It requires looking at things from a different perspective, and it’s very much a mad scientist way of building,” he explained.
The raven atop the chair was a challenge. Matt wanted the bird to have feathers, so he initially thinly coated the bird in a thin layer of Pros-Aide (a medical grade adhesive), and applied black flocking, the result of which was an undesirable furry look. A search through his craft bins yielded the perfect material, some black angel hair yarn, which he cut into small strips and applied to achieve the successful illusion of feathers.
Another challenge was originating a concept that could be executed well in the small space of a room box. “With miniatures, I have a tendency of always wanting to add more objects and tons of details. Because the box is so small, I had to focus on the key furniture pieces that would make the room both functional and interesting. For the Houdini Séance, I definitely needed to have a table and chair, and the pedestal and the Medusa sculpture were added later. I’m constantly revising things as I create. I always have a build plan, but sometimes I like to deviate from that, trying something different. The columns are an example. The four columns at the sides never were meant to be a part of the project. After I had finished adding all of the molding, the room box still needed something. I thought about the Egyptian theater in Hollywood; it has that old 1920s glamour and opulence, and I wanted to infuse that same decadence to this miniature. There’s something about stone columns that conjures up that ambience.”
As artists complete their pieces, they often have favorite elements of the process. Matt said his was finishing it. “I love seeing all of those small details working together to create a cool scene. The most fun thing to create was Medusa. She was the last thing to be added to the room box. I originally made a set of flowers to sit on the pedestal, but that just wasn’t working. The room is meant to feel haunted and creepy, so Medusa with her serpent hair works perfectly.”
Matt plans on selling his piece in his Etsy shop, ParticularlyUnusual.com. It will be available for purchase at $650.00.
Now that he has graduated, Matt Chappell is looking forward to operating his Etsy shop and making more unusual miniatures.

Contact information:
Email: mchappell3@msn.com
Phone: (845) 764-0715
Address: 121 Mill St. Cornwall, NY 12518