Striplox Hardware

Striplox has and interesting product out that is fairly similar to the Z-Clip product that we use alot of around our shop.  It slides horizontally (or vertically), allows the connectors to be very flatly nestled together, though this is true if you inset Z-Clip as well.  It is a little different in that there is an option that makes it lock into place, so that it will not be removable once installed.

The website shows additional uses, including being able to put it into the end grain of a piece of wood, and to use it for corners.  It is definitely something that I could see being used in the shop.

Klimp Fasteners

A job recently came in and the crates used Klimp fasteners.  They "clip" into place and secure the crate without the use of bolts.  The package we received to do work on was about 5 years old, and had seen international travel, so they had help up pretty well as an alternative methodology for crate construction.  

While obviously useful for its normal use for crates, I would be curious to see if it would be a useful piece of hardware for scenery in rep theatre - though obviously it would be limited to 90 degree corners.

Led Lights

The whole of LED lights is much larger now than when I first started using them.
We often use lights from  Super Bright LED's.  We primarily use LED tape, and the projects often have a short lifespan.  More expensive LED's are usually fabricated under stricter scenarios.  But you pay a much difference price for that.  In this range the place to visit is: Color Kinetics, environmental Lights or DSL Group.  Basically, with LED's the quality does typically correlate with the quality of the lights.

Other good sources:
Amazon
1000bulbs.com
theledlight.com
Rosebrand
ledropelightsandmore.com
californeon.com
tprlights.com
ledropelightsandmore.com
DSL Group

These sources will also provide enclosed LED strip light (similar to Neon Flex or the LED equivalent to neon).  LED only bends in certain directions, though depending on how you are using it you can often bend it naturally and bounce the light in the right direction.  If you buy it without the casing, you can only cut it within certain intervals.  This means that you need to occasionally bury the end of the tape, and that you have to plan ahead for where the lengths need to start and stop so that light is evenly distributed.

Often, once you get the LED's in place, if you are not using a packaged product (though this does occur in some packaged products as well) is that you can often see the LED's as single points of light which are not diffused.  To just dim the light we often use sheets of ND (neutral density) gel to block the light.  Milk white, sign white and Satin Ice acrylic are all good options as well.  If you are building something you will want to test - the specific type of acrylic you use, and the thickness of that piece will determine the spacing that it needs to be away from the LED to evenly distribute the light.

Lastly, if you are looking for specific colors, you may want to test the LED as samples before buying everything you need - for instance, we have had issues getting a good orange and red out of some products.  Its getting to be so common, that I think it is easy to slip into the idea that it doesn't need to be figured out - but that can bit you at the end when it doesnt work exactly how it was planned to.

Lastly, sometimes its helpful to buy something to hold the LED strips without manufacturing something new.  For this check out:
Klus Design
ENT TEC
Outwater Plastics
Glowbckled.com
Nova Display  We used the low arch product on a past project - you can see individual LED's but it looks sleek.  Nova Display also has many other products that are worth browsing.
And of course Amazon again.

Graphic and Shelving Hanging Systems

One of the items that I see more often in proposals and designs are cable display systems.  These can be fairly slick and elegant ways of displaying artwork or graphics, and even merchandise.

Most of the products I have used have come from Arakawa Hanging Systems.  There are many options out there though - I have often thought that the next time I do a cover the walls exhibit at USITT that it would be cool to use some of this equipment for the display.

Displays - Banners, Lightboxes & More...

Alpina Manufacturing has a good range of products that allow you to display graphics on walls or stands very easily, and the frame easily opens to allow you to insert a graphic - and they are economical.

Displays2go.com is one of my default places to look for sign frames, iPad holders, and even light boxes.  You could probably outfit an entire booth from this company.

For additional Slim Light boxes check out:
Blue River Digital
Lighboxes.com
Environmental Lights

Note that depending on how you are using the light box you might need to check out the fabrication. Most thin boxes lit by wrapping LED's around the perimeter.  On many smaller sizes this is fine. And if you engrave the Acrylic it produces a really nice effect, though obviously different than lighting a graphic.  On larger boxes, places light environmental lights custom builds the light box with proprietary engraving patterns on the real of the acrylic to ensure that the light box is evenly lit throughout the whole surface of the product.

Watchout Software - Projection Design

I was reading and old issue of Live Design and caught a reference to a piece of software called Watchout. I have not used it, but it looks like it would be cool - and a great tool for doing projections.  Its geared towards multi-screen productions & 3D mapping, something that is increasing in popularity.

Media and technology behind it are here to stay - at lease in the foreseeable future. What I have learned in my recent projects is that there are in and outs to the process behind creating digital designs that don't directly transfer to the way that we typically design in theatre.

Stand offs and Metal Turning

Metomic brass turning has a variety of brass turned finials.  They also have stand offs and picture lamps.  An odd assortment of stuff - but items that could be difficult to find again in the future.

Off the shelf Turntables

Everynow and then you need a turntable - not for a car or for a major, but for something small and low tech - like to make an a small object spin.  While creating a small turntable isn't difficult, you don't always need to recreate the wheel either.  (My apologies, the bad pun was entirely intended!)

A few I have come across during my last look:
Vue-More has a variety of small turntables and sign rotators.
Dino Rentos Studios has a variety of display turntables as well.
Turntable 360 has, you guessed, it - turntables. Small, for displays.
Young Electro-Mechanical Company has "motiondiser" turntables, they are small but have a high loading capacity.

Of these I have used both the Vue-More and the the "motiondiser".  The vue more was not very functional, but it was undersized for the application (provided by the artist for a sculpture.  The motionsiser is a fairly small little robust piece that will probably work as long as you can plug in a standard plug.  The unit has to be at least 10 years old - maybe 15, and spins happily away.

RGB Light Matching

On a project last year we installed RGB lighting within a visitor experience center.  The client wanted the lighting to reflect the colors in their logo.  It actually turned out to be a fairly simple things to do.  We used this site: pantone-to-rgb  and used the numerical number supplied to create the color.  The colors were a close (enough) match!

Universal Theatrical Hardware

An exaggeration in many ways, yet, it seems like the below two items are indispensable stage hardware.  The first for holding movies scenery together, the second for lifting decks up off of wheels, though I have used it in other situations as well.
Pull Action Latch Clamp #341
Straight Line Clamp #630R

Gaff Tape Runner

And now for a product that should have been invented years ago (or was and just not marketed): GaffGun.

I am waiting for one that carries a handful of colors of spike tape marketed to stage managers next...

Electro-magnetic Boards

I recently received an email about a product called Justick.  Its basically a bulletin board without pins, tapes, etc - where notes just stick, without any additional aid.  This works via an electromagnetic field, generated by AA batteries.

While this probably is not robust enough to hold up in some environments, I could see uses.  If you could control the power remotely, things could easily fall onstage.  But I could see it more in use backstage, or for use in meetings where you may not have a post it note, but need to make a note.

Fabric Shapes and Walls

Many corporate shows seem to be using fabric backdrops with 3-D shapes, with internal lighting. These shapes are also used on show floors as well. While Rosebrand offers some basic shapes and columns, the following three companies are my go to resource when looking for 3D fabric structures.

Pink Inc has flat walls, curves, ripple walls, arches, tunnels, and shapes as well as a few costumes!

Transformit has many of the same products, though they are a little more organic. They can also custom build a piece to your specifications & print on the fabric.

Moss Inc also has a wide variety of shapes, signage and event outdoor tents available.

While many of these things can be built in a shop (either as hard scenery or with frames and fabric) since these places have stock pieces, the engineering and technical development can provide an economic edge to building it yourself.

Fosshape & Wonderflex

For a theatrical production that came through, we were tasked with doing a statue. Instead of carving the body and clothes we used Fosshape. It’s a material that can be sewn or glued, and can be shaped with steam or heat, and when the material is cool it maintains its shape. The material can shrink up t 30% though, so allow for that when using the product. Below are a couple of photos from the shop showing the piece we built.

The same company can has a product called Wonderflex, which would work better in situations where you would typically use Fiberglas, carved foam, or paper mache. It is similar to Celastic, but celastic requires immersion in solvents to become moldable, and Wonderflex uses heat instead. For more information on the history of Celastic & props check out Prop Agenda.

Fake Rock and Brick Panels

Making a fake rock isn't uncommon in theatre, and I have done a post previously on options, but of course, as time and projects have past, I have gathered additional options.

This time combing through my files I came across a variety of options:

Superior Rock Solutions which offer panels and classes (on how to use their panels)

Fauxpanels.com offer panel as well, in brick, stone, wood, and other textures (like concrete and asphalt). They also have corners. While the panels seem to line up well, they don't go around corners and the columns are pretty obvious.

Antico Elements has a variety of architectural products including stone, rocks, and bricks (stones being smooth, and rocks being rough)and square column wraps. Again, I don't think these would take a corner well (but this is true for vacuformed panels and fiberglass panels as well (like from Warner Brothers). The pulp art panels seem to do corners the best, as they were fairly solid.

Back in the day, we use to cut grooves into blue foam and melt the edges (ah the fumes), but it worked well. For rocks I have seen a variety of built up options - from homosote to chicken wire and crumpled newsprint. We have also tried molds, but it was a fairly expensive process. Recently we have used a cut stencil (representing the mortar lines) & used that to spray texture onto flats (using dryvit for example, and that created a nice texture fairly easily within the shop.

Faking Glass

On some of the TV work I have done, a designer we work with uses Screen Glass when there are windows on set for film. The material also acts as a diffuser. It is provided by Warp’s. Warps carries a variety of other “glass” products that are clear plastic.

Formglas

Recently we were referred to Formglas for a project we were working on. Formglas can make panels in a variety of textures (we needed large woodgrained forms). I am linking to their technical drawings. While this specific project didn't pan out, I think it would be a good resource for future projects.

WeldOn Adhesives

I am going through my office and trying to get rid of paper I have accumulated throughout the years. Since this blog is much easier to find a product in than my filing cabinet, I will probably be updating this with products that I have found and used for projects throughout the years.

Today I ran across a file for WeldOn Adhesives, which creates adhesive for vinyl, ABS, Polycarbonate, Styrene, PVC, and Acrylic.

Pulp Art Bricks

While working on pricing for an upcoming proposal, I was recommended to check out Pulp Art Surfaces. This company provides brick and stone surfaces (as well as others) either as a finished print that can be applied to a wall, or as a 3-D (approximately 3/16" - 1/4" thick) material made from recycled paper, card board and wood chips. The sheet is raw, so it will still need to have scenic art applied, but the bricks can be easily cut to go around corners. The person making the recommending the product to me prefers it to vaccuform. The price seemed reasonable, though it would quickly add up. While there would be fright charges, there is no additional charge for shipping prep. Take a look the next time you have a design for rock or brick walls.

Project Resource for Teaching Tools

I was browsing the internet looking for ideas for a project for my nephews to make over the summer when they visit. Complicated enough that a 13 year old would be interested, simple enough that I could help the younger kids in the neighborhood through it as well. I started off thinking about either a pine car derby or CO2 cars. Then I found Kelvin Educational. This sight has good prices on pieces if I do decide on cars,, but they have a lot of other cool things too, many geared towards classroom use. Bridges, cranes, catapults, hydraulics, robots, they have a bit of it all. Certainly a resource to use when thinking about how to teach concepts of engineering within the classroom.