Back Drops Part Two

Here's a little more on the drops. Today's highlight is on the backdrop. The steps in creating this drop were much like the work done on the scrim we showed you in the previous post. It is in fact, the same forest, however it is shifted about 5' to one side. So the trees in front will not be mirrored exactly with the trees in back, again with the layers. The other major difference in the construction here was that the template was laid on top of the muslin. The template was traced with an electric version of a pounce wheel which created many small holes outlining the form of the trees, when pounced with charcoal it created the pattern underneath, looking something like the picture here.

Then the main trees were rolled in and the bottom of the drop was blacked out.







One thing that I neglected to mention about the scrim in the last post. You'll notice that the photos of the scrim look fairly solid. This is because we paint the holes in the scrim too, and when we lift it, that paint stays on the floor. Here is a shot of the scrim hanging in the theatre, without the drop behind it. You can see how transparent it really is, with the back wall of the theatre reading clearly behind it.

And in another part of the shop here is assistant Props Master Brandon Ribordy working on a chaise lounge. This piece was constructed per the specifications of designer Ralph Funicello and made with real mahogany.

This piece will remain in stock and no doubt be used for many productions in the future.