The Layers Pt. 2

So we finally finished up the big gothic windows. The project took much longer then I initially suspected. You'd think spending almost the entirety of the summer on one project would have prepared me for longer projects like this, but I was definitely ready to move to the next set piece as soon as possible after taking so much time on these guys.

Even more layering occurred around the outside of the window to give it more sopport and a nice finished look. To make the plywood bend around the top we used two layers of easily bendable 1/4 inch ply and layer of 3/4 ply with relief cuts to allow it to take the curve.

We also spent sometime using the hot wire cutter to cut the foam around the insides of the more ornate parts, giving us the relief angle the designer called for.

And after we spent all that time sanding and making them pretty, the paints crew comes in and adds texture and aging effect to cover up the craftsmanship, but you get use to this sorta thing in theatre.

So now I'm working across the street loading House Of Spirits into the Space theatre. I'll try to take some pictures of the process though it's already under way.

Other People's Work: The Pergola

So this has nothing to do with the theater other then the fact it's being built in the shop. A fellow carp and good friend, Ian, has been working on a timber framed pergola using very old, hand hewn timbers found from old abandoned barns. The wood looks pretty amazing, but it also has all sorts of crazy knots, bows, and checks. He asked if I wanted to help him out this weekend, which gave me a chance to get a quick crash coarse in timber framing. The long and short of it is that it takes a lot of thought and a lot planning to make it work. Ian is amazing at it, I'm... well, I'm still learning.

The Layers

I've been working on a set of gothic windows for Dracula this past week, taking my time to make them look nice. Turns out they're going to be far upstage behind a scrim, so no one's going to be able to see them very well anyway. Regardless, they got to get done.

First step is to cut out the ornate tops of the windows. The boss figured the best way would be to print out the designers rendering in full scale and do a trace cut. This didn't turn out too well as the blown picture was heavily pixilated , not to mention it was hand drawn in the first place. So I picked the best half and did a "reverse/repeat" to make it symmetrical.

Next, we need to build up the layers to make the back thicker and then use the backing piece as a pattern to cut out the top piece.

Two layers of foam go in-between the top layer and the backing piece to give even more thickness.

Then we will cut a 30 degree bevel around the foam connecting the inside edges of the backing piece and the top layer.

Easy, right? I'll be working on it this week as well while the others start loading in the first two shows.

Late.

The Layout

So I've been doing some of the final projects for 39 Steps, including some reworking of already built stuff for design changes, I figured now is a good time to show you the layout of the shops here.

The building itself used to be a tramway station, which is kinda perfect for us and our need for plenty of space. Our scene shop is basically just one massive room, but you could say it's spilt into three main areas.

The metal shop shop has everything you need to do any machining or structure work. It also has tools for blacksmithing, since our Technical Director is a practicing blacksmith.

The wood shop has about two of everything you need to do... well anything. That's my desk on the left there. I figured if I set up in the wood shop they'll give me the wood projects.

Then the rest is just a massive space for setting-up scenery. We're getting close to load in, so the space is getting more and more limited. You can see the garage doors in the back where we load out.

The big room next to us is the paint shop. They got a nice bounce floor they can staple to for big drops such as this. Basically, after we build it, we bring it here to be painted.

The props shop is split in three sections as well. This is the furniture shop where they do the more detailed wood work.

This is the crafts shop where they do the fun stuff like fake food, severed heads, knick knacks and so on.

And then there is the fabric shop where the upholsterers do their thing.

The name of this blog came from a sign posted on the way into the scene shop, and it stands as a very true statement. I'd dare say we could build just about anything in this place. Not a bad gig at all.

Late.

The First Three Shows

To give you a better idea of what we're working on, I figured I should tell you what our first productions are.

Being an adaptation of a Hitchcock film, this set is set up almost like a jungle gym for the actors to chase each other around. Also, the set and costumes are all grey tones to match the old films. Play Synopsis

This play is set in our black box theatre. And like many plays we do in there, the set appears simplistic to eye, but the amount of automation that is going into it will take a lot of work. Play Synopsis

The money-maker, as I like to call it. But it's big shows like this that usually have the most interesting scenery to make. Play Synopsis

The season's starting of pretty strong, and fast, we have alot of work to do to get these guys up and running.

Recycling The Tracks

After the rough country pieces, I went to work on the more finely crafted french windows. The initial plan was to use sugar pine, which has a smoother, tighter grain then scots-pine, but upon seeing our used stock, I suggested using up some of the oak we had left over from automation track.

If you look at the bottom of the window you can see the dado cuts we made in the oak to use it for tracking scenery. but with no one being able to see the back of the windows, it was okay to build with it.

Before I start I project, I usually ask "Do you want this built the nice professional way, or the fast theatrical way?" In this case, the boss went for the nicer way, which gave me a chance to us contrasting router bits for my joinery.

The final product turned out very clean and stiff looking and very much in contrast to the country pieces. This will help split up the many scene changes in the show.

Other People's Work: Bird Cage

A great part of working in the scene shop is seeing other projects develop as you're working on your own. There is always something interesting going on and you can always learn from other people's work.

Stub, the lead carpenter, worked with some over-hire to build this center piece. It's upside-down on the floor in this picture, so you'll have to imagine it flipped over and hanging from the ceiling, looking kinda like a bird cage. Stub built some jigs for the repeated patterns and handed it off to Matt and Allen to bend and weld it all together. The next thing they need to figure out is how to break it into sections to fit it into the theater.

Roughin' It

So the boss had me building flats for awhile, which are very common in theatre, but not very interesting to take pictures of. They're basically walls for the set. We had a whole lot of them to build so that the paints department had something to do. But now I'm working with Marco on building doors and windows for the show 39 Steps.

So, the country door and window units were supposed to have the look of hand hewn wood, which for parts such as this shutter, I used a draw knife to rough up our 1x deselect pine boards. Distressing scenery is pretty common and we got a couple different ways of doing it. Usually designers will drop a adjective to help us pick which method to use.

Marco built the frame for this door while I was still finishing up the flats, but I came in and did the door real quick. Nice thing about the distressed pieces is that you don't have to get too meticulous with construction, just make sure it's square so it swings right and then beat it up till it looks used.