Rebuilding the Boardwalk, pixel by pixel. A great article about recreating 1920’s Atlantic City for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. With all the challenges you can imagine for such a task, one of the most difficult, according to the article, was finding the right chairs.
The Gizmologist’s Lair. W. E. Johns has such a plethora of articles and links on his site, I’ve barely scratched the surface and already have discovered so many great things. He has projects, reference for all sorts of technical and technological bits and more.
It’s Friday! Grab a beer and check out the work of some fine prop-makers from across the internet:
MRX Designs has a lot of great Cthulhu related projects with photographs and descriptions. Some of the stuff is a lot of fun, like a giant inflatable Cthulhu head.
Just a reminder that today at 2pm (EST), I’ll be taking part in a live chat interview at TheatreFace. Come join in the fun if you want to ask me a question.
I also have a fun new project I’ve been working on, and I might be posting photographs of it as early as next week, so stay tuned. Until then, here’s a fresh roundup of links for you to explore.
You know that Smooth-On has a plethora of videos and tutorials on their website, right? Well now, they also have a Mold-makers Exchange, where you can buy or sell molds and casts, or advertise your mold-making services. It’s like a Classifieds for all things moldmaking (or a “Craigslist” as the youngsters (and I) say). It’s very sparse at the moment, which is why I’m getting the word out about it.
The Library of Congress has a YouTube. With nearly 600 videos from their archives, there is a wealth of historical material available for free viewing. Many of these videos are great for research on the early twentieth century and thereabouts.
Erich Friend runs a Theatre Safety blog. Though focused more on theatre planning and operations, some of the information (I’m looking at you, hidden fire extinguishers) is relevant to props shops.
And finally, Volpin Props has made an awesome M8 Avenger Assault Rifle out of scrap materials he had sitting around in his shop.
By now you should know about This to That, a great tool for finding out what glue to use. Well, Beacon Adhesives, makers of such prop-friendly glues as Magna-Tac and Fabri-Tac, have their own Adhesive Selection Chart.
I know I just did a post on knots, but I had to show off this hot knot diagram. It’s from a site I just discovered called Low-tech Magazine, which “refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution”. How very apropos for those of us in the world of ever-shrinking prop budgets.
Dug North has started compiling a great big list of Automaton plans in one single page. Some are even free!
That last link comes from the Propville directory. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and work in props, you should check it out. If you don’t, it still has some great articles to read like the one above.
Need a homeless person sign for your show? Michael Zinman has been collecting them since 2001, and this slideshow has plenty of authentic examples for research purposes.
