You may have noticed a new link over in the blog roll, called Zen and the Art of Prop Making. DW is a Sydney-based prop maker, and this blog has a wealth of information and tutorials on a number of prop processes. From fiberglass, to mold (or mould) making, and special effects, there are quite a few well written how-to guides to be found here.
Tag Archives: blog
Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robinette Kowal is a puppeteer and science-fiction writer in New York City. She is also works in props. Her blog contains the occasional post about the interesting props she’s built, and fascinating stories about the day-to-day life of a NYC props master (such as getting a moose-head down five flights of stairs, or carrying an axe on the subway).
You can quickly peruse all the posts dealing with props. Be sure to look at all the pages, as there’s quite a bit of great information there.
Seattle Children’s Theatre Props Shop
The Seattle Children’s Theatre blog has a good post up about the props for A Tale of Two Cities. Edie Whitsett, the properties shop manager, describes the amount of historical research they did for the show. More interesting is how they used the research. Sometimes they went with the most historically accurate objects, but other times, they adapted it to better suit the needs of the production. Edie puts it best in the article:
You have to maintain a balance between historical accuracy, the desired visuals and the technical demands of the play.
There is also an earlier post which has great process shots as they build a fake corpse for Ophelia.
Careers in Technical Theater
If you looked closely at my previous post on Milwaukee Rep’s prop shop, you will have noticed a link to Mike Lawler’s webpage. Mike is the author of Careers in Technical Theater
The rest of the website has a lot of useful resources as well. He has put together a list of U.S. academic programs in technical theatre, a survey of technical theatre earnings in 2006, a collection of links relevant to technical theatre and all its branches, and a list of the various publications devoted to backstage work.
Mike also runs EcoTheatre, a blog about creating theatre without sacrificing the environment.
Martha Stewart’s Prop Room
This is from last year, but I just came across it and found it interesting. Martha Stewart maintains a prop library for all her photo shoots and television segments. On her blog, she gives an inside look at this props library and how it is maintained. The place looks huge!
They use a bar code system to track and inventory all the props. I know the Santa Fe Opera also bar codes all their props kept in stock. What kind of inventory management system does your shop use?