Tag Archives: video

Features

From Prop Making to Authoring

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Last Thursday, I gave a talk to the Alamance Makers Guild at STEAM Junction in Burlington, NC. I’ve been a member of the AMG since 2012, and it was great to finally give a featured presentation. STEAM Junction is the new Maker Space started by the same people.

My talk was called “From Prop Making to Authoring.” I started off discussing my career as a prop builder and what that entails, before moving onto the blog and how that ultimately led to writing The Prop Building Guidebook: For Theater, Film, and TV.

My wife broadcast the entire talk over Facebook Live, and now the video is up on YouTube. It is a little over an hour long, so only the most diehard fans will make it through the whole thing.

The audience really enjoyed it. I was able to explain how my work informed the blog and how that built an audience for the book. I talked about why I blog, and how I use social media to promote it. Much of what I discussed was relevant to makers of all kinds, not just those who build props. It is all about teaching and sharing knowledge, and how to get people interested in what you do.

How-to

Fiberglass with Aqua Resin

When we think of fiberglass, we think of the smelly, toxic resins used to reinforce it. Many props people avoid fiberglass for that reason. Water-based resins offer a less toxic alternative. Aqua Resin is one brand which is useful for theatrical prop building with fiberglass. You need a dust mask when handling the powder, but once mixed, it is non-toxic.

In my latest video, I show how to make a prop using fiberglass with Aqua Resin in a one-piece negative mold.

You can see how the mold was made in my post on matrix molding, and you can see photos of the finished prop in my post on the Magic Seashell.

Using fiberglass is one of the techniques that now has a step-by-step photo tutorial in the second edition of The Prop Building Guidebook: For Film, Theater, and TV, which comes out February 10, 2017. You can see all the companion videos at the Prop Building Guidebook website.

How-to

Matrix Molding

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A matrix mold appears like many other molds, where a thin mold of silicone rubber is supported by a thicker shell of plaster or fiberglass. However, you make a matrix mold by pouring the plaster first, then filling the area between the plaster and the model with silicone rubber. You do this by using clay to take the place of the rubber when pouring the plaster.

It is a very economical way of making a mold, since you use the least amount of silicone rubber necessary; the rubber is the most expensive material in a mold.

I made a video demonstrating how to create a one-piece matrix mold.

Matrix molding is one of the new techniques added to the second edition of The Prop Building Guidebook: For Film, Theater, and TV, which comes out February 10, 2017. You can see all the companion videos at the Prop Building Guidebook website.