Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Christien Fontaine on June 12, 2009 at 11:15am

Hey Charlie,

Take a look at my Photos. The Johnsonville set, and both Kohler designs utilized a ton of 1/2" foam-core. think of you scenery as a huge model. for painting purposes don't over saturate or mix in too much water. treat the foam-core as you would watercolor paper. you can also mix in a little white glue and sheet-rock mud into latex paint to create a paintable hard surface very similar to sculpt-or-coat at a fraction of the cost. the mix is 3 parts paint 1 part glue, 1 part water, and sheetrock mud is mixed to your taste. the mud helps with drying and texture.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Fontana on July 8, 2009 at 4:06am

Thanks very much, Christien.

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Permalink Reply by Robert C. Hanes on July 13, 2009 at 11:53am

Charlie

I noticed you have not had much negative comment on this subject so..............

If you are flying the set and weight is a factor it may be worth the trouble but...........
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The flame spread of foams today are lower than in the past but I doubt the local FD will allow them. Without a flame retardant treatment and/or coat or two of latex paint it is likely to be considered a fire hazard especially a large set (as is the case with untreated muslin, luan p/w, untreated lumber in general, etc:)
I have used foam core for small pieces of a set even painted both sides it warps and is too light to use without a backing of some kind.
I'm not sure the price isn't competitive, FR muslin (check Rosebrand) from about $ 6.50 / 75" to 108"YD. (that is less than $10.00 / flat) add the lumber 3 ea. 8'-0" (1"x2" pine is best, not cheapest), sizing glue (about $12.00 / Gal. should cover 3 to 6 flats) maybe some scrap for gussets and braces and this flat will last years. (I have 10 year old flats).

OK so I am a big fan of muslin flats but any foam you use on stage really must be well fireproofed in some way. I have carved horses for Carousel, the Moon for Mame, a 6'-0" diameter (working) clock, the oven door for Hansel & Gretel the stuff is great but always fireproof it.

Bob Hanes

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Fontana on July 20, 2009 at 10:05am

Robert --

Many thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Robert!

Charlie

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Permalink Reply by Paul Mathis on July 29, 2009 at 8:55am

James Hull Miller's Self Supporting Scenery for Childrens Theatre and Grown Ups Too - A Scenic Workbook for the Open Stage, though somewhat dated, outlines using foam and corrugated materials as you have suggested. We used his ideas to create the Tin Man's set in THE WIZ some years ago using 1/2" plywood for the "stylized" trees.

The guy who does the layout and printing of our musicals' programs has a sign business and uses gator board for his applications. We've talked about using it on stage, but hands down the difficulty was price. The best price he could find for our use was at least half again what luan costs (but we teach the fine art of the dutchman while the more gregarious among us pull splinters out of their fingers ).

At this point, we've found it cost prohibitive - it probably would also cause our fire marshal difficulty since there's no way to flameproof it that I'm aware of. YMMV.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Fontana on July 29, 2009 at 10:15am

Thanks for the advice, Paul.

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Permalink Reply by JOHN BRANDL on June 12, 2009 at 9:14pm

What you describe I call "pink board". We used a lot to create a hillside. While it's useful for certain things, using it broadly to replace muslin or plywood has a lot of issues which include-
(1) it's about 60% more expensive than 1/4" plywood
(2) fire hazard- most theatres don't allow it unless it's coated with a fire retardant like Rosco's foam coat
(3) not durable

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Fontana on July 8, 2009 at 4:06am

Many thanks, John.

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Permalink Reply by David McCall on July 14, 2009 at 8:21am

Would you still comsider it to not be durable after a couple layers of foam coat?

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Permalink Reply by Thomas J. Gale on July 21, 2009 at 6:39am

Sorry for late post....
I use a standard 1/2" to 3/4" insulation foam available at and Home Depot or Lowes. It can be pink or blue extruded foam if you need it for shaping or durability, or the white "beadboard" expanded foam if you're using it for flat covering. I make a 1X3 or 1X2 flat frame and affix the foam. Then I cover the whole surface and edge with a lightweight muslin available at any local fabric store. This gets adhered with a thinned white glue and then after it's dry, a second top layer of thinned white glue is applied. This makes the surface very durable. A friend and former student of mine uses cheese cloth and wheat paste for his covering, and I've also heard of the use of joint compound mixed with white glue for building realistic textures that wear very well. I've also used a product called Jaxsan (available through Rosebrand I think). I think the trick of using any foam is giving it a cloth surface treatment to make a truly paintable surface. As far as using Foamcor, it's just foam with paper on top so really you're doing the same thing without all the expense of the commercial product. I did do a set that was completely built of 2" beadboard foam covered with two layers of craft paper and a final layer of light weight muslin. No framing needed and it was lightweight and portable as scenery should be. Any piece I needed bigger than 4X8 I used a internal spline of 1/4" lauan which worked incredibly well and was completely hidden. Foams cool to work and build with but like everything else it does have its cautions and caveats.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie Fontana on July 21, 2009 at 9:26am

Many thanks for your insights, Thomas.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Long on July 21, 2009 at 9:08pm

I have only seen it in Art craft stores. Unfortunately the largest sixe is 36" x 48". Not sure of the pricing. 16 x 22 is lised on the net @ 5.25 per board. We have been using Luann Ply wood 1/8" thk., however it is limited to 4' x 8'. I have created larger sizes by gluing muslin to the entire surface. Unfortunately the cost of the wood has become prohibitive. I am tring to find light weight canvas for our new flats. It worked well in college (45 years ago)

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