How-to

Funerary Urn Trick

By Eric Hart | Published: May 25, 2009

For Twelfth Night, the director wanted a funerary urn trick. When the actor knocks it over, he wanted the lid to fall off and a puff of ashes to fly out. I decided on a pneumatic solution. Early on, we decided the urn should be on a base which was hinged to the floor, which [...]

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Weapons Storage

By Eric Hart | Published: May 13, 2009

I received a question last week about how various prop houses store their weapons. First, there’s how they should be stored. Every prop house I’ve worked at, and every one I know of, keeps their weapons locked up. The depth and breadth of rules and regulations dealing with weapons, theatrical or replica, varies incredibly amongst [...]

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How to make a wooden ratchet

By Eric Hart | Published: May 8, 2009

I published my first Instructable. It’s for a wooden ratchet noise maker I made for the upcoming production of Twelfth Night at the Public Theatre’s “Shakespeare in the Park.” Here is the research image I was given to work from. The tutorial follows below. Don’t worry, it’s not a movie; sound isn’t going to start [...]

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Fake Food – Making inedible replicas

By Eric Hart | Published: May 6, 2009

How do I make fake food props? The props department is frequently called upon to make all manner of food and food replicas for the stage. When food needs to be eaten by the actors, the props director is in charge of making the food every night, either for real, or by figuring out a [...]

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Trick Props and Illusions

By Eric Hart | Published: April 27, 2009

This summer, we’re doing Twelfth Night at the New York Shakespeare Festival. There’s a number of trick and gag props in the show. Trick props are easy to do; you just need to remember every single mechanical gizmo, electrical doodad, and moving part you have ever run across in every object that exists, and pick [...]

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  • About

    Eric Hart

    I am Eric Hart, a freelance prop maker in North Carolina.

    This site is a way to share my work and the things I've learned over the years. It's also a way to connect with other prop makers, props masters, and artisans, as well as a collection of all things of interest to props people from around the internet.

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