Props» Useful Sites

Midweeks Link Dreams

Eric Hart — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:09:16 +0000

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.
Check out these delicious fake food miniatures.
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.

Monday Link-a-tastrophe

Eric Hart — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:10:58 +0000

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!

Finally, here’s a neat little Repair Manifesto. You can view the image in a larger size as well.

Midweek Link Roundup

Eric Hart — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:06:40 +0000

Still recovering from my trip out west. Enjoy other people’s webpages for the day:

What do stylists keep in their kits? Glue, Spit and a Prayer.
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.
Does anyone else watch Cougar Town just for the set design? I don’t, but you might.
Finally, a brief timeline of the history of coffee. Mm, coffee.

Monday’s Rockin Links

Eric Hart — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:10:19 +0000

I spent the weekend with my wife at Monomoy Theatre, where she is the guest scenic designer for two shows. I wish I could turn that into a segue for today’s blog post, but unfortunately, it just means I only had time to hunt down some links for you all. Maybe at the end of the summer, I’ll have a “what did you do on your summer vacation” post to hear your stories about propping summer stock shows and what not.

Here is an interview with Paul Alix, one of the model-makers on the new Predators movie. It also includes a video of him demonstrating some casting techniques.
Speaking of casting, here is Sarah Gill casting a sheep’s head. It’s from 2007 but still loads of fun.
Design*Sponge has great pieces on the histories of certain objects. Two recent ones include the history of the fork and the history of the curule (an x-stool, or folding stool).
British Antique Furniture Restorers’ Association has loads of information on antique furniture, including a glossary of terms used to describe pieces and parts.

Monday Click-a-Link

Eric Hart — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:52:02 +0000

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson closed last night, Merchant of Venice froze last Thursday, and Winter’s Tale freezes tonight. For the first time since January, I’m not working on more than one show at once. Whew, that was a long year. I’ll be making more in-depth articles for this blog now that I have my nights and weekends free again. Until then, here are some great links to keep you busy:

Go Make Something – 160 how-to articles about paper crafts and altered art
Ask a Crafter – Pretty self-explanatory. Lots of questions and answers about adhesives, fabrics, sealants and any other materials related to crafting.
Thistledown Puppets – A lot of studio and process shots of this foam puppet-maker’s projects.
Gourmet Paper Mache – Dan the Monster Man has lots of videos and photographs of the papier-mâché creatures he creates.
Dark Side Creations – Lots of tutorials, tips and tricks of this DIY prop and monster-maker

Friday’s Galaxy of Links

Eric Hart — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:22:45 +0000

Cosplay (costume roleplay) websites are a great place to find low-tech solutions for making items like armor and weapons. Sorcery and Glue is one of those sites that also has a really cool name.
A Milliner’s Approach to Mask-Making is from the archives of Yale’s Technical Briefs. It describes how to work with buckram for making three-dimensional forms.
Mental Floss presents the different stories of 7 Stolen Movie Props.
Indy Mogul, which frequently has great tutorials for film props and special effects, has an extra-super great tutorial for making soft broken glass out of hot glue.
Finally, here is a nice collection of packaging from vintage crayons, paints and art supplies.

Friday Morning Links

Eric Hart — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:56:12 +0000

In case you haven’t checked the Internet in the past week, be sure to check out the recurring prop newspaper.
After reading that, find out the story behind the recycled newspaper prop
I just finished reading Made by Hand: Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World. It’s a great book about one man’s journey into a more DIY lifestyle. As props people, we can’t always make every prop by ourselves, but the more we understand how objects are made and how we can alter them, the greater our vocabulary of prop solutions becomes.

Birthday Link Bonanza

Eric Hart — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:02:03 +0000

Happy birthday to me. As a present to you, here are some links:

Vintage Depot – They sell hundreds of vintage advertising and similar collectibles. The images are too small for direct usage, but make good reference, and you can buy them as well.
Cerebro – Cerebro sells pre-World War II label art. The images are slightly larger here.
Fulcrum Gallery Magazine Gallery – Cover images of dozens of antique magazines.
Ephemera Blog – A nice little blog of various ephemera: letters, menus, yearbooks, etc.

Enjoy!

Monday Blogroll Links

Eric Hart — Mon, 10 May 2010 07:15:09 +0000

If you’re new to this site, or if you follow it in a blog reader, you should check out the Blogroll links in the sidebar. These are other sites and blogs of prop-makers and prop-masters and general crafty people. Here’s a sampling of some of the recent posts from these sites to entice you to check them out:

Via Propnomicon, I’ve found this collection of 11 old and grungy film textures. I’m going to use these to make some aged daguerreotype for our upcoming Merchant of Venice.

Speaking of Merchant, Meredith Ries at Malaprops shows how she is making fake books out of real paper for that show.

Jesse Gaffney at Theatre Projects has listed a few of her favorite things; tools and materials which come in handy on nearly any prop challenge.

Volpin Props always features incredible process photography of exquisitely-crafted replica props. The latest post on a light staff from Final Fantasy XI is no exception.

Lost in Schlock has a fun video on how to create fake edible raw meat.

Anna Warren continues to impress with her documentation of all the fake food props she makes at Fake ‘n Bake. One of my favorite recent posts is how to make Roast Beast in gravy.

Instructables is an incredible resource to find information on techniques you want to learn or materials you’ve never used before. Two tutorials I’ve enjoyed are:

Casting a Pear – Probably the quickest and grittiest way to cast something I’ve ever seen.
Sci-Fi Handgun – There are a lot of Instructables on making or remaking weaponry from science fiction movies. These are a good way of showing how a uniquely shaped prop can be broken down into simpler parts, and how found objects and tiny details can transform a prop from simple parts into a homogoneous object.

Keep readin!

Friday Bucket of Links

Eric Hart — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:59:46 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! Here are some links to help you avoid doing any work today:

The Costumer’s Manifesto has a non-toxic crafts cookbook with less toxic solutions to a lot of craft supplies, many of which are used in props shops.
Thanks to Desiree Maurer for the Tick Tock Toys archive of food packaging, store displays, et al.
Check out the Strong National Museum of Play’s online collections for tons of pictures of toys and games. Their organization also runs the National Toy Hall of Fame.
A different and interesting site is Make & Meaning. Rather than focusing on how to make things, this site explores what “making things” means, and how it affects our lives.
The Household Cyclopedia is a reprint of an 1881 book which contained how-to information on all sorts of household tasks. Back then, of course, “household tasks” included farming, making your own paint, and casting metal. It’s useful for both learning how to do these various tasks, and also as a historical perspective to aid in period research for the late nineteenth century.