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I am Eric Hart, the assistant props master at the Public Theater in New York City, and a longtime prop maker.
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.
Prop Resources Online
One of the reasons I’ve begun this blog is as a reaction to the general lack of online resources for props people. What is out there is either scattered around or inactive. I’ll be collecting whatever I can find for this blog. The following list is a good starting point for anyone seeking props information online. You can also find all these links on the side of every page here.
PropPeople Discussion Forum – This is a bulletin board for all things props. A few years ago, it was fairly active, with discussions about props education, jobs, techniques and more, written by a veritable who’s who of artisans and managers in the prop world. These days it’s fairly quiet, though still active; thankfully, you can browse through the entire archive without having to sign up, and find a wealth of information about props.
Proptology Magazine – Another apparently defunct endeavor. Still, there’s a fair amount of articles available for reading online.
Instructables – A highly active and diverse community. Users post their how-tos on any manner of DIY projects. If you’re interested in finding tutorials for new techniques, or seeing how other people build things, this is a great place to start.
Make Magazine – Another resource for the DIY community. The blog is a companion to their printed magazine; it showcases DIY projects from around the internet. Though much more technologically-oriented (robots, computer hacking, etc), it occasionally features projects of interest to props artisans.
If you know of any others, let me know. If you are a props manager or artisan, and you have a blog, website, portfolio, or you participate in any of the social networking sites, such as Instructables or Flickr, send me the link and I’ll showcase it here.