Tag Archives: artisans

Forging Ahead with Props

Stormbreaker – Avengers: Infinity War – MAN AT ARMS: REFORGED – If you’ve seen the new Avengers film, you know that Thor gets a pretty awesome new axe. And if you watch “Man at Arms”, you know they forge famous pop culture weapons from real steel. So buckle up as the team at Baltimore Knife Company fabricates this mythological axe/hammer combo fit for a god.

Hong Kong Court Convicts Props Master for Possession of Fake Cash – A judge in Hong Kong has convicted two film crew members for possession of fake cash from a film. Though the bills were clearly labeled as film props, and were not even attempted to be used as real currency, the crew members were still given prison sentences. This is a chilling verdict for members of the Hong Kong film industry, which is seeing more and more interference from the Chinese government.

“Costume-making Is Dying. We Can’t Get the Skills.” – The head of costumes at the Royal Opera House in London is finding it hard to staff her shop with skilled artisans. I have heard similar rumblings in the world of props. Despite the rise in hobbyist prop makers, actual professional positions are getting harder to fill. Do we, as an industry, have an obligation to train the next generation of prop artisans?

An Award For The Best Prop? - Aurelie Gandilhon asks why there is no category in any of the major performing arts awards for best prop.

New Behind The Scenes Look At The Art And Practical Effects Of ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’! – Check out all these photos and video of the animatronic dinosaurs used in the new Jurassic World films. Even though they do a lot of CGI replacement for the final film, they still build full-scale dinosaurs for filming.

Specter Studios making a Foam Axe

There are only two more days to enter my contest to win a foam baseball bat. The bat is made by a Pittsburgh company called Specter Studios; they use local artists to create and fabricate all the props and costumes they sell. They happily shared some photographs showing the work they do.

Demolding an axe
Demolding an axe

They were not making any bats at the time, but they were building some fireman axes, which are made with a similar process.

Foam axes
Foam axes

The axes have a rigid rod buried within them. After they have the foam cast around them, they are sent off to have the colors airbrushed on.

Airbrushing the base coat
Airbrushing the base coat

So there you have it: making foam axes in the Steel City.

Airbrushing some red
Airbrushing some red