Zen and the Art of Prop Making

Deciding between quality or economic manufacture of products present a challenge to companies wanting to develop new markets. With money tight customers have to consider the pros and cons of quality or economic products. They are more likely to accept cheaper, lower quality products (or even dispense with them altogether) rather than spend a bit more on a quality product. A financially conservative approach may appear an appropriate path in the short term however the mid to long term consequences of economically driven decisions should be carefully assessed. A well made, quality product that is pleasing to the eye carries those qualities with it through time. Poor quality products may do their job initially but actually get worse over time. Any initial savings are quickly dissipated. Good quality or economic choices There are times when a product is used only once so its manufacture can be more cosmetic. Products of this nature are easy to provide as they can be quickly made w

Live performances nowadays depend on high-tech equipment and go for the *WOW* factor of huge LCD screens and light shows. It's understandable, given the size of the crowds being entertained, but in this age of technology how many of us watch the video screens instead of the live performance? Indirectly we have become totally dependent on the technology available to us today and the power it requires to function. A refreshing change was a concert last year in Melbourne celebrating "Earth Hour". The power for the concert was generated the week prior to the event by 16 cyclists pedaling 12 hours a day to charge up batteries. It highlighted how dependent we have become on power to keep our technology (and entertainment) working. The growth of technology What did people do ten, fifty or one hundred years ago at similar events? The 1925 Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris was an extraordinary event from what I've seen from photos and commentary of the time. Elec

Prop making can be extremely satisfying creative work. Being able to create something like a medieval silver chalice on the smell of an oily rag from found materials is a skill honed from many years of tinkering. It requires a broad appreciation of the characteristics of materials and also an element of lateral thinking that enables you to see the possibilities of using something from diverse areas to create what you are looking for. Generally theatre companies, both professional and amateur, don't have a lot of money to spend on props. I personally think it is more a money saving business decision. This approach results is cheap looking props which can make a production look like a school play. That being said if a show is only going to have one or two performances it is silly to spend a lot of money on props. I remember a director telling me once that in many of his productions you could see half his loungeroom on stage! Getting things for free is a valuable prop buyer's

Several Japanese style lanterns were required for a terraced garden. They were made from Merbau and fitted to the top step of several stairs between the garden terraces. Construction was relatively straight forward as is indicated in the photos below. The individual timber strips to make the lattice windows was cut from Merbau planks which had been cut to 10x10mm lengths. These were then assembled into the window lattice frame and glued into position. After all the lattice windows were made they were fixed into square timber frames made of 20x20mm Merbaus. Translucent perspex windows were cut to fit behind the wooden lattice frames to diffuse the LED lights. Additional diffusion was obtained by mounting the LED's inside white plastic milk containers. The perspex windows were held in place by wooden blocks fitted under the removable lantern top. The photos below show a completed lantern before installation in the garden.

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These five large Japanese lanterns were made for Opera Queensland's 2012 production of "The Mikado". The photo on the right gives an idea of their relative size. Standing over two metres tall they have a commanding presence. Their construction was straightforward however the concave section in the middle was tricky to achieve which is described below. The timber lattice window sections are backed with translucent acrylic sheet to diffuse the lights that will be installed inside. Steps in construction The middle concave sections were first cut from plywood sheets and then assembled in the form of a cross. The edges were mitred so that bendy ply could be glued into the concave sections. After one pair of sides had dried the second pair of sides were covered making an enclosed column To make the lattice windows strips of wood were placed in a jig and a router used to cut the slots needed to assemble the timber lattice sections. Once these had all been c

A big problem with a blogs is the huge amount of time wasted dealing with automated comment spam . Their primary purpose is link building for better search engine optimisation and also for generating traffic to generally irrelevant commercial websites. The comment spam content is usually vague and general in nature having little relevance to the posts targeted. Recently the comment spam content has been socially engineered in the hope of increasing the chance of the comment being approved and published in a blog. Much of this type of comment flatters the bloggers writing style or depth of knowledge on *the subject*. It is the bloggers ego that is targeted in these instances. Controlling comment spam The blunt solution for controlling comment spam could be to simply remove the comment option on every post in the blog. Voila! No more spam. While this definitely solves the problem the down side is you sacrifice any reader interaction with the post. Some posts seem to receive far