Green Ideas
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Set Design and Construction
Forum Discription: Post your questions or suggestions about designing or building a set here.
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4413
Printed Date: 11/23/24 at 3:23pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Green Ideas
Posted By: scottiatse800
Subject: Green Ideas
Date Posted: 1/11/10 at 7:35pm
I am a big advocate of Eco products in Theater and Hollywood. I would love to hear about any ideas people have on green products or ideas in our business. I am an Art Director and also own a green faux wall skins company. We can all make a difference. Set waste is not pretty.
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Replies:
Posted By: pdavis69
Date Posted: 1/12/10 at 4:50pm
Not too worried about green. I love to take the set down after the show, cat it off to the farm and burn it in a bonfire.
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Patrick L. Davis
Fort Findlay Playhouse
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Posted By: scottiatse800
Date Posted: 1/12/10 at 6:03pm
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At least you are using it...so thats good.
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:07pm
I'm glad to hear of the interest in "greening" the making of theater scenery. There is a good website available, with a FREE How-To Guide on using corrugated cardboard as a set, prop, and scenic material. The website is called <http://www.cortecscenery.com>
I suggest you Google "CORTEC corrugated cardboard scenery technology" for lots of information on working with corrugated cardboard to produce great looking flats and drops and avoiding problems such as warping. A 32 page "CORTEC GUIDE handbook can be downloaded free in PDF format. (If you don't have Adobe Reader, you can download Adobe Reader free of charge) to read the guide and print it out. The guide includes instructions and a large gallery of photographs of productions that I've designed and built using corrugated cardboard. The website includes information on why it is an environmentally friendly way of creating scenery that can be saved after the production and used later.
My name is George Pettit, a designer in the entertainment industry since 1960. Thanks!! George.
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:12pm
My Website address, again, is <http://www.cortecscenery.com>
I hope you will check out CORTEC Corrugated Cardboard Scenery Technology For The Theatre. George Pettit
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: scottiatse800
Date Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:12pm
Cool Stuff George,
my company is http://www.fauxwallskins.com - fauxwallskins.com . It is awesome to see other green companies. Your technique looks affordable too.
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/23/10 at 8:19pm
Wow, That was a fast follow up! You producd looks good. I just glanced, but will take a longer look soon. Let me know if you have any comments on my Cortec site.
Thanks, George
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: scottiatse800
Date Posted: 2/24/10 at 11:51am
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I looked over your whole site. It is so great that you are sharing this technique with the theater community. I will put a link on my site so more people will see your amazing work. The Guide is so useful.
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Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 2/24/10 at 12:59pm
I think there is a simple thing most could do even with limited storage. Sadly many groups don't even attempt to save. If you design using some standardization you can save lots of money...and reuse, reuse, reuse. The standardization that I pushed for with a local group was to have several 4x4 and 4x8 platforms with a standard placement and drilling for the legs. Then you can create standard legs in 1 foot or six inch increments. The key here is to have a template that you always use to drill the holes for the carriage bolts that hold the legs--so any leg works in any platform. A second template is used to drill the holes to attach platforms to each other. The platforms last longer, set up is easier, design is easier. Storage is simple because legs come off. You can extend the idea to other pieces once the platforms are in use. Obviously, step units are next.
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http://www.studio-productions-inc.com
1-800-359-2964
The theater scrim people
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/24/10 at 1:50pm
Thank you for your encouraging comments and for putting a link to CORTEC on your website. I'm a one man band in this not-for-profit effort; To get it really "out there" I need people like you to spread the word. I'm getting indications of fairly consistant downloads of the Guide, with some responses via email that lead me to believe there is interest in this, but I don't think it has reached that "tipping point" where I can call it a success.
Hopefully, your adding a link to Cortec on your website will enlist more interest! I really appreciate it!
Thank you, and good luck with your endeavors! George Pettit georpett@gmail.com
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: gelcat
Date Posted: 2/25/10 at 11:43am
George, what is the flame retardancy rating of your system? I don't see a mention about that.
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www.actorsguildonline.org
Actors Guild of Parkersburg
Parkersburg, WV
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/25/10 at 3:27pm
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In response to a question about fire-retardant of corrugated cardboard, I am providing the following:A NOTE ABOUT FIRE RETARDANT and
Corrugated Cardboard: February 25, 2010
It is very important, and required by
state regulations, that corrugated cardboard used in theaters and
public venues be treated with a fire retardant.
Information in the CORTEC GUIDE covers
the application of fire-retardant using a common garden sprayer.
Corrugated cardboard should not be used on stage unless it has been
treated and passed the
test confirming it conforms with State
Requirements as expressed by the local Fire Marshall. It is the
responsibility of the user to understand and adhere to these
regulations, which are meant to protect the public and theatre personnel from
great harm. George Pettit
Included for your information is a
facimile of a California State Fire Marshall Bulletin
dated January 8, 2010. It is reccomended that you check out the
regulations for your location, as they may differ from those of the
State of California.***Instead of an attachment, which I don't know how to do in this format. please go to the following link:
http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/informationbulletin/pdf/2010/matchflametestbulletin.pdf Email me direct at georpett@gmail.com
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 2/26/10 at 11:24am
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When I strike a show I save 95% of the scenery for future shows. Only about 5% of stuff goes in the trash, such as used gaff tape and small scraps of fabric or toxic lumber.
Trash lumber under one foot in length goes into a barrel for an art teacher to burn in a pottery kiln. He does not want to burn toxic "fabricated lumber" such as MDF and plywood, so unfortunately, those small scraps must go in the trash. Along this same idea, I only buy "interior lumber" for set construction, not "exterior deck & fence lumber", which is treated with nasty stuff you don't want to breath during burning.
The trend for the past ten years was to build all our unit sets out of 1/4" lauan panelling. But even with flame retardants and back-painting, lauan still burns faster than matchsticks!
Last week I donated several old lauan hollywood flats to a homecoming bonfire. They made flames 15 feet high and were gone in 5 minutes! All the kids had to step back 20 feet from the hot fire. The lauan skin burned off the flats leaving just the 1"x3" framing. The ghostly skeletons of flats reminded me of that newsreel footage of the Hindenburg explosion, where the name of the airship burned away leaving just the metal framework. It really showed how dangerous lauan is.
I think part of the reason lauan panels burn so well is that the plys of thin wood are rather loosely pressed together, leaving lots of nooks and air pockets to propel the fire. So in other words, even if we apply FR to the outsides of lauan panelling, the fire still finds a path up through the porous interior!
Anyway, for the last year or two I have been returning to the age-old practice of building muslin broadway flats. I have been rebuilding my supply of traditional stock flats. They are very lightweight and less combustable. Besides, covering muslin flats is a good "teachable" activity for my teenage stage crews. And it involves safer tools and funner carpentry than wooden hollywood flats.
Just my 2 cents worth... -Dana
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Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/26/10 at 1:02pm
CARDBOARD, FIRE SAFETY, and Building sets for plays, musicals, props, and exhibits: (Costumns too.)
Thanks for your excellent comments about the fire safety issue and Lauan and your recycling and using Muslin. Great information!
In a test I made testing lauan with a coat of white primer on it and Corrugated cardboard treated with fire retardant, the cardboard resisted open flames better than the Lauan.
If you haven't checked out my website, <http://www.cortecscenery.com> you might want to. Corrugated cardboard also can be used to cover flats and has many uses in props and 3-D applications, some of which can be seen on the website and in the free CORTEC GUIDE you can download.
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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Posted By: Mr. Lowell
Date Posted: 2/26/10 at 1:26pm
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Interesting. Maybe corrugated cardboard does better under flame than lauan because cardboard soaks up the liquid retardant much deeper.
***By the way, on the subject of flame retardant scenery, my brother at Stage Decoration Supply Company, ( http://www.stagedec.com/gallery.html - http://www.stagedec.com/gallery.html ), likes to tell the story of the fire marshall inspecting scenery for a production of Oklahoma. The theatre had sprayed all their real bails of hay with FR, so they thought everything was cool. But the fire inspector plunged his fist down into the bails and pulled out handfuls of dry hay that would easily burn. So he ordered the staff to fill a tub with FR liquid and soak all the hay bails!
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Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School
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Posted By: George L Pettit
Date Posted: 2/26/10 at 7:31pm
Fire Marshalls can get tough:
In the late 80's I think, there was a very bad fire at an Eastern theme park with fatalities. I designed a set soon after in a New Jersey park and ALL WOOD had to be fireproofed, which made materials and labor very expensive to buy and work with, and HEAVY! So take fire safety seriously!
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George L Pettit, Cortec Corrugated Cardboard Scenery
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