I feel it would be easier with the pallets, just to remove some of the planking leaving the end & centre planks only to give a stable construction & keep the frame square.

Thanks, Joe, once again for your generosity in sharing your technical expertise. You are truly a wealth of information and so kind to share it with a newbie like me. You covered things I never even thought of! I will definitely have to give you a shout-out in my playbill.

I was thinking I'd use the pallets since the planks on the face would support a ~9x9' piece of material better, even given some shrinkage after sizing, but you think they would interfere with the sizing and painting? Or that it will make it more difficult to leave enough slack to allow for shrinkage?

G'day

I'd be rather concerned with the pallets being free stranding without any bracing or being anchored safely.

Most pallets are just expendable packaging, thus deemed to be sacrificial by the transport & handling companies.

However if   maintemce department must obviously have there dibbs on them it might be prudent not to mess them about.

Would it possible to get your casts father or brothers involved in assisting with the construction of the 9' wide flat rather than using the pallets, in producing either 'Broadway' [soft] flats or 'studio' [hard] flats. The most reusable resource in ameatre is People - so get as many involved.

Which may be a safer way to go & you will gain a reusable resource for future productions in your 'Cafeatre' or "Cafetorium' venue.

Also thank you for the playbill shout! 

 But I think if any credit is being dished out, it should go to the 'GREENROOM FORUM' [possibly along with it's logo - as I believe that 'this is what it's all about'

Flats made with muslin that is presized are usually not tight enough to be satisfactory. That is why we buy the unsized muslin for flats so that we can use th sizeing process to tighten the fabric after we attach it to the flats.

I use unbleached & untreated Calico wich I get @ mates rates from a Lounge Furniture Manufacturer, who uses it for covering under the seats of Lounge chairs ect.

{Lots of years ago I would buy Calico off cuts & end of weave loom run pieces, which came in One Hundred Weight [Cwt] Hessian Bales from India. Mainly because they were sold by weight @ $1/Pound [lb] - but that's all another story!}

This link may give you abetter idea of the 'french Brace [Jack]';- http://www.ia470.com/primer/scenery.htm - http://www.ia470.com/primer/scenery.htm  it is also useful if you want to make your own flats.

You can actually buy flats in DIY kit form which is a fairly cheap way to go from Theatrical suppliers & Chandlers.

 Don't dispair channa this is comeatre & your not going in ever deminishing circles - although it my seem so!

However they are not my tea bag, as I find them cumbersome to handle as opposed to the soft flats & are a bit more chunky to store, which may or not be a problem in you venues & situation.  They can also create the odd hiccup when attempting to Book them. But there again I'm just an old fart who prefers working with the broadway style flats, but that's a t'other story.

Channa surely you could rouse up a students parent or relation that may have an inkling  about being a DIY Chippy, who at least is some what famous within their own tool box.

From experience I have always found it much easier to repair a damaged cloth skin on the trot, than attempting to invisible mend a studio flat skin, without the punters knowing the difference.

A few aeons ago I reskinned some flats at an ameatre in the bush. The flats were made by the 'Fuller Theatre which was a proeatre touring company here, that switched from theatre to cinema back in the early 1900's. The canvas that we removed was defiantly original & undamaged with at least more than 20 odd coats of paint on it.

I have found with less experienced crew, that they tend to handle the soft flats with more care & respect than is ever done with the studio [hard] flats.