Rosco Shrinking Mirror

[Chaos is Born]

Ok, so our school is doing A Chorus Line... which means lots of mirrors...

We went with a whole lot of the Rosco Shrinking Mirrors and are now looking at crunch time to get them all stretched out by opening... Does anyone have a good way to shrink the mirrors that is fast, effective and doesn't cost much?

We already have tried using a large "salimander" heat jet for the begining and now we are working with 3 small heat guns to try and do the rest.

Anyone know of a better way or anything that makes the process go faster? As well as any tips for keeping it from burning through? (only a few spots have burned through so far but always looking for a better way)

Thanks!!!

[Van]

Unfortunatly, I don't know of any other way to do it. Heat Gun and patience. Again the best way to not burn a hole? Patience. take it slow and don't get closer than about a foot. Use a diffuser as well. You can use a good 1500w hair dryer as well, this will cut down on burn throughs.

[SweetBennyFenton]

Well, you can lock all the doors and turn up the heat in the building.

No, as Van said... heat gun, lots of time. That's the only thing that will really do it. Besides, you probbably want the specific controle a heat gun gives to get rid of wrinkles and really get it smooth looking where it needs it.

Hope you don't get the funhouse mirror effect I got years ago while working on the same show. Man, that was funny.

[Chaos is Born]

Well after countless man hours so far we have gotten a decent amount of the percentage done. One of the mirrors has shrunk enough that it did give the funhouse mirror effect... but not drastically. Right now we are working towards percentage done rather than completing the mirrors one by one... we open on friday and so far we have a decent amount done... We have been working mainly on our 5 "Cassie mirrors". Once we get to our 28'x16' wall... which is mostly heated but there are some massive spots that need help. That will be the fun part. We have people working with two heat guns in hand on these mirrors. Its going well. Just taking a toll on our sanity chasing the endless wrinkles out.

[ship]

Yep, cool stuff definately not something you want to try at the last minute or without much play testing. No better way I know of either than a good heat gun with diffuser and keeping it moving. Even the variable temperature ones won't work any better.

If using the 1,500w Heat Master heat guns, make sure you open them vents once they get warm. Otherwise too hot is what you have already seen.

Normal for me with shrink tube at least is to A) keep it moving, B) shrink ever so slightly less than what I think I need to. The heat shrink will continue shrinking a wee bit more after the heat is removed and it's often a big difference between tight enough and starting in the case of shrink tubing to split. As a general rule, heat up an area, let it cool than come back. Can about always come back up until the point it's burned or broken. Patience and practice. Good luck also.

Have fun, it's what legends are built from, this much less kicking the rear of the first person that even approaches your hard fought mirrors with a sharp object.