Herr_Sprecker
Member
Greetings all. I was wondering if anyone has had experience in creating a 'magic' opening door without using any manner of electronics or such.
Here's the situation. We're gearing up for a production of Nutcracker, one that we remount every few years. One of the dancing toy dolls is removed from a human-sized decorative box, looks a bit like a wardrobe. It's a little over 7 feet tall, 2 feet thick and 4 feet wide. The back is a piece of fabric that can be lifted so the dancer can get into the box, and the fabric fills the back when it is opened. The doors are shorter than the overall frame of the box. Each door has a couple springs (visible when you get up close to the box) that do the pulling tension, and there is a crossing cable across the door tops tied to a bar located on the back. The operator can pull the bar down from its locking point and then ease it up to allow the springs to open the door by themselves. Then the operator can pull down on the bar to close the doors by themselves. When it is first used, when Drosselmeyer goes to get the doll out, the operator is given instructions to loosen the clamp bar so that the dancer can pull the doors open manually, and then manually close them after the dance when the doll is put away in the box. At night, the doors are to open magically by themselves when the dancer emerges.
We are rebuilding this particular unit, and I would very much like to improve upon the effect. I would like to avoid using any kind of electrical device or control for this particular mechanism, it doesn't need to be terribly sophisticated. I would just like something that looks a little more magical without obvious tension cables stretching across the tops of the doors. Might anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
Thank you in advance!
Here's the situation. We're gearing up for a production of Nutcracker, one that we remount every few years. One of the dancing toy dolls is removed from a human-sized decorative box, looks a bit like a wardrobe. It's a little over 7 feet tall, 2 feet thick and 4 feet wide. The back is a piece of fabric that can be lifted so the dancer can get into the box, and the fabric fills the back when it is opened. The doors are shorter than the overall frame of the box. Each door has a couple springs (visible when you get up close to the box) that do the pulling tension, and there is a crossing cable across the door tops tied to a bar located on the back. The operator can pull the bar down from its locking point and then ease it up to allow the springs to open the door by themselves. Then the operator can pull down on the bar to close the doors by themselves. When it is first used, when Drosselmeyer goes to get the doll out, the operator is given instructions to loosen the clamp bar so that the dancer can pull the doors open manually, and then manually close them after the dance when the doll is put away in the box. At night, the doors are to open magically by themselves when the dancer emerges.
We are rebuilding this particular unit, and I would very much like to improve upon the effect. I would like to avoid using any kind of electrical device or control for this particular mechanism, it doesn't need to be terribly sophisticated. I would just like something that looks a little more magical without obvious tension cables stretching across the tops of the doors. Might anyone have any thoughts or ideas?
Thank you in advance!