Bubbles. . .A fun effect? or a Death Trap!

[adude23]

We've used snow in the past, but stick to one main rule . . .
-"Snow can only be used before and interval or at the end of a production."
(Same can be used for bubble machines)
This then allows a good 'clean-up time' and doesn't mean we have to go mopping in the dark between changes. If you stick by that rule it always works (well has done for us)
Just my two cents on this

 

[TimMiller]

As far as snow, you are better off using a good snow machine that allows you to control the flake size. The smaller the better. Big globs take longer to evaporate. I also use a "dry" formula, that evaporates almost immediately and does not leave any slippery residue. I used 2 of them 15' over a dance floor without any problems.

 

[porkchop]

Wow this is a lot of talk about soap. I think it all boils down to what people in the exposed area are expecting and what kind of cleanup is needs to be done.

My experiance with soap bases special F/X machines (bubble and snow) is completely in a venue that has a huge (80' x 200' x 3" preferably) chunk of ice for a performance floor. And yes the addition of soap makes the ice even more slick, but the skaters know what they're getting into, and when crew have to walk across it, if theres soap still that means it's usually after an act and then the ice is a bit tore up so even with soap a show cut is more of a slipping hazard. So in this case even though you had as many as 70 people that might go across the slick soapy mess it was a known risk, and no more so than walking across the ice before the show started.

Clean up in one way or another always ends in all the ice the might be soap contaminated being removed by standard practice not because of the soap itself so that wasn't a problem either.

So in the end it worked out fine for this show even though on an average week they went through 3 big bottles of bubble mix and something like 6 big bottles of snow mix. That being said if I even thought of putting that much soap down on any of the non-ice rink venues I've worked at I think I would be flogged and the existence of my employment would be denied.

 

[elite1trek]

and water cooled PC's

Very Much So...