Cornfield silhouette

[Jon Majors]

I want to make a cornfield silhouette for Wizard of Oz to hide my ground row of cyc lights. Something sort of similar to the photo below, but I want it to be painted black and be a silhouette. I was thinking 6-7' tall and a total of 16' long. Any recommendations on what material to use, or how to make it stand upright? My original thought was to use polystyrene but I think that would be terrible to cut. It needs to be as close to the cyc lights as possible as our stage isn't extremely deep. Thanks!

 

[RonHebbard]

Definitely cut it from something that's neither flammable nor emits noxious gasses as it warms up.
Assuming your cyc's ground row lights are sectional, keep it standing vertical with small French braces located at both ends and to land between the sections.
Stage weights can be placed within the French braces or 2" back-flap hinges can be screwed into the sides of the braces to secure it to your deck.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Jon Majors]

Definitely cut it from something that's neither flammable nor emits noxious gasses as it warms up.
Assuming your cyc's ground row lights are sectional, keep it standing vertical with small French braces located at both ends and to land between the sections.
Stage weights can be placed within the French braces or 2" back-flap hinges can be screwed into the sides of the braces to secure it to your deck.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

It's been recommended to have 1/8" plywood cut with a large CNC but I do not have access to that anywhere.

 

[RonHebbard]

It's been recommended to have 1/8" plywood cut with a large CNC but I do not have access to that anywhere.

Possibly a router, a lot of patience, safety glasses, dust masks, and a good shop vacuum.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[microstar]

99% of people building scenery do not own or have access to "a large CNC"!! Get sheets of 1/8" luan at Home Depot or Lowe's, make an old-fashioned overhead projector transparency of your design or photo of the corn row and trace it out on your first sheet of luan. Stack a few sheets together and cut it out with a saber saw with a thin blade or a router. Yes, it will be tedious work but building scenery is not instant gratification. Use the first sheet as a template to trace out more. If you happen to own a CutAwl machine, that would do the job more easily. If you space your ground row 3" or so away from your ground row fixtures, any heat will not be an issue. You could always flameproof the luan with Rosco Flamex paint additive. The photo shows a railing done with luan and a CutAwl.

 

[Catherder]

To me that image looks like individual stalks set into a base, and not a single cut out. I think any material you use, the issue is going to be getting that kind of detail by hand. That and breakage because so many of the stalk sections are so thin. Maybe individual stalks is the way to go here? Make a base high enough to hide the ground row and set the stalks into it. This time of year I’m sure there are TONS of diy corn stalk tutorials out there.

 

[DrewE]

Would it maybe work to get some actual cornstalks, paint them black, and attach them to some sort of a netting or screening or something? Or do something similar with paper/foil/whatever cutouts? Instead of netting or whatever, maybe a support made to look like a split-rail fence or similar would be appropriate for the scene.

I'm somewhat dubious about the fire safety of cornstalks covered in paint; that's most definitely something to check into before using this idea.

(For a large-scale CNC, you might like looking up information on the Maslow CNC kits/design. It's not exceptionally capable, being pretty slow and relatively inaccurate and limited in what materials it can reasonably handle; however, it is affordable to get set up, does not requiring too large of a footprint in the shop, and just generally is a really clever design.)

 

[Van]

I have to agree with Drew especially at this time of year, <although I don't know from where you hail> in the US corn stalks are everywhere Buy a butt-ton, build some hog-through and staple and glue them to one leg. soak them in FR1, Rosco Flamex, or Flamecheck <which is a great product BTW> or mix it in with your paint <not Flame check that is to be sprayed on>. Set it up as a ground row and look at the coverage. You may need to add some Paper, cardboard or Luan to the back side of the stalks, cut out in an inconsistent pattern on the top edge to adequately mask the ground row lights. Did a similar thing with Wheat for a production of Vanya.