Many years ago I worked a summer at Houston Stage, building touring scenery for a musical. I am currently the production manager at our local community theatre, and our flats are in horrible shape. I want to build new flats like the touring flats we built for that show so they'll hold up over an extended period. The trouble is, I can't remember all the details, and I'm hoping for a little feedback here so I can get on this.
We built the frame same as usual, 1x4 with corner blocks, stiles, and rails. We applied 1/4" ply for the surface, and then applied something like contact cement to the face. We then applied muslin and pounced the entire surface. When it was dry, we were able to apply the glue/water mix, and then let the scene painter have it.
What I can't remember is whether we used regular glue or contact cement to apply the muslin, and I'm thinking that it probably won't matter. I'm also not sure what we used for pounce, but then again that may not matter, either. Wouldn't it work just fine to apply white glue to the plywood, stick on the muslin, and then do the sizing all in the same step? Once it's dry, it seems like it would paint quite well. I'm not sure why we would have used contact cement, like one would use on a laminate top, but my memory is that that's what we used. Anyone have an opinion as to why that would be better?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Mark Mills
Production Manager
Backdoor Theatre
Wichita Falls, Texas
We built the frame same as usual, 1x4 with corner blocks, stiles, and rails. We applied 1/4" ply for the surface, and then applied something like contact cement to the face. We then applied muslin and pounced the entire surface. When it was dry, we were able to apply the glue/water mix, and then let the scene painter have it.
What I can't remember is whether we used regular glue or contact cement to apply the muslin, and I'm thinking that it probably won't matter. I'm also not sure what we used for pounce, but then again that may not matter, either. Wouldn't it work just fine to apply white glue to the plywood, stick on the muslin, and then do the sizing all in the same step? Once it's dry, it seems like it would paint quite well. I'm not sure why we would have used contact cement, like one would use on a laminate top, but my memory is that that's what we used. Anyone have an opinion as to why that would be better?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Mark Mills
Production Manager
Backdoor Theatre
Wichita Falls, Texas