Flying a Clump of Medium Sized Objects

[porkchop]

Unless your audience is VERY close you should be able to hide 1/16" SWR. This would allow you to use a gripple style termination to the batten that would give you some adjustment to get your trims where you want them.

In a world where the foam forms can be cut through without concern over returning or reusing them I would find a way to drill all the way through the form in a way that is vertical to the desired hanging position. All that's needed is a diameter large enough for the SWR to pass, but auger style bits and the extensions required to drill that far are more likely to be in the 1/2" to 1" range. Build a plate that you can terminate this SWR to solidly that will hold the weight plus a generous safety margin and either curve it to fit the contour of the foam or cut out a plug so the plate is inset a few inches in from the bottom. This way everything is in compression. A second line per form will help reduce movement, but if a little bit of sway helps make the effect more dynamic a single point doesn't bother me as long as you're making quality terminations. If you're not making quality terminations then we have bigger problems.

The parasols are a lot more challenging of a rigging problem. If it was possible to build them in house with a more rigid stem with attachment points designed in that would be ideal, but that seems rather unlikely. The best idea I have for using an off the shelf umbrella is to find one that is hollow in the middle and pass the SWR in the top and all the way out through the bottom. The end of the rope could then be brought up back to the SWR to make a bridle or all the way to the batten if that looks better. Crimp a sleeve onto the SWR at each end to set the angle and to keep the umbrella from moving too much. I don't love this method because of how flimsy the umbrella is likely to be, but at least if the shaft snaps it's still attached to the SWR.

Once you get to what I've decided to call "The piles of nonesense" on the outer sides I would say for your own sanity that they need to be build as one or two continuous units. If they come all the way in I would try to make them a rolling piece. If you you do have to fly them then you're only rigging 5 - 7 pieces per side instead of 20. Maybe the individual pieces have some movement within the larger structure, but this is theatre not a magic show.

 

[icewolf08]

So the question that I can't believe hasn't been asked: If you are a student at Northwestern, do you not have faculty supervisors/professors who are there to help you with this kind of project?

otherwise, it looks like most of the best answers have been given already. Depending on the meaning of the note about objects flying separately, it looks like you would need a total of 6 battens to pull this off. It also means that you need fairly significant clearance around the umbrellas to achieve the look as it seems inevitable that you will have to get them past eachothers battens for storage.

As others have mentioned, this is definitely a case where you should come to the design team with the following:

1. A list of questions for clarification on how the designer envisioned the look and what the notes mean
2. compile the requirements, both cost and labor, of some of the solutions folks here proposed (or you came up with on your own)
3. compile some alternative suggestions that try to maintain the design idea but are easier to implement (either cost-wise or labor-wise)

Remember to explain all your concerns calmly and rationally, and don't get offended if the designers get a little defensive. DOn't take it personally, if you keep your head and try to help everyone through the process, it'll all work out in the end.

 

[RonHebbard]

So the question that I can't believe hasn't been asked: If you are a student at Northwestern, do you not have faculty supervisors/professors who are there to help you with this kind of project?

otherwise, it looks like most of the best answers have been given already. Depending on the meaning of the note about objects flying separately, it looks like you would need a total of 6 battens to pull this off. It also means that you need fairly significant clearance around the umbrellas to achieve the look as it seems inevitable that you will have to get them past eachothers battens for storage.

As others have mentioned, this is definitely a case where you should come to the design team with the following:

1. A list of questions for clarification on how the designer envisioned the look and what the notes mean
2. compile the requirements, both cost and labor, of some of the solutions folks here proposed (or you came up with on your own)
3. compile some alternative suggestions that try to maintain the design idea but are easier to implement (either cost-wise or labor-wise)

Remember to explain all your concerns calmly and rationally, and don't get offended if the designers get a little defensive. DOn't take it personally, if you keep your head and try to help everyone through the process, it'll all work out in the end.

@Noah Watkins Follow @icewolf08 's advice and if you can guide everyone successfully through this and retain your sanity I suspect Alex may have a job offer for you.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

 

[Noah Watkins]

Hi all!

Thanks so much for the replies! Didn't expect nearly this many - super helpful.

Currently thinking of going with the Dacron fishing line (not monofilament) like @Van suggested and attaching each parasol/dress form to to a single line and running it to the batten (spelling corrected). Because we're purchasing the dress forms and parisols, I can do whatever I want with them. To prevent spinning, we're thinking of simply hot glueing the "piles of nonsense" to each other. As for the upper pieces, we'll either run two lines directly to the batten or connect them to each other with a piece of the fishing line.

My main question now is how do I go about attaching the fishing line to the forms and the parisols, and how do I attach it to the batten? I was thinking of some sort of 2x4 interface that I could rig directly to the batten and then attach the fishing lines to that somehow. Is that more work than necessary? Is there a better way to go about doing this?

Thanks in advance!

Also, to answer some other question: yes there is someone helping me at Northwestern, but I'd love to solve as much of this on my own as I can as a learning experience and then run it by them to check safety. It's a large 1000 seat proscenium with an orchestra pit so audience isn't super close (so I could definitely get away with 1/16" cable if I needed to). No idea on the individual weights of the pieces yet, but I'm ordering one of each so I can experiment. And the reason for the extravagant design (you should see the 24' arch of hat boxes) is because the whole design concept is centered around the "stuff" that makes up the world. So normally, I'd ask the designer to rethink or modify, but in this case I'd like to try and make it work as close to original design as possible. And the objects are all on the same batten (parasols on one, dress forms on another) - the designer's note was definitely confusing but I clarified in our first conversation.