Magical props ideas?

[Stuart R]

Hi all - I'm working on a school production of the stage version of Disney's "Descendants" and would appreciate some tips for finding/fabricating a few "magic" props:

Light-up spell book: This is a paperback sized "grimoire" (book of magic spells). We'd like a light to shine out of it when the cover is opened. There are a bunch of light-up books for sale out there, all with a sort of fan of pages that all light up, but that's not quite what the director has in mind. I've seen a couple of DIY light up books on Instructables.com, but they involve soldering strips of copper and scraping rubber of LED strip contact points and such, which I have no experience with. I keep thinking there must be a little light that will go on when a spring-loaded switch opens (the way a music box would start to play when the lid is opened).

Magic hand mirror: Also needs to light up when it's being magical, except it's more like the mirror glows, or the shape is outlined with fiber optic that turns on with a little button, etc.

Magic wand: A magician's wand (more of the Fairy Godmother style than Harry Potter style) that can "throb with power" (director's exact words). I'll just let that lie there.

Floating and/or magically moving wand: Said magic wand is on display in a museum. It's on a square cube lit from inside (looking to use a wireless DMX transmitter, a power inverter that turns 18v DC into 110/120v AC, and an LED uplight). Ideally the wand would seem to "float" above it rather than be on a stand but it won't be in a place where black or monofilament hang line would blend in with the background. Late in the show, one character manages to get the wand from another by sort of summoning it, at which point it flies out of Person A's hand and lands in Person B's hand. I assume "invisible" line is what's needed, but can't quite wrap my head around how it would work.

Thank you.

 

[Crisp image]

Hi all - I'm working on a school production of the stage version of Disney's "Descendants" and would appreciate some tips for finding/fabricating a few "magic" props:

Light-up spell book: This is a paperback sized "grimoire" (book of magic spells). We'd like a light to shine out of it when the cover is opened. There are a bunch of light-up books for sale out there, all with a sort of fan of pages that all light up, but that's not quite what the director has in mind. I've seen a couple of DIY light up books on Instructables.com, but they involve soldering strips of copper and scraping rubber of LED strip contact points and such, which I have no experience with. I keep thinking there must be a little light that will go on when a spring-loaded switch opens (the way a music box would start to play when the lid is opened).

Magic hand mirror: Also needs to light up when it's being magical, except it's more like the mirror glows, or the shape is outlined with fiber optic that turns on with a little button, etc.

Magic wand: A magician's wand (more of the Fairy Godmother style than Harry Potter style) that can "throb with power" (director's exact words). I'll just let that lie there.

Floating and/or magically moving wand: Said magic wand is on display in a museum. It's on a square cube lit from inside (looking to use a wireless DMX transmitter, a power inverter that turns 18v DC into 110/120v AC, and an LED uplight). Ideally the wand would seem to "float" above it rather than be on a stand but it won't be in a place where black or monofilament hang line would blend in with the background. Late in the show, one character manages to get the wand from another by sort of summoning it, at which point it flies out of Person A's hand and lands in Person B's hand. I assume "invisible" line is what's needed, but can't quite wrap my head around how it would work.

Thank you.

For your LED cube lighting, why change 18v to 110v when you can use 12v led lights. You could use atrip lighting and a DMX decoder with a wireless DMX on a small 12v battery easily.
As for the book similar but use a switch to turn on a strip of LED in the book. That is how the glow books work. You could use 5v LED strip for this and 3AA batteries in a holder hidden in the book. Smaller hand props are harder to hide the electronic and power supplies in but button batteries could be your answer here. Not sure how the control is going to work to make things pulse but I am sure a google search will turn up something.

A floating wand could be done many different ways and remember that form 30ft away things are hard to spot. A fine wire stand could work here to support it but then is the how do we get it to go from a to b?

So in summary I may have helped with some solutions or I may not have. Good luck in finding solutions and when you do don't forget to post photos or videos of the outcomes.
Regards
Geoff

 

[almorton]

As Geoff suggested, LED strip in the book would probably work. Usually when you buy the retail packs they come with a little tester strip, powered by a 12V battery which is barely bigger than an AA cell - I'd use that with a microswitch.

For flying very light props we've used fishing line - the filament is invisible from the audience unless you get unlucky with lighting.

Haze in the air would add to the effects. Wireless LED dimmers are going to be your friend - there are some very small ones in the RC4 range, especially the uncased ones.

 

[JimOC_1]

Magic wand: A magician's wand (more of the Fairy Godmother style than Harry Potter style) that can "throb with power" (director's exact words). I'll just let that lie there.

Can fluorescent paint and DMX UV-fixtures help the throb? Adding gel can reduce the visible light.

Edit: Corrected from an old post.
"Tonight we tried the 382 Congo Blue vs the 2009 Violet on the cheap DMX PAR blacklights. The 2009 was a little better at stripping out the visible light, and gave allowed a little brighter fluorescence to at the targets."
Now we have the (recently discontinued ?) Blizzard LoPro CSI. Okay for our school events, but would still benefit from gel for your application. Renting better pro gear is an option.

 

[cbrandt]

A bit of a sound cue tied to whatever lighting effect you decide on can really upsell the effect.

 

[dvsDave]

I would also recommend picking up this book for making props with motion, lights, and sound. Eric Hart is one of the pre-eminent authorities on prop-building in the industry today.

The Prop Effects Guidebook: Lights, Motion, Sound, and Magic: Hart, Eric: 9781138641136: Amazon.com: Books

The Prop Effects Guidebook: Lights, Motion, Sound, and Magic [Hart, Eric] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Prop Effects Guidebook: Lights, Motion, Sound, and Magic

amzn.to

 

[RC4Wireless]

If you’d like to operate any (or all) of these props wirelessly, so they each become a fixture in your lighting scenes and cues, have a look at RC4Wireless www.rc4wireless.com.
Don’t get scared off by the purchase prices — the rental program is very affordable, it was designed for the kind of project you’re doing. Tech support is great as well.
If you’re in the USA or Canada, go with the RC4Magic-900 system, it runs in the 900MHz radio band, far away from wifi, bluetooth, and most wireless microphones.

 

[Lasermike]

We did Descendants last year. I don’t remember down to specific details right now but I used super cheap Harbor Freight led flashlights as the power source for the wands, that let me have a round handle with removable batteries. I used fairy lights wrapped around the wand as the light source. One was hung with fishing line to make it float in a display case.

I’m pretty sure the mirror was a folding compact mirror from Amazon.

I’ll watch the video to see if I have any ah-ha monuments for the book.

Michael