Prop Ears of Corn - Help!

[cmceachern]

Any suggestions how how to make realistic ears of corn that can be "shucked" onstage? I know the obvious answer is to just buy corn, but the show will be during the winter when it is out-of-season.

My first notion is to purchase plastic ears and wrap them in actual dried husks that have been painted green, though I'm not exactly sure how to attach them in such a way that they can be easily removed and then re-wrapped for the next performance.

Any insight would be great!

 

[VCTMike]

Thin strips of velcro on the husk material? It would probably make some nice sounds as well, kind of like shucking if done slowly.

 

[Amiers]

I would vacuum seal a fresh ear of corn and hold on to it for a week and see if it stays fresh for the real thing. But the Velcro option is a great alternative. I'm just worried that the husks will dry up and crack. The fake option would be brown paper bag painted green, or even green paper bags if you can find them.

 

[VCTMike]

I wasn't clear. I meant velcro on the FAKE husk material. The inside can be a piece of carved/painted foam and add a tassel of some kind of brown yarn...as long as you don't need to cut kernels from it (even then, maybe you could velcro a section of kernels too.)

 

[Theresa]

Spray paint bubble wrap shades of yellow, white and a touch of brown. Glue it around a shaped foam base to make your ears of corn. A mix of heavy crepe paper, kraft paper and some fibers (for the silk) attached with velcro for the husk will give you the texture and sound that you need.

 

[Robert]

Thinking back to a production of "Buried Child" by Sam Sheppard, I did in the 80's. I bought frozen corn, thawed and dried it out, then used spray glue to hold on painted tamale wrappers. Might be worth a look at. We had the same problem with corn being out of season.

 

[MarshallPope]

If you aren't concerned with the sound, I would suggest making the husks out of a layer or two of muslin dipped in paint. Once that is dry, you can iron them on high and then shape it with your hands. It will hold a husk shape fairly well, and will last through multiple shuckings. a bit of velcro or a couple of small dots of hot glue would hold it in place.

I've used this method for petals for a giant sunflower that had to be plucked. I sandwiched wire between two layers of muslin that stuck into a foam flower... hub? whatever the word is.