question about reusing flats

[sharonpn]

Hi all! This is my first post so I apologize if I sound like a complete newbie. I am involved in our middle school's drama club. For the past 4 years we use large pieces (70" high x 108" wide) of corogated cardboard for our scenery. We stand them up by folding them into thirds and zigzag them so they stand on their own. Cheesy, yes...but they work and look ok.....well at least until one of the kids kneels on them when painting and leaves knee compressions all over the cardboard.

Anyway, this year we are thinking about making a few flats covered in muslin. I have the information on making the flats and covering the flats. I'm still doing alot of searching on painting them. Using either scene paint or flat latex (which we have lots of becuase we use that on the cardboard) but, and here comes the newbie question. Once we are finished with the show, do we just paint over them for the next show or do we remove the muslin and recover them? If we paint over them can this be done a time or two and then they need to be recovered?

Apologizing in advance if this question is too obvious.

Sharon

 

[Les]

Yes, you can just repaint them. I used to work at a theatre whose flats were so old and re/painted, I'd swear that there was no muslin left -- only a thick paint layer! Don't let it get to that point, but in my experience, they can be repainted a good number of times before it's an issue.

I've also seen blue foamcore in use in a lot of situations where you need that oddly-shaped piece yet don't want to go the cardboard route.

 

[Footer]

Keep painting.... The more paint the better. I would look at doing Hollywood flats (flat, Hollywood) instead of soft flats (flat, Broadway). They hold up much better and are easier to install on stage.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[cmckeeman]

Hi all! This is my first post so I apologize if I sound like a complete newbie. I am involved in our middle school's drama club. For the past 4 years we use large pieces (70" high x 108" wide) of corogated cardboard for our scenery. We stand them up by folding them into thirds and zigzag them so they stand on their own. Cheesy, yes...but they work and look ok.....well at least until one of the kids kneels on them when painting and leaves knee compressions all over the cardboard.

Anyway, this year we are thinking about making a few flats covered in muslin. I have the information on making the flats and covering the flats. I'm still doing alot of searching on painting them. Using either scene paint or flat latex (which we have lots of becuase we use that on the cardboard) but, and here comes the newbie question. Once we are finished with the show, do we just paint over them for the next show or do we remove the muslin and recover them? If we paint over them can this be done a time or two and then they need to be recovered?

Apologizing in advance if this question is too obvious.

Sharon

in my experience in high theater is you can usually get at least 3 shows out of those kinds of flats if not more if you take care or them, they also adapt to becoming doors and windows very easily which takes redoing., but since you are in an educational setting always having one or tro flats that gets re muslined should be a good thing.

 

[chausman]

I have flats in my current show that are as old as I am. Some have probably been used in almost every show since then as well. Reusability is definitely a plus with flats.

 

[sharonpn]

Thank you so much for the quick responses and helping us move from the land of cardboard.

Sharon

 

[derekleffew]

The major problem I have with cardboard scenery is the lack of fire retardancy. EVERY material (including fabrics in costumes) used on stage should be treated if not stated/ listed as IFR.
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