Snow drifts on stage

[emoreth]

We're looking at options for snow on stage, basically around the bottoms of Christmas trees and such, to help create a starry winter night look for our Christmas Eve services.
I've seen plastic snow pellets that make really neat, realistic drifts, and I'd like to know more specifics on them, but I can't seem to find any. Of course, pellets might make our janitors extremely unhappy (I can't even ask about fluffy flakes or a falling snow effect), so any recommendations on fabric-type stuff that looks fairly realistic would also be very welcome.

 

[chausman]

No Glitter. You think they're unhappy about pellets? Just wait until they find the glitter on the other end of the building.

 

[derekleffew]

Polyester fiberfill or cotton batting.

 

[sk8rsdad]

IFR Polyester quilt batting, available at any fabric or quilting store.

 

[porkchop]

Making solid mounds. painting them white, and then laying down some fake snow on them will probably be more economical and give the janitors less to complain about. The little bit of fake snow will move in the wind like snow off a snow bank, but you won't have to have a ton of it.

 

[MPowers]

Maybe one of these will point you where you want to go.

Fake Snow - Snow In Seconds - Make Artificial Snow Instantly

Special Effects Snow : Faux Snow - Movie snow effects services - Flocking SnoFoam - Snowcel - Snow Blankets - fake snow decoration - Crystal Clear Acrylic Icicles - Faux Snow™ Ground Pellets - Hollywood Motion Picture snow Products - FX Simulated Sno

Holiday Snow Tree Skirts | Holiday Village Snow Skirts | Snow Bundles | Artificial Snow | Rolls of Snow | Fake Snow - American Sale

 

[MarshallPope]

My go-to method for making snow drifts is to make a pile of boxes, foam scraps, buckets, and whatever other miscellaneous crap I can find until I get the shape I want. I then cover this with either a white vinyl tablecloth or a white sheet and then a layer of the quilt batting that was mentioned earlier. The reason for the tablecloth/sheet is that the crap-pile has a tendency to show through the batting a bit, so it usually needs an extra layer of white.

 

[Van]

I really like Marshalls idea, it's almost exactly wahat I was going to post, having a white underlayment is a MUST . The poly-fill batting is so very cool as snow. if you brush out the edges where seams meet you can almost make the disappear. Spray 77 is also your friend it will help hold the drifts together.

 

[emoreth]

My go-to method for making snow drifts is to make a pile of boxes, foam scraps, buckets, and whatever other miscellaneous crap I can find until I get the shape I want. I then cover this with either a white vinyl tablecloth or a white sheet and then a layer of the quilt batting that was mentioned earlier. The reason for the tablecloth/sheet is that the crap-pile has a tendency to show through the batting a bit, so it usually needs an extra layer of white.

That's probably what we'll wind up doing, though we may not go for enough depth to need piles of crap under our batting. Thanks for the ideas.

No Glitter. You think they're unhappy about pellets? Just wait until they find the glitter on the other end of the building.

Oh believe me, glitter is just one of the many items banned from our stage. I've seen my boss yell at pastors for taking stuff up there that might stain our carpet. There's also a rumor that we own a confetti cannon, but he made it disappear after seeing the mess it made the first time it got used.

 

[kicknargel]

BTW, notice that sk8rsdad recommended IFR (inherently flame retardant) batting. Normal polyester batting from an upholstery shop is likely VERY flammable.

 

[Van]

BTW, notice that sk8rsdad recommended IFR (inherently flame retardant) batting. Normal polyester batting from an upholstery shop is likely VERY flammable.

I've never seen polyesther batting that was not flame retardant. It might be out there, somewhere, but you'd have to look real hard and then import it from backwoods in China 'cause you can't sell non-flame retardant batting in the US.
It's something about babies burning under quilts stuffed with that stuff. The NFPA just doesn't want to see that.

 

[kicknargel]

That's good to know. Makes it particularly annoying that an AHJ once made me pull miles of it out of a holiday display.