Tree blossom on stage

[Shane]

During the course of the play, the tree that I have constructed need to blossom. In the past we used small lights hidden in the petals. When the scene happens, we turned on the lights to highlight the blooms already on the tree.
i would love to find a way to conceal the blooms and have them open during the scene. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[sk8rsdad]

Back before dinosaurs walked the earth we used tubing hooked up to an old tire tube with balloons bonded to the ends of the tubing. The balloons were placed in film canisters along with a bit of silk. Standing on the tube added pressure that partially inflated the balloons and pushed out the silk. Varying the length of tubing added delay to the individual blossoms.

 

[jonliles]

film canisters

But where would you find film canisters today?

You could set up a small hydraulic system using clear IV tubing and a boat load of small syringes - I am thinking on the Blossom end you'll want somthing with long travel and a smaller body , but not quite as small as a insulin syringe. The actuating a syringe on one end could activate the other syringes acting as a basic piston set up. Many Many Many years ago, we had to do this for a robotics class I took. Back long before Misrocoft was in everyone's life, and apple's where just the Apple IIe's.

 

[techieman33]

But where would you find film canisters today?

On the internet. It looks like a few places sell them for around 44 cents each.

 

[MightyRedDevil]

But where would you find film canisters today?

Though film is on the way out, I bet you could still find enough for your project. They're on the endangered list, but not extinct yet. I worked at a small photo lab a couple of years ago, and we would still process 5-10 rolls a day. There are a few die-hards out there still. We would always put the canisters in a cardboard box to be recycled later, but frequently people would come in asking for them for various projects. Depending on how many canisters you needed it might take a few trips to a couple different labs.

 

[Van]

You can use... omg the name escapes me, the hose you use to hook up an icecube maker in your frig..... It's not nylon but it's a milky white plastic. Anyway, get some that has a 3/8" ID and some which is 1/4" OD. shove a fake flower in the end of the 1/4" hot glue it in place. feed the 1/4" through the 3/8". when you get to the flower it will fold up into the nd of the 3/8" tube. Now gently pull the 1/4" tube and the flower will disappear. Push on the 1/4" and the flower magically appears. I believe I posted a picture of this effect on CB several years ago for a "magic Garden" or some such.

 

[headcrab]

You can use... omg the name escapes me, the hose you use to hook up an icecube maker in your frig..... It's not nylon but it's a milky white plastic.

Sounds like polyethylene.

 

[Van]

Sounds like polyethylene.

By George ! I think you got it !

< sorry, i'm really brain dead today>

 

[Amiers]

You can use... omg the name escapes me, the hose you use to hook up an icecube maker in your frig..... It's not nylon but it's a milky white plastic. Anyway, get some that has a 3/8" ID and some which is 1/4" OD. shove a fake flower in the end of the 1/4" hot glue it in place. feed the 1/4" through the 3/8". when you get to the flower it will fold up into the nd of the 3/8" tube. Now gently pull the 1/4" tube and the flower will disappear. Push on the 1/4" and the flower magically appears. I believe I posted a picture of this effect on CB several years ago for a "magic Garden" or some such.

hook up a pneumatic air cylinder to each one or get fancy and attach all the 1/4" tubes to one cylinder and you got yourself an automated blossoming tree.