Jump to content

Singin' In The Rain Waterproofing


andrewg112

Recommended Posts

The hard work for this production is done, the reservoirs (wooden boxes with thick ply lids) have been installed. I have painstaking removed the original 2mm mdf that makes up the stage floor and now replaced with a substitute MDF which if gets wet (and consequently swollen) can just be thrown in the skip afterwards.

Now the plan has actually worked I'm thinking about paint, as the top layer of floor is now plain MDF. Does anyone have any suggestions to the sort of paint that would be suited to creating a waterproof layer (protecting the floor and deck underneath) whilst not being slippery ? Cost - as little as possible please ;-)

A few people have suggested eggshell, but I'm not convinced when dancing upon it when raining it's going to have any grip.

Open to suggestions?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Test, test, and test a bit more. it's not just the paint, but also the shoes.

 

Every shoe should be tried on every finish, wet and dry. It's very hard to find the balance, and easy to find a fix for when it's wet, that then, counter-intuitively, is a problem in the dry. You'll have different issue with tap shoes than with normal dance shoes.

 

Get the cast involved, it's critical. These (or similar) mixed with paint or glaze may help you..

 

Oh, and test...

 

ETA Just re read your post, these wont help with waterproofing (though will point you in the right direction), but may help keep cast vertical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the tour I did about 10 years ago we used normal paint then multiple coats of glaze, however the first coat had very fine sand mixed in with it. Lasted for many weeks and was enough grip for all parts of the show including the rain sequence. And no issues with tap.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We do a huge outdoor opera every year on a raked stage, and inevitably it rains (and the show goes on unless it's actually dangerous). Sand mixed in with the paint is what is used to make sure it's not slippery and it lasts five weeks exposed to the elements. I'm not sure of the exact paint used though - sorry!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your replies. I have now painted a few coats of 'silk' type paint on the stage. This seems to resist the water and also certainly not as slippery as gloss. Now for the water trials to see how good it really is.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your replies. I have now painted a few coats of 'silk' type paint on the stage. This seems to resist the water and also certainly not as slippery as gloss. Now for the water trials to see how good it really is.

 

 

Hi Andrew.

 

Just as I went through all this trial with the tour, be aware that we did the same thing. For the first few days of the run after the technical rehearsals / opening shows it was fine but almost overnight it changed for no reason other than it hit a point between non-slippery and slippery.

 

Hope it goes well for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From my experience with water and fountains in circus there’s the short term issue of the slippyness of water. Longer term thenslippyness is caused by bacteria and pollutants in the water that make a clear slime that is incredibly slippy

 

Every water show I’ve done since has had uv water treatment system

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.