[Johnno]

Our school production of Oliver has just ended and it was great: the best show we've done by an un-metric mile. Part of its charm was the backdrop painted by the art teacher on the stage rear wall. We now have a very attractive London Skyline, about 15ft x 20ft, where previously we just had mucky white. It'll be a shame to have to paint over it.

I'm wondering whether we can use scenic back cloths in future. I've looked the topic up on t'internet but all I get are web sites selling or leasing them. What I want is an idea of how you go about making and rigging one. What sort of cloth and paint? How do you hang it? How easy is it to make one roll up/down if you want more than one in a production?

Practical detail: our stage has a few stout wooden beams running up/down stage to which the lighting bars and curtain tracks are fixed. Can't remember how many offhand, but at least two

Can anyone enlighten me, or point me at useful texts, posts, or sites?

[GridGirl]

You're probably best to buy an unpainted cloth made to the correct dimensions for you - you could make it yourself but it's an awful lot of fabric to handle. Also they'll make it exactly how you want it - eyelets in the top, tail pocket for chain or conduit, whatever is needed really. I'll leave those nearer you (I'm in Australia!) to give you some names, as the only one I can remember is J&C Joel.

In terms of hanging it, my advice would be to put it on a track if you can - if you get eyelets and ties on the top of the cloth, you can just tie it onto the tab track runners. If your tracks go far enough off into the wings, you could get two cloths on one track and slide them off to the side when you want the other one. Rolling up and down is do-able (search for "olio drop") but it can be a pain to get right and very fiddly - tracks are much easier.

All I know about painting is that you have to use size - I can't remember if you add it to the paint or size the cloth first though...but I'm sure there are good books on the subject!

[paulears]

The biggest problem with painting on the wall and painting cloth is technique - it's very difficult to do, as I found out myself. The people who do it for real have big frames that the cloth is put onto to stretch its and make the surface taut. Without this you cannot use techniques that put on thicker layers - as in painting straight out of the tin. You have to dilute the paint to make it more watery, or spray it. Without tension, just getting a blue sky wash even is a horrible job, with quite unpredictable results. Painting to a solid wall is much, much easier.

[Ynot]

+1 for using swipe track.
We have 3 on our stage (no fly height) plus the 3 drop 'n' roll bars up stage. We use the swipes far more than the drops.

The main panto usually ends up with 1 on each end of the swipes, and 1 or 2 on the US drops.
With the swipes, if you're clever, you can get the most used cloth on a line & pulley, pull it in and out - and with another single wall-mounted pulley the other side, whilst you have to walk the second cloth on, at least you can pull it out via a line.

As for suppliers, Whaley in Bradford do the cheapest plain cloths I've found and will make to measure. (If using swipes, don't forget to allow for the drop of the track runners and maybe clips when ordering or you'll find it dragging on the floor!)

[d_korman]

We use 12-15 painted backdrops in our annual panto, some made from canvas and others from casement. We get them made to measure by BJ hardware in Tooting ( BJ Hardware )

We are fortunate that our workshop has a 20'x40' movable paint frame (it's available for hire)---what part of the country are you in? Wegenerally paint 2 or 3 new cloths each year, and titivate a few others. We start working on the the cloths around November each year - if you're near S. London you could come along and watch how it's done.

This post has been edited by d_korman: 02 April 2012 - 01:16 PM

[kitlane]

Just to point out that painting a cloth on the floor is by no means unusual. It obviously has its own problems but if the space is available then it is perfectly feasible (note that I'm not saying it is easy).

This website is worth a look for some more ideas.

[ojc123]

kitlane, on 02 April 2012 - 03:55 PM, said:

Just to point out that painting a cloth on the floor is by no means unusual. It obviously has its own problems but if the space is available then it is perfectly feasible (note that I'm not saying it is easy).

This website is worth a look for some more ideas.

From bitter experience, make sure there's a polythene sheet below the backcloth when you paint it on the floor. Otherwise you get an artistic version of your scene on the floor. This isn't good, especially when it's highly polished iroko parquet. I did this 23 years ago and remember vividly the embarrassment and the effort required to restore the floor. I'm sure you wouldn't do anything as stupid.

[Johnno]

I know it was a while ago now but thanks for all your suggestions.

Our lovely drama teacher left. A drama teacher from a local college came in to help out, was given the top set of one year, and refused to work here again! Our music teacher is leaving and so are the heads of maths, english, and art. The Head and the Deputy Head are both leaving and despite getting about twenty applicants for the Headship, and short-listing five, the Governors have cancelled the process because we've just learned our school is one of the 261 nationally to be promised a rebuild due to the condition of the buildings (1961 vintage). A head from a local school has offered to hold the fort for a year as well as doing his/her own job(!) and our asistant heads were asked if any of them would take the deputy role for no extra money. One said yes if another assistant would help him and we've dropped our Academy status bid 'cos we owe £700,000 or so.

God knows what's coming but it doesn't look like it will involve scenery painting any time soon.

This post has been edited by Johnno: 26 May 2012 - 10:32 PM