Rising "dough" effect

[pmcd]

In our next pantomime I want to do a slosh scene in a bakery with the dame as the baker. She will mix ingredients to make a "dough", cover it with a cloth and then put the mixture to one side to rise. While she is involved with other business the "dough" will rise massively pushing the cloth off the top of the bowl. I would like this effect to take place over the space of a couple of minutes rather than it being instantaneous. Also if the "dough" could be more solid looking than liquid or foamy. Any suggestions.

[the kid]

Something like a bouncy castle fabric bag + airbed pump ? a plastacised fabric made in to a shape with tripple / quad stitching on the seams.

 

They are VERY loud if the mains ones. But you could have tech foot pump it for control?

 

Obviously clever cover when "making" to hide that very little ends in the bowl al la Swedish chef

[Ynot]

Many Panto kitchen gags rely on simple effects ne well, and often involve a member of crew inside the set piece. We had a trifle machine last year which incorporated flashing lights, a chute for passing in the ingredients, smoke machine for the 'steam whistle' and an opening for the grunge (supposedly the trifle) to come out of.(This is still available if anyone wants a Panto gag...!!)

Apart from the lights, everything was handled by crew inside t good effect.

[kerry davies]

Don't know whether you can get hold of them, we did, but the dull mustard coloured helium balloons the Met Office use as weather balloons would be ideal. One of those inside the pot with a simple air canister to inflate would be my first thought.

[gyro_gearloose]

Ebay is your friend if you're looking for weather balloons. Found these balloons after a quick search.

[MFX1]

If you want a clean easy reset then as others have said a membrane of some sort, maybe covered with some fake latex/foam latex "dough" to make it look less like a balloon inflating. For a more realistic effect (and more complex/expensive) which could even overflow the bowl for comedy value then a hole in the bottom of the bowl (could be covered with a flap for when the "ingredients" are put in, bowl would be placed over a hidden tube in the table, big "syringe" made from plastic plumbing/drainage parts and full of "dough" mix squirts dough into bowl. Depending on budget, technical skills etc, syringe is operated by stage hand, motor driven or air. An alternative to the syringe could be a sausage machine. There are probably chemical methods of doing it but getting the consistency, timing, reliability right with something that needs to look like stiff dough could take a fair bit of experimentation.

 

Martin.

[pmcd]

Thanks to everyone. Great suggestions

[timtheenchanteruk]

for an air supply, if theres space, a small tool air compressor, you can precharge this, then the pumping up of whatever it is would be virtually silent...