Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: Storage for Gobos

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Mr. Lowell
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Joined: 1/30/07
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Topic: Storage for Gobos
Posted: 4/30/10 at 8:41am

Steel gobos patterns are a pain in the butt to store between shows in any kind of organized fashion.

For the past few years I have used storage books with clear sleeves intended for CDs and DVDs. This makes them easy to see as you flip through the pages looking for a pattern. However, the gobos tend to fall out of the sleeves and they get all messed up.

So I am looking for a new method to organize my house stock of about 100 gobos. Do you guys have any better methods?

Thanks, Dana

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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gelcat
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Posted: 4/30/10 at 9:36am

I personally like heavy cardboard, or at least file folders paper, between them, especially the more delicate foliage patterns. The more robust breakups always seem to end up jumbled all together.

You end up having to flip through the whole collection a lot of times, which stands up in a shoe box, but if it keeps those expensive little buggers from getting abused quite so much, great!

www.actorsguildonline.org
Actors Guild of Parkersburg
Parkersburg, WV

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JoeMc
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Location: Australia
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Posted: 4/30/10 at 7:45pm

Blimey 100 gobo's!
I don't know any venue here that would carry that many, either pro or ameatre.
In fact a lot now are changing to the 'Fergo' used in the Sedlecon Pacific lprofile lamps.
Pacific D-I-Y Plastic Images

[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

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TimmyP1955
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Posted: 5/01/10 at 5:29am

Number them.

Xerox them - as many as will fit on a piece of printer paper.

Make a ring-binder catalog of the Xeroxes.

Store the gobos in a drawer style CD/DD case, with a divider between every 10 units.

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JoeMc
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Posted: 5/02/10 at 9:10pm

Good idea timmy, but remember to use a foam & card sandwhiched packaging between to protect, as the they have the habit of images catching on each other.
This is allso need for glass gobo's to absorb any shock with handling, in fact if you hang on to the paking they ship in this is much better.

Edited by JoeMc - 9/23/10 at 1:26am

[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

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dthomas
Walk-On
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Joined: 9/18/10
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Posted: 9/23/10 at 1:14am

Here is what I have started doing since I have started purchasing gobos for my personal stock. I took an old CD case and make photo copies of each gobo then cut it to fit in the sleeve then put the gobos in front. This way when I finish a show I can flip thru my case and see which gobos are not accounted for. Also on the paper I write the manufacturer, model# and quantity.

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PhillyAvalon
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Joined: 9/26/10
Location: United States
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Posts: 0

Posted: 10/09/10 at 7:14pm

Mr. Lowell,

I worked with a Theatrical Supply store for years. We used a couple of old metal Library Index Card Holders- They work great and you can use Card dividers to make filing easy.

Phillip E. Stommel
West Sacramento, CA

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JoeMc
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Joined: 3/13/06
Location: Australia
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Posts: 832

Posted: 10/09/10 at 8:27pm

This may or not help;-
Gobo Visualizer || Design Tools || CablePick.Com
Nothing about storage, but will help creating & visualising gobo images & there is other usefull info as well.

Edited by JoeMc - 10/09/10 at 8:37pm

[western] Gondawandaland
"Hear the light & see the sound!
TOI TOI CHOOKAS
{may you always play to a full house!}

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Mr. Lowell
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Joined: 1/30/07
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 269

Posted: 10/18/10 at 10:29am

OK, here's my current solution!
I got some clear storage trays. They work pretty well so far.

See here: http://mydraftingtable.blogspot.com/2010/10/storage-for-gobos.html

Edited by Mr. Lowell - 10/18/10 at 10:30am

Mr. Lowell,
Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director,
for the Linda Sloan Theatre,
in the Davison Center for the Arts,
at Greensboro Day School

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Lights and Sound
Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board :Producing Theater :Lights and Sound

Author	Message
Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Topic: Storage for Gobos Posted: 4/30/10 at 8:41am
	Steel gobos patterns are a pain in the butt to store between shows in any kind of organized fashion. For the past few years I have used storage books with clear sleeves intended for CDs and DVDs. This makes them easy to see as you flip through the pages looking for a pattern. However, the gobos tend to fall out of the sleeves and they get all messed up. So I am looking for a new method to organize my house stock of about 100 gobos. Do you guys have any better methods? Thanks, Dana
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School

	IP Logged

gelcat Celebrity Joined: 6/12/09 Online Status: Offline Posts: 106	Posted: 4/30/10 at 9:36am
	I personally like heavy cardboard, or at least file folders paper, between them, especially the more delicate foliage patterns. The more robust breakups always seem to end up jumbled all together. You end up having to flip through the whole collection a lot of times, which stands up in a shoe box, but if it keeps those expensive little buggers from getting abused quite so much, great!
	www.actorsguildonline.org Actors Guild of Parkersburg Parkersburg, WV
	IP Logged

JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 4/30/10 at 7:45pm
	Blimey 100 gobo's! I don't know any venue here that would carry that many, either pro or ameatre. In fact a lot now are changing to the 'Fergo' used in the Sedlecon Pacific lprofile lamps. Pacific D-I-Y Plastic Images
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
	IP Logged

TimmyP1955 Lead Joined: 12/30/09 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 37	Posted: 5/01/10 at 5:29am
	Number them. Xerox them - as many as will fit on a piece of printer paper. Make a ring-binder catalog of the Xeroxes. Store the gobos in a drawer style CD/DD case, with a divider between every 10 units.
	IP Logged

JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 5/02/10 at 9:10pm
	Good idea timmy, but remember to use a foam & card sandwhiched packaging between to protect, as the they have the habit of images catching on each other. This is allso need for glass gobo's to absorb any shock with handling, in fact if you hang on to the paking they ship in this is much better. Edited by JoeMc - 9/23/10 at 1:26am
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
	IP Logged

dthomas Walk-On Joined: 9/18/10 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 9/23/10 at 1:14am
	Here is what I have started doing since I have started purchasing gobos for my personal stock. I took an old CD case and make photo copies of each gobo then cut it to fit in the sleeve then put the gobos in front. This way when I finish a show I can flip thru my case and see which gobos are not accounted for. Also on the paper I write the manufacturer, model# and quantity.
	IP Logged

PhillyAvalon Walk-On Joined: 9/26/10 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 10/09/10 at 7:14pm
	Mr. Lowell, I worked with a Theatrical Supply store for years. We used a couple of old metal Library Index Card Holders- They work great and you can use Card dividers to make filing easy.
	Phillip E. Stommel West Sacramento, CA
	IP Logged

JoeMc Celebrity Joined: 3/13/06 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 832	Posted: 10/09/10 at 8:27pm
	This may or not help;- Gobo Visualizer \|\| Design Tools \|\| CablePick.Com Nothing about storage, but will help creating & visualising gobo images & there is other usefull info as well. Edited by JoeMc - 10/09/10 at 8:37pm
	[western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!}
	IP Logged

Mr. Lowell Celebrity Joined: 1/30/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 269	Posted: 10/18/10 at 10:29am
	OK, here's my current solution! I got some clear storage trays. They work pretty well so far. See here: http://mydraftingtable.blogspot.com/2010/10/storage-for-gobos.html Edited by Mr. Lowell - 10/18/10 at 10:30am
	Mr. Lowell, Lighting/Set Designer & Tech Director, for the Linda Sloan Theatre, in the Davison Center for the Arts, at Greensboro Day School
	IP Logged

Topic: Storage for Gobos( Topic Closed)