lite weigh column for attaching to ceiling turner
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3284
Printed Date: 8/01/25 at 2:25pm
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Topic: lite weigh column for attaching to ceiling turner
Posted By: Nhan Nguyen
Subject: lite weigh column for attaching to ceiling turner
Date Posted: 7/09/08 at 2:50am
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Hi, I am searching for a lite weigh column approx 8" to 10" diameter and approx 12 - 14 feet in height and preferably be under 50lb, as well as it be in easy to assemble sections for ease transport. This column will be attached to a 1rpm ceiling turner that can handle 150lb. materials suggested so far are foam core and Styrofoam... as I need to be able to pin things like silk flowers and photos on here without sewing or difficult fasteners. I would like to use ready made materials. Any suggestions as to what where to look? Best is if the material is available in Vancouver or Victoria, Canada. thanks, Nhan ------------- Nhan |
Replies:
Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 7/09/08 at 7:23am
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I built a pair of columns - fluted and everything with gold capitals and fancy bases out of CONCRETE FORMS - which are cardboard forms for pouring concrete footers for posts and whatever. They're about 4' tall and you can afix them together with about 4 - 5 6" strips of wood screwed to each section as you build the height. The HARDEST part is getting three or four 4' sections to match exactly but that's NOT impossible. We stacked three of them together to make a 12' column and the seams created are NOT out of the realm of possibility when you look at concrete or even marble columns - they often are done in equal sections. ALL the rest of the column was done in blue or pink insulating styrofoam sheets (pieces were cut from those). OUR columns were 12" around but I think you can get 8" cardboard concrete forms as well as 12" and maybe even bigger around or smaller around too. But depending upon the ceiling height (ours was about 15') the 12' column looked good. The fluting is nothing more than strips 1" wide cut from the sheets of insulating foam. They were glued on with Liquid Nails (in those caulking tubes). The whole column was painted white. I intended to marble them but just didn't have time. Still looked good though with the gold capital and fancy bases. The capitals were completely cut pieces from sheet foam and the bases were a combination of wood, pieces cut from sheet foam and also pieces cut from black foam pipe insulation. I'd attach a photo if I knew how to do that. I'll see if I can figure out how to do that.
At any rate, the cardboard concrete forms are relatively cheap, easy to work with to "stack" them together and secure them with strips to screw the sections together and easy enough to finish to look like real columns. People WERE impressed and wanted to keep them up permanently.
Good luck.
TonyDi
By the way these are bulky and hard for one person to handle but their weight is NOT that significant and should come in well under 50 lbs. ------------- "Almost famous" |
Posted By: Nhan Nguyen
Date Posted: 7/09/08 at 12:59pm
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great idea, thanks will go look at materials...
------------- Nhan |
Posted By: JoeMc
Date Posted: 7/11/08 at 9:47pm
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You could use PVC corrugated roofing sheets which come in a myriad colours & profiles:- http://www.truskia.com/en/pvccorrugated.htm - http://www.truskia.com/en/pvccorrugated.htm
Fairly easy to roll into a column & fix with wooden disk base & also very light.
Further they would be easy to attach to a sweep ceiling fan & have a illuminate the inside for an extra effect.
Used this idea a few times!
------------- [western] Gondawandaland "Hear the light & see the sound! TOI TOI CHOOKAS {may you always play to a full house!} |
Posted By: neilfortin
Date Posted: 7/12/08 at 12:18pm
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Concrete forms are the best! We came away from Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum with 20 amazing columns... ------------- Community Theater makes us smile |
Posted By: techdirector
Date Posted: 7/12/08 at 2:18pm
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From your description, it sounds like you could use a streched spandex column. These are available in many different sizes and shapes from Rosebrand in NYC. All it uses are metal hoops that form the column and the spandex material. You could pin things to it, rotate it and even light it from the inside using low heat units such as LED's or even rope light. Check it out:
http://www.rosebrand.com/fabric-stage-curtains-backdrops/stretch-shapes.aspx - http://www.rosebrand.com/fabric-stage-curtains-backdrops/stretch-shapes.aspx
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Posted By: mary051756
Date Posted: 7/16/08 at 7:43am
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I, too, have used concrete forms to create columns. We originally mader them for Hello Dolly, but I think they have been one of our most used repetitive sets! I alos used them in Annie Get your Guna dn The King and I. ------------- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” EMERSON |
Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 7/16/08 at 4:03pm
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By the way, there are some companies who make full sized columns out of styrofoam. I'm sure they're quite expensive as they use them for actual architectural installations although they coat them with a strengthener and hard finish. I've seen them. They look REAL albeit a bit "textured" looking owing to the finish they put on them to make them solid feeling. And with that they are much heavier. We had a set of two we used - actually they were two complete columns split in half so we had 4 half columns we used for The King And I when I directed it about 5-6 years ago. Painted GOLD they looked tremendous. And oddly enough the gold paint didn't eat the columns and that kind of paint does.
TonyDi ------------- "Almost famous" |
Posted By: gracie
Date Posted: 7/22/08 at 7:46pm
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I recently made palm trees for our production of Jungle Book. I contacted a local printer a couple of months before the show and asked them to save me several blanket tubes from their pressroom. They are just like concrete tubes, only FREE!
We even cut some partial triangle shapes (leaving the bottom of the triangle attached) and peeled the point down, making it look more like a palm tree trunk.
After our show, the trees were used at a vacation bible school.  ------------- www.vermillionplayers.com - www.vermillionplayers.com |
Posted By: vickifrank
Date Posted: 7/28/08 at 9:51am
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Have you considered a fabric column? I wouldn't suggest spandex, because as it stretches downward it will narrow in the center. My company just did an event with 8 foot diameter columns forty feet tall which were used in an event where with a lighting change revealed ribbon dancers in the center of. Other projection and lighting effects are possible and lightweight objects can be attached easily with the type of fasteners that attach price tags to clothing. When done with the lightweight object, you cut the fastener off with a scissors.
To do this you'd need less than one yard of the Chameleon Scrim material (one yard is 36" x 15' 8" and costs $39.15/yd plus shipping). This would weigh about 1/2 pound. When lit on the outside it would look like rice paper, could be painted easily to look like marble, or could be a projection surface. When lit from the inside it would glow, or change color.
Best shipping to Canada is by US mail. (just a few dollars)...surprisingly...but I guess our bureaucrats can speak to your bureaucrats. ------------- _____________ http://www.studio-productions-inc.com 1-800-359-2964 The theater scrim people |