Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: Need shoe to drop from ceiling

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Need shoe to drop from ceiling

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3573
Printed Date: 8/02/25 at 7:20am
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Topic: Need shoe to drop from ceiling

Posted By: jayzehr
Subject: Need shoe to drop from ceiling
Date Posted: 10/30/08 at 5:16pm

We need to have a boot drop from the ceiling. Whatever apparatus will have to be attached somehow to a large I-beam (probably clamped) and I guess triggered from offstage by some sort of line. Any proper ideas?

Replies:

Posted By: caldair
Date Posted: 10/30/08 at 8:24pm

Talk to a hire company about magnet drops. They're mostly used for cloth, as far as I know, so I don't know how much weight you should put on them, but if you have the budget and the weight is okay they should do the job quite easily and smoothly.

Posted By: belle
Date Posted: 10/30/08 at 10:04pm

You might play around with a slip knot that you can jerk loose at the appropriate time. You don't want the string to fall down where it can be seen, but I imagine you can rig something up. That's a low tech solution that I've used. See if you have a sailor or boy scout that can show you some knots that will work in your situation.

Posted By: Topper
Date Posted: 10/31/08 at 12:13am

Here's a crude method:

Use a scrap piece of 1x6 about the width of your I-beam (to help it be clamped in place). Screw 2, heavy-duty eye-bolts (the larger, the better) into the lumber, about 4 inches apart. Align the opening of the "eyes" so a wooden dowel (about 6-8 inches long) can slip easily between them.

Drill a tiny hole through one end of the dowel and attach as sturdy a wire as possible to the dowel. Then run the other end through 1 eye-bolt, through a loop in the shoe's shoelace, and finally through the other bolt.

The shoe will be suspended by its lace and supported between the 2 eye-bolts by the dowel.

Mount a similar 1x6 further down the I-beam with a single eye-bolt (same size as the others). Run the free end of the wire through this and down to your stage-hand.

On cue, the stage-hand yanks the wire. The dowel will slip through the double-bolts and the shoe will drop. With practise, the dowel will lodge in the single-bolt contraption and not clatter to the stage as well.

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"None of us really grow up. All we ever do is learn how to behave in public." -- Keith Johnstone

Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 10/31/08 at 8:23am

Thanks guys! Topper, I was thinking of something like that.

Posted By: Spectrum
Date Posted: 10/31/08 at 7:05pm

I have done similar events several times and used an idea similar to that of Topper, but a far less complicated (and quieter) method of using a solenoid to pull the support out (with enough foam rubber padding behind the armature to make the solenoid silent) works much better. Just make sure the solenoid has enough pulling power to remove the support reliably. We have done this in front of an audience not more than eight feet away and they were completely surprised and unaware of how it was done. Good luck with whatever you do.

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Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.