Friday, April 26, 2019
Diner Stools
Prop Agenda: Earlier this year, I was the props master on August Wilson’s Two Trains Running at Triad Stage. The set, designed by Moriah and Isabel Curley-Clay, was a Pittsburgh diner in 1969. Among the various components were thirteen matching diner stools, the kind that spin and are bolted to the floor. It proved impossible to source that many stools within our budget, so I decided to build them.
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4 comments:
This was pretty cool. I haven’t come across very many props articles, and when I do they’re usually along the lines of massive puppets – which is very exciting – but it was nice to read something super practical. Props is one of those things where problem solving is a constant, it’s very common to be presented with a problem and come up with a solution that may never have been done before, so it’s very helpful to read about what other people do in these situation as you can learn from their experience. I thought the diner stools turned out awesome! The found object solutions were really clever and effective, and overall I just appreciate when people can make things from scratch that look really authentic while still serving their intended function – which you often can’t find when purchasing actual antiques because they can be delicate or non-functioning. I don’t know man, I think diner stools are a pretty niche interest, but I really enjoyed reading this.
This person knows how to document their process thoroughly and well. There are photos of each of the major steps described throughout the article. I ended up clicking through a few of the other pages on this site, and other props are just as well documented: including cannon carriages, a gramophone horn, a bunch of different chairs, and some swords (made of wood). I am going to bookmark this website for later because the high quality of documentation makes for this website to be a great reference source for other prop makers. Additionally, these diner stool showcase how important it is for a good props master to have a variety of fabrication skills in their tool belt. Eric uses metal, wood and plastic all in one seat, and he uses welding and woodworking skills to create these stools. The mylar applied to the pvc is also very convincing in making the stems of the stools look like metal, which is impressive because mylar I have seen in the past seems to look like it is hard to apply to surfaces well.
It is really cool to see this step by step guide on how to make this. I’m sure there are a lot of other theaters that will want diner stools and can use some variant on these instructions to make them. I think that is one thing that is cool about the theater community in general, particularly the props community. People are always happy to share how they solved a particular problem, constructed a particular item, and if they are local, lend props to other theaters. I think a lot of that comes with how many different theaters people work at, and so everyone is everyone else’s co-worker in a way, because even if you aren’t at the same theater now, you probably either were at one point or will be at some point. Separately, this stools and the set as a whole look fantastic! The attention to detail is really stunning.
I really enjoyed learning about this prop artisans construction process. I recognised many of the methods I have been learning about throughout the year. The stools upholstered was a process I recognised from the Cabaret chairs as well as the upholstery project we worked on during the mini. The concept of using mylar to create a metallic look reminds me of our process in imaginarium using a sticker to recreate the look of one way glass. Most of the process seems like it came down to cost which was a similar thought process from our imaginarium. I thought it was an innovative process and I wonder what this artist is doing with the stools once he is finished. Additionally the spinning mechanism is quite interesting. I like how open they are about the process they went through. Theatre is a collaborative art form and this is one way it truly shows.
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