Friday, October 29, 2021
Rosco CrystalGel – An Out Of This World Primer For Painting Foam & Synthetics
www.rosco.com/spectrum: Scott Roewer, the founder of The Organizing Agency, contacted us for advice about how to paint a “herd of foam aliens” for the Halloween display he was working on. Having seen the type of Halloween decor The Organizing Agency has created in the past, we were eager to help. Scott had created Planet Pumpkin for a client using a variety of different items, including foam pumpkins, pool noodles, and beach umbrellas. The problem was, he couldn’t get paint to stick to any of it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
These aliens look awesome. Rosco's CrystalGel absolutely makes the look. From what I am reading in the article, it seems like the artist Scott Roewer could not have done what he accomplished without the help of the Rosco team and their one of a kind products. Using the CrystalGel as a primer, Scott describes the experience as giving him everything he needed. It allowed the foam to be painted easily without making the foam any less flexible. Once coated in the CrystalGel, Scott was able to repaint all the figures allowing them to pop more, especially when placed under black lights. My favorite figure of the bunch is the alien riding the atv. The florescent colors absolutely make the overall display so much more entertaining than if normal paint was used. I could see using this product and their florescent paints in theater, especially for its use as a primer on foam.
I think this article was so cool. I love to see new materials that can be used for different set designs, and I like articles like these because there’s so many materials out there that people can use that are so outside the normal idea of what a set theatre material is, and reading articles like these are so important because you always wanna explore not only the design of a final set but also what materials you are going to use. On another note, I feel like it’s really cool to see how Scott documented his design process I feel like things like this are very important to read as well, because you also want to see how other designers work and how other designers think in their creative process in order to learn perhaps, ways to make your own design process more efficient. I guess what I’m trying to say is that by looking at other peoples design processes You can also cross check that with your own design process, and see how to make it more efficient.
Wow, this is really cool. Styrofoam is a notoriously difficult material to finish, as many glues and paints will just corrode it, and other substances just don't work well. It's not clear to me whether or not Rosco's CrystalGel is meant to work on foam or if it just happens to, in addition to all the other surfaces it's designed to work on, but this is definitely a powerful tool in the toolkit of anyone working with foam. Looking at the pictures, the display looks great, and it would lose a lot of luster without the vibrant paint colors. This kind of feature article on some specific project or solution is one of my favorite article types on the blog, because it can really make you think about certain specific problems that are applicable, but that you might not otherwise think about. I hope we see more of these in the future.
My ultimate goal in life is to be the person in the neighborhood with the bananas good halloween decorations, so I loved this article. Planet pumpkin is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, and I have the utmost respect for the ingenuity and attention to detail that was applied here. One of my favorite parts of the process of this was when Roewer diluted the crystal gel to make it spray-able. I thought this was a very clever way to get a primer that he knew worked to fulfill it’s need to coat dollar store flowers. Finding one material that primed pumpkins, foam, and nylon, all difficult materials to paint, was probably such a relief and revelation for Scott Roewer and his Halloween installation. Taking the time to find Rosco Crystal Gel and use scenic painting techniques made a huge difference. I know I personally will be taking inspiration for next year.
Planet Pumpkin is out of this world! In high school, I interned in a prop shop at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. While working there, I swore by sculptor coat for Styrofoam pieces. The problem with sculptor coat is that it’s much simpler to mix the paint with the adhesive. It is rather messy. However, in. my experience that is the best way to get the color on evenly. Additionally, it acts like a hardener. If you are trying to make something studier it can be helpful. However, in Planet Pumpkin’s case of wanting to keep the material more flexible sculptor coat would not work. the Rosco product seems amazing. It allowed the black light to really glow and left the piece with a nice finish that had longevity. I had never heard of Rosco Crystal Gel prior to reading this article. However, I really miss making things with my hands and hope to work with this material in the future.
Post a Comment