There are no silly questions

Every week I get phone calls asking "Where can I get fake blood"? or "where can I get a car for "Grease"? or "how does a scrim work"?, well if all us technical crew could ask these questions on this forum it would soon become a gold-mine of information for everybody concerned. So how do you make fake blood?

I actually recently found an Australian site that sells fake blood.... But dammit I can't find the link. I've never had to make fake blood: please do share, I'd love to learn! By the way, I'm loving all these new tech-based conversations. It's rare we discuss anything outside of actors, agencies and auditions. Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

Like Na, I rarely get involved in making fake {Kensington Gore} blood. Beyond cochineals, I generally leave it to the make up bods.. I realise Red food colouring is the additive of most recipes, mixing a wee bit of blue food colouring to get the required richer blood colour. I know the Yanks all tend to use 'Corn Syrup', which I believe is not readily available here. Although Olive or Peanut Oil will give a similar viscosity to the blood. Also they use liquid soap, but I would not count on it not sudsing & foaming up? Although certain brands will leave your skin as soft as a babies backside. i think the reason for the liquid soap, is that it makes the blood easier to wash out. But one ryder is that it's organic, so left over blood, should be in an air tight container & stored in the fridge. I think most of these recipes are mainly aimed at the Halloween dress ups, which the yanks are big on.

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

following on from Don's post about Standard lighting rigs, better known as 'Square One'. I have been an advocate for years, for the use of Boarder Battens - lighting troughs [strip lighting], which used to be refereed to as 'X Ray' battens. Which are a cheap to get hold of &/or even easy enough to make, If you are a Licenced Electrical Worker. Actual a few years ago, I remember a comment made by the Australian Ballet, that they were now using boarder lighting as a new innovation? Which in fact was only actually more of a rediscovery, of what they used eons before anyway! But for a comeatre by using boarder battens, it means you will have a basic 3 or 4 colour 'X" wash available all the time, rather than a heap of individual lamps to do the same thing, Then the lamps can be used to to augment the wash or as as Specials &/or to high light. It seems over the years we have drifted away from X ray boarder battens, in preference to using all single lamps over head. Troughs can also be used as side lighting, mounted on one end, groundrows & Cyc lighting.

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

I have sold quite a few Showtec 4 unit floods as they work in small venues with short throws, they are useful in schools as you can easily get a 4 colour wash without spending a lot of time carefully crossing fresnels, years ago theatre lights were very expensive so were only used for specials and crosslight with "x rays" giving the basic wash, and it's still a valid way to light on a budget.A basic function of lighting is to illuminate the actors and "artistic" lighting can sometimes fail this basic task.I think I'd better quit while I'm ahead.

I've seen more parcans and fresnels in small venues than I have floods... Can't think why you'd want floods instead as a wash... though I suppose it depends on how you patch them. Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

There are still a lot of the Strand 'S' Battens knocking about the place. Old Mel Hough [Strand Agent] I would think flogged most of them, in this State;- http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/sbatten.html Viewing some of the prices in the archives is interesting. [Of course they were almost triple that to the price in the UK] I remember the old 'Sunray' compartment battens they grew out of, which I wouldn't be surprised are still being used today. With small space comeatres they are ideal, if used, rather than gathering dust or thrown into the skip. A lot have been modified of course, to get rid of the incandescent globe, with either para flood globes or the cheap Linear buble type, exterior floods available. But I believe even proeatres boarder lighting would save time & money, when refocusing to bring it back to square one. [Which never really happens after every show season - But the hirer pays for it to happen]. In most cases only the specials are repositioned & they still only get a standard 4 colour wash + Specials. Even though I believe, that some of the ameatre hirers, have been caught paying for a supposedly lighting design? - But that's all another alleged story - Stated without Prejudice of course! i seam to remember the Maj had old Xray border Battens back in the 60's, maybe David might be able to rememberer them as well? {When Booby Sherman & Jimmy Punch were around] For some reason I recollect them being made of wood & crossed wire to hold the Cinemiod gels, but my memory is rather vague on that. Mind you it was in the days of Oregon Pine Head & gate leg fly battens.

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

a flood has an angle of120 degrees while a fresnel is 60 and a parcan 30-40, now think of the light as a cone, while the stage floor may be lit at the wide end of the cone, if the light is close then you can walk between the narrow parts of the cone coming from the light, this is a snag with trying to light a show on your own as you can get a beautifully even wash all over the stage but a person walking across the stage is in and out of light.I can't do pictures on computers but if someone can better explain what I mean please help.

Several months ago I was hunting in a secondhand bookstore and came across a book they published in the 70s or 80s... I forget both where the book is and what the title is, I haven't gotten to that part of the big stack of theatre books to read. Nevertheless, it's all about lighting design, which I thought would be a good purchase since it's by people from the actual company. I'll have to find it and read it :P Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

Sorry for the title, but that's what my lecturer always used to call it. That gap between the two beams of light when they cross over each other - is that what you mean? Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

I finally found the link to:- JEFFREY E. SALZBERG http://www.stagelightingprimer.com http://www.stagelightingprimer.com/#fotometrix Which is a fairly good reference. [Yankee site - so some different terms are used] It also gets into 'photometrics' but does not cover the sharks tooth scalloping. But it may help. Like you David I'm not young enough to work this MacHines & do drawings. But one thing I must add, which I find in most ameatres, with the 'Y' wash there is the lack of Fresnel's used to smooth the wash & relying on Profiles to do it. This is one thing I don't agree with Francis Reid about. with his tenancy to create a patchwork quilt profile wash. Sure Profiles are great as a hard spots defining the set or area edging. Even with cross lighting, which helps, doesn't substitute for a Fresnel wash fill. Parcans work well as side light, otherwise they work best for Rock'n roll blat lighting. The only tweaking as such is orienting the linear hot spot of the bubble. However getting back to Na about working on small stage spaces. As a tip check out a Lighting Wholesaler , who supplies those low voltage diacroic track & display spots. In a lot of cases you will find they will have a Warranty Returns bin, in their warehouse. These days it is cheaper for the manufacturers to just replace/credit the fitting, rather than having them returned. Again a few comps will probably get you a bin full. Which most will be damaged or don't work. But with cannibalising them to make up good units. As the wholesaler won't spend time fixing them up -they go in the skip to be dumped.

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

Eeh wye aye! 'm nooaa 123 on the points postings totem. I'm a Fresnel, mind it does make make ones eyes water, when attempting to adjust the focus!

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

The Patt 123 is still a usefull light, the Garrick has six in their rig, but you spoilt it by earning more points, now the next light you will get to is the Patt 137 which is fitting as it is a 200 watt flood that was supplied as part of the generic school lighting rigs in the sixties http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/index.html . Look up the list to see what lights we refer to with "pattern" or Patt numbers.

Gaafa it was Mal Hough, not Mel, and when I left the Maj I left the X rays behind because they were hard wired with asbestos cable, the labour to remove them would have been more than their value and I had nowhere to store them, I took all the other gear to start the Regal saga.They were however made of steel with steel frames. Incidentally if any non profit group can use some par 38/56/64 cans in different colours and with no plugs, for free, I have been donated a large quantity.

gawd your right David! I'd like to say it was a typo, but that was probably one of the brain cells that rolled onto the Ambulance floor? Never did get them back from lost & found! He was up in Forbes Lane in Northbridge. another one of the characters of theatre of yeastier year - in Perth.

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

Don I came across a Pt 76, from memories there may have been 2. At the Old Mill. Hywell & myself hung them in the foyer, as a Memorabilia decoration, a while ago. i didn't bother rewiring them & they probably ended up in the skip. In Mal's day he also flogged Pt 60 floods as part of the school package. Along with heaps of Pt 45's, which were & still are a good little Fre'nel. I remember messing about sticking a mirror on the back access door, which did make a difference, as a reflector. A wee bit delicate off course, if handled roughly, because of the tinkle tinkle! But what did work safely, was reflective oven foil, on the inside of the access door. At the time they were cheap of course, except for the lack of a reflector, they would be just as widely used as the 123. But generally end up in the skip, which is a pity, where a wee bit of TLC & you have an affect little lamp. I was at the Garrick last night, unfortunately from my sight line angle of the lens. I couldn't see type of Fresnel used as back light. But would have assumed they were the 123's? I did see a while back in the UK, they were flogging some chrome plated ones, for around 20 Quid each. Probably they had been used in a Disco set up or whatever. I prefer them to the Birdies [One over PAR] in a lot of cases, for soft high lighting. It's great with this 'Tech Talk' now, old farts like me can waltz down memory lane - Thanks everyone I might get to be a 223 & be a 1KW - becoming even brighter?

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

If your willing to donate to a local theatre group, I would love half a dozen 64's in my rig. It's something we don't have at melville..........actually there are a lot of things I don't have in the rig......

Further to you great offer of the Parcans, which is a fantastic gesture on your part. this is not the general attitude of an equipment supplier these days. Normally when they trade-in or acquire old lighting equipment, they smash them up & dispose of them on the tip. I believe that was or is happening? When the Maj updates to Selecon & gets rid of their heaps of Pt 23's [profiles] & other old lanterns. I have seen this situation mentioned in the UK & USA forums before, about the old equipment becoming land fill. I realise on the part of some Companies the thinking, that it is good business, getting rid of them out of the market place. Therefore affording more opportunities to flogging more new gear. So you & 'ALL THINGS THEATRE' should be applauded!

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

{'TNSQ'} So moving on to the 'Scrim', in this case they are also known as 'transformation cloths'. I think the Faux Blood has been exanguinated? Here is a link ;- http://www.studio-productions-inc.com/set_home.html Which will help help visually, how the Lighting can accomplish the visual Transformation. Also on the same site there is an explanation of how they work;- http://www.studio-productions-inc.com/white_papers/wp_scrim_effects.html It also has some helpful hints, using a scrim & comparison of different types of material. [These links will have to be copied & pasted - I have no idea how to make them active on the post/}

TOI TOI TOI CHOOKAS

[May you always play to a full house] Hear the lights & see the sounds. 

If you get rid of the http:// at the start the links should work. Alternatively, use the rich text enabler. (Or you could manually write the code, but that's no fun!) test link to see if getting rid of the http:// works www.puppetsinmelbourne.com.au ... yep it does! EDIT: No it doesn't. It worked on the preview, but didn't work when I posted... Maybe a question for Grant Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

on another site, to post a link you put [url] before the link, and [/url] after the link, so here goes [url]www.puppetsinmelbourne.com.au[/url] *EDIT* That doesn't work here!!!! :P

No but you can still type it manually using html Fun puppet patterns to make at home! Puppets to buy at Puppets in Melbourne

Whoops! Regarding web addresses not appearing automagically as links: now fixed. Cheers Grant

Fake blood is being advertised along with many other make-up and theatrical items from a number of suppliers through ebay Just type 'stage blood ' or 'Fake blood 'in the search bar along with 'any category' and hit search.depending on whos selling on the day you will probably come up with a number of suppliers and they do buy it now. Be sure to check 'sellers other items'. I have found ebay a very convenient way to do much of my buying. Hope this helps. Regards Paul Dickinson

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