Theater Prop - 20ft wide acacia tree in papier mache - Grid/Sketch

With the exception of tomorrow night's post which will be an art lesson for elementary students re: pointillism, the next few days will feature images and notes regarding the construction of an Acacia tree prop needed for a local elementary school production.

Sketch of Acacia tree over grid.

Here is a rough list of the steps I like to take in creating props:

1. Meet with the director and discuss the needs for the production. This includes overall look, size, color, budget, and deadline.
2. Make a few sketches to run by the director to verify the prop you intend to create has the look and feel that they also had in mind.

Grid in Photoshop of area where prop
will be installed

3. Take measurements.  Take measurements again. The old adage "Measure twice, cut once" applies here.
    4.  I like to take photographs of the setting and then create a grid in Photoshop to fully visualize the space (top photo).  I then attach a sheet of tracing paper over the grid photo (tracing paper as it is thin enough to see the grid underneath) and sketch the prop to scale (bottom photo).  This tree will be one of the larger props (20 ft w x 10-12 ft h x 4-5 ft deep) I have done (www.merrikindesigns.com/costumesprops.aspx to see the pirate ship which is the largest at 30 feet in length)

Tomorrow's post: Creating the skeletal framework.