# Mystery Stain / Wear on Our Main Drape



## JBrennan (May 4, 2010)

It was brought to my attention today that the main drape in our smaller theater has a very strange wear pattern on it.

It is in a 250 seat theater that has a proscenium but also converts easily into a 3/4 thrust which is what we use most often. The curtain is a dark green and the "stain" that was found is about 4 feet wide, 16' to 18' up on the drape and running the entire length. It is pretty consistent discoloration to a darker shade of green and what makes me think it is a stain rather than something rubbing against the drape is that the discoloring is even across the curtain, showing up both in the folds/valleys and in the peaks of the drape. If it was something rubbing against the drapes I would expect to see it only in the high points of the drape not the deeper folds.

Has anyone had something like this happen before or have any ideas what it could be?

The drape is not wet or damp, and there have not been any puddles or drips on stage from fire system pipes, etc. Any ideas would be great. We are going to have the drape cleaned, possibly replaced, but until we figure out why this happened I'm not sure how to keep it from happening again. 

I will try and post a picture or two later this week to help. Thanks.


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## Footer (May 4, 2010)

It very well could be fading. Is there a shadow that projects onto the drape? It is possible that the rest of the soft good has actually been faded to a lighter color over time and what you now call the stain is the original color. I have seen that type of thing happen before. Is there any natural light in your venue?


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## JBrennan (May 4, 2010)

No naturally light, normal indoor stage with S4/fresnel lighting. Thats a good point about the fading though, Ill take a closer look. It definitely looks like a shadow but the odd thing is that its only on this one 4 foot wide band. Below and above the discoloration it returns to the "normal" color. Would you think the fading would happen from a certain point down and the top 3rd or 4th of the drape remain the original color?


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## Edwinlq1go (May 4, 2010)

What is the humidity level like in your space? I have seen this type of "stain" in my PAC during the spring/summer months when humidity levels start to rise. Unfortunately, once/when the stain dries, it might level a nice white mark or outline where the FR agent has resettled on the curtain.


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## Footer (May 4, 2010)

Edwinlq1go said:


> What is the humidity level like in your space? I have seen this type of "stain" in my PAC during the spring/summer months when humidity levels start to rise. Unfortunately, once/when the stain dries, it might level a nice white mark or outline where the FR agent has resettled on the curtain.



My other thought as well.... I have seen that in venues where basicly weather systems form. If you aren't going to have A/C on in the summer, at least get a few humidifiers in there and have them hooked up to a drain.


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## JBrennan (May 4, 2010)

Those are good ideas too. We are in the midwest, about an hour north of Chicago so we do get some extreme temps in the winter and summer months. I will talk to some of the facilities guys and see what they think. We do run the AC in the building during the summer but they set the temps and don't let us have much say.

I looked at the mark close up for awhile today and was able to scratch away some of what I believe to be the flame retardant at the edges of the mark. This revealed the true color of the curtain beneath a much deeper green and more or less expanded the 'mark' slightly. 

I was not able to do this anywhere else on the curtain, either up by the baton or lower near shoulder height.

So I'm thinking that whatever the bonding agent that holds these flame retardant particles to the drape is fading, leaving, falling, evaporating, whatever. And it makes sense in my mind that humidity over time could contribute to this. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for the help and ideas.


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## Footer (May 4, 2010)

Its humidity. If you send the goods out to be cleaned by a drapery house they might be able to get it out. Give Granstage a call in Chicago, they should be able to help. Because you can scrap the fire retardant off that means they need to be re-treated anyway. They might even be able to save the good.


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## JBrennan (May 6, 2010)

Thanks for the help guys. We had already called the drape people to come and take a look as scheduled cleaning for the main in our larger theatre was underway. I passed the humidity theory around and it is definitely going to be studied. Thanks again.


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## JBrennan (Jan 3, 2011)

Resurrecting this thread from a few months back with an update. 

We had our grand drape cleaned over the winter break and I took a look at it today...the stain remains. The curtain was taken down, disassembled into individual panels, cleaned and dipped to remove the flame proofing, then re-flame proofed, and we have the same oblong discoloration running the length of the curtain. The good news is the bottom 12 feet or so look brand new. 

The humidity theory made sense to me as a reason for the flame retardant being leached out of the drape, but if the entire thing was stripped of flame retardant and redone why would the stain remain?

It doesn't appear to be discolored on the upstage side which is odd. The discoloration is also even in the peaks and valleys of the drape. So as I wrote before it doesn't appear to be rubbing against anything as it travels. Either way it looks like our only option is to replace to drape when we have the budget for it and start fresh. Naturally we are worried that by not knowing the cause, we risk damaging whatever new drape we hang.

As always any advice, insight, or wild conspiracy theories are welcome as to how this has happened. Thanks.


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