# Who says only God can make a tree?



## Footer (Jun 28, 2009)

So, we are closing tonight a show with probably one of the more difficult pieces I have worked on in awhile. Its the tree for Camelot... heres what it had to do...

-Roll on an off stage
-When onstage, it had to be completely solid with zero movement.
-Had to be climbable, including 4' out on each limb. 
-pack in a truck
-twinkle with points of light
-and... look like a tree...

We decided to with with pneumatic actuating casters for this one. We bolted casters to UHMW (essentially cutting board material). Attachted to the UHMW we bolted an actuator that had 1" of travel and could lift around 200# at 100psi. We installed a tank that would hold around 120psi of air, enough to lift and drop the piece 6 times. The piece was plumbed so that air pressure both pushed the casters down and pulled them up. 

More pictures are at the following places...
http://vansandtdesigns.com/portfolio/camelot/

(EDIT 7.1.2013: Pictures have been removed, please see website for pictures)




Oh... and it was a trussed elipse.. that was fun...

The trunk section bolted to the base and the limbs bolted to the trunk. The entire thing was covered in plywood. We then foamed the entire piece and carved it. After carving, electrics (MrsFooter) came in and installed about 150 strands of fiberoptics. Paints then covered the entire thing with this plastic like epoxy that is designed for zoo enclosures. The stuff dries like a rock and takes texture really well. Add some paint.. and its good to go.

Fiber optics 


So, all in all we had four departments working on it, with about 20 people in total. It took a week and a half to build, totally 3 days for the base, 3 days to foam, a day to carve, day of texture, half day of fibering, and a day of paint.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jun 28, 2009)

That, sir, is epic.


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## NevilleLighting (Jun 29, 2009)

Kyle,
Kudos to you and everyone that made that tree such a memorable set piece. All of the various departments worked out a great timetable to make it turn out. I think it is one of the nicest pieces MTW has turned out in years. It was sure a pleasure to light and I made sure that every inch of it was seen in every scene where it was onstage. 

David


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## gafftaper (Jun 29, 2009)

Beautiful work Kyle. 


I'm thinking that we need a Collaborative article on the use of foam in scenery. 

Types of foam. Where to get it. How to attach it to other structures. How to carve it. What tools to use. How to protect the foam from chipping in performance. How to paint it.


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## NevilleLighting (Jun 29, 2009)

For the lighting we used .75 mm fiber optics. We ran the strands above the carved styrofoam and below the final texture treatment. The fibers had tape flags on the ends to keep them clean. All fibers had about 3" of slack and were trimmed down once the tree was painted. Upon trimming the surface of each fiber optic was sanded to improve the viewing angle. The tree is actually made of 4 parts that break for shipping purposes, base, trunk and 2 branches. The base has no optics and the other three pieces are fed by PAR-16's for each piece. All of the different crews did a great job working with a complex piece to ensure delivery by tech rehearsal. 

Kudos to all for a great tree that is gorgeous and moves well.


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## MrsFooter (Jun 29, 2009)

I went home that night, after spending the day running those fiber optics, and discovered foam in my socks. And in my underpants. And in my dreams.
That tree made me cry.


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## cdub260 (Jun 29, 2009)

MrsFooter said:


> I went home that night, after spending the day running those fiber optics, and discovered foam in my socks. And in my underpants. And in my dreams.
> That tree made me cry.



If you think foam is bad, you should try mylar confetti. We're still finding that stuff from the 2007 Pageant of the Masters.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jun 29, 2009)

Confetti is only close in absolute evil to glitter.


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## avkid (Jun 29, 2009)

gafftapegreenia said:


> Confetti is only close in absolute evil to glitter.


I agree, the day I crawled out from under the stage covered in glitter was terrible.


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## NevilleLighting (Jun 30, 2009)

Steph... and Kyle,...
That tree was a truly awesome piece of scenery, and will comtinue to be as long as we can rent it out. Your blood, sweat, tears and occasional foam irritation are well noted and appreciated. Be proud of the beautiful scenery that crossed that stage.


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## erosing (Jun 30, 2009)

That tree looks amazing, great work guys and gals.


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## erichart (Jun 30, 2009)

That's amazing! Great process shots, and it looks like the end result was spectacular. Your solution for pneumatically-actuated casters is interesting as well. I've seen a number of methods to engage casters with pneumatics, and this one is a new one.


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## sk8rsdad (Jun 30, 2009)

gafftapegreenia said:


> Confetti is only close in absolute evil to glitter.



... or bobby pins after the dance schools have been in. I swear those things breed.


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## jwl868 (Jul 2, 2009)

Footer 

Great work (That’s an understatement, and there’s not much else I can add that hasn’t been posted already). The progress photos are great, too. 

But a practical question: What sort of planning did you do for this? For example, did you prepare a scaled drawing for the frame, or a dimensioned sketch? Likewise with the casters? Was the finished shape based on a drawing/sketch?

Joe


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## cprted (Jul 29, 2009)

sk8rsdad said:


> ... or bobby pins after the dance schools have been in. I swear those things breed.


But at least you can sweep up bobby pins. No force known to man, least of all a broom or a vacuum, will pick up the bloody glitter.

Gorgeous set piece by the way!


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## Van (Jul 29, 2009)

Wow Footers, I don't know how I missed this thread when it was first posted. That is a beautiful thing!


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## seanandkate (Jul 29, 2009)

Van said:


> That is a beautiful thing!



Ditto! I'm sure there's some cable show called "Pimp My Tree" that would kill for those photos Kyle.


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## kicknargel (Aug 10, 2009)

Super cool. Do you have a product name or supplier on the epoxy coating?

Nicholas Kargel
You Want What? Productions INC
scenic design and construction in Denver, CO

www.youwantwhatproductions.com


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## ship (Aug 11, 2009)

Very nice work on the tree. What was the budget and time for it in materials three pronged triangle for doing so balance?

Budget verses Time (man/hours and prototype type time) verses cost for materals as reflected in time to make verses having elements made?

Your completed project is well done and says a lot of time and materials. Well done in doing great work


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## Footer (Aug 11, 2009)

ship said:


> Very nice work on the tree. What was the budget and time for it in materials three pronged triangle for doing so balance?
> 
> Budget verses Time (man/hours and prototype type time) verses cost for materals as reflected in time to make verses having elements made?
> 
> Your completed project is well done and says a lot of time and materials. Well done in doing great work



We are all salaried here.... so it was a "get it up to paints by tuesday type thing". Luckly I did not have to pull an all nighter. It took me about 3 days to build the base, 2 days to build the trunk and limbs. The guys that foamed it did it in 2 10 hour days, carving took a day, and foam coat/paint took a day. I don't even want to count up the man hours, Though its probably in the 120's or so. I estimate the cost at about 6k not including labor, though I have not seen the final budget. We built it on the good and fast side, as we do with most things here. We very rarely if ever send something out to get built. Nearly everything you see on our stage (of a show we built) was built in house.


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## ship (Aug 11, 2009)

Gotta love the art of salary, I am also salary in I would do it anyway for the art of it in getting it done no matter the pay.

Still gotta at some point thus in beyond the joy of it in getting too booked up and not able to get it done attribute an hourly Man/hour price to what gets done in the end so as for scope of project and estimate of at least how much in the end its worth it getting done yet you even if salary working day and night for something that's needed and perhaps done well but at some point stilll is best left to a man/hour concept even if salary in that trade off in done well, budget and timeline to get it done. Magic for the theater is one thing and once in a while sure in being worth it sure, but there is also the burn out factor that prevents workable gear or retaining people willing to do so. More than once had to send home an assistant tasked with the impossible that was not up to it in leaving more on me.


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## Morte615 (Feb 10, 2012)

*How to build a tree!*

DAVE LOWE DESIGN the Blog

On a blog that I follow, this fellow is building a tree for an event. He is currently doing a step by step and posting it with great commentary and pictures. I thought there would be a few people on here that may be interested, and he does plenty of other props so it's interesting to see how he did those also!

(Currently on step 3, just scroll down to start at step 1)


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## 4Jolig (Mar 21, 2013)

*Tips on how to build a fake tree*

Hi, I and the assistant TD for a student run theater group over the summer. This summer we are putting on Children Of Eden. I was wondering if anyone had any tips and advice on how to build a rather larger sized fake tree. last year we build a tree out of a 4x4 trunk, strapping branches, and chicken wire and paper mache bark. It turned out ok, but it wasn't as large as this tree needs to be. I've done some poking around and I've found some information but not a lot. Also, it would be good to have the tree build in two sections, one being the trunk, and the other, the branches and leaves, so we can fit it out the door of our build site. Thanks!


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## kicknargel (Mar 21, 2013)

*Re: Tips on how to build a fake tree*

Of course there are many, many ways.

Here's one way I've done it. This was not a free-standing tree, but hung from a track and could only be ~8" thick. I cut the profile of the trunk and 2-3 major branches out of 3/8" plywood, and backed it with a simple frame of 1/2" box steel. Glued 4" thick of white bead foam on the front, cut to the profile, and used saws, rasps, grinders, etc to carve the foam into a half-roundish shape. Then dipped strips of muslin in a mix of paint and white glue and applied them to the foam, letting folds in the fabric create the bark texture. We bought silk leaves online, glued them to scenery netting, and hung this from a batten just in front of the trunk.

With some good scenic painting, these look great, and have survived hundreds of performers and several truck trips, with minor repairs.

The photo is with a previous incarnation of the foliage (a blacklight painted cut drop).


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