# Painted Scrim (Tapestry for Hamlet)



## Nora (Oct 17, 2008)

Hello! I just discovered this site last week and have read all about painting scrims... I am fairly sure my idea to create a painted scrim (tapestry design with Viking/Nordic motif around the edges and perhaps blank in the center???still thinking...) will work. But am I not sure whether to use a black or white scrim. So here, finally is my question: Will an actor standing behind a painted black scrim still "bleed through"?! (provided the scrim is painted properly) I would like a tapestry in place for most scenes but would like to have scenery/actors visible behind--esp in the ghost scene...I appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thanks


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## Footer (Oct 17, 2008)

It all depends on the lighting. If you want a painted scrim, you will probably want to start with a white scrim and work towards going dark, but then again you can go the other way as well. I have seen both, and both do work. I would really just look at how its going to be lit, if lit correctly it will do what you want it to do.


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## Van (Oct 17, 2008)

Dang it! Footer beat me to it again. Here's my take on it; As Footer stated it really doesn't matter from the "scrim effect" aspect whether the scrim is black, white or Natural. From and Artistic stand point, however, it will have an effect. Just my two cents but the Warp and woof of many a tapestry is natural, and surprisingly, quite often, black. This black bacjground often gives Medivial tapestries that "elvis on velvet" look. But if your doing Period Correctness, I bet a Nordic tapestry would have been natural colored flax.


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## Footer (Oct 17, 2008)

Van said:


> Dang it! Footer beat me to it again. Here's my take on it; As Footer stated it really doesn't matter from the "scrim effect" aspect whether the scrim is black, white or Natural. From and Artistic stand point, however, it will have an effect. Just my two cents but the Warp and woof of many a tapestry is natural, and surprisingly, quite often, black. This black bacjground often gives Medivial tapestries that "elvis on velvet" look. But if your doing Period Correctness, I bet a Nordic tapestry would have been natural colored flax.



Sorry, I am quick on the scrim thing, I tend to like the. So on a scrim sidenote, I have a white scrim traveler on a track DS of my main, I don't know why....


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## Van (Oct 17, 2008)

Footer said:


> Sorry, I am quick on the scrim thing, I tend to like the. So on a scrim sidenote, I have a white scrim traveler on a track DS of my main, I don't know why....


 
That's for doing *Glass Menagerie*


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## Footer (Oct 17, 2008)

Van said:


> That's for doing *Glass Menagerie*



Ya, I will get right on that... Now keep in mind its on a traveler track... and we don't have a fly space, so its just.. there. Then there is the problem of it being a white scrim DS. I hate white scrims more then anything.


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## arik52 (Oct 28, 2008)

We used a scrim in our production of the Crucible. We started with a light scrim, and painted it black using a carefully researched mixture of so many parts water and so many parts paint as well as a method of how to paint it without impairing its ability to act as a scrim. The difference between actors being transparent or opaque behind it is, as Footer said, done by lighting. Lighting it from the front or the back will give you the various effects. In addition, if a scrim is out of your price range, I suggest using tobacco cloth. This cheaper alternative is still very effective, and much less pricey. We used one in our production, being a student run high school theatre organization with not a large amount of money.


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## Nora (May 2, 2009)

Hello 
Just wanted to post some photos of our recent production of Hamlet here in France. Bilingual English/French lycee (highschool) students, some who ONLY speak French at home...it was pretty incredible watching them perform Shakespeare  (They study Hamlet for their Intl. Bac)

FYI Our proscenium space is a primarily a "cinema" with no fly space and no wing space. we make do. It's a learning process for everyone. Your site has been really helpful...just nice to know I'm not the only person rooting through garbage bins and coming up with wacky solutions at the last minute 
as the French say, COURAGE, to us all. Like many of you (probably) we never have more than a few hours for the get in, no time to rehearse in the space prior to the tech/dress and well, we just tell the kids they're getting REAL LIFE experience! 
I've added some notes to each photo in my album if anyone's interested.

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...Editor_QE_3&ins=link_thumb_2_gallery&alb=104#

Now off to make a Winnie-the-Pooh looking tree for the primary shows coming up...so much more fun than marking essays!!!


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## Nora (May 2, 2009)

Forgot the whole point of my thread...SCRIMS

I bought a used medium grey scrim from (www.studio-productions-inc.com 
great service) which worked well for the ghost scene--ghost of King passed upstage of the two "walls"...

was cheaper in the end to paint a regular black cloth with a monochromatic nordic design (had only silver by then anyway) and edge it with silver tape. worked fine for the Polonius hiding and dying behind the arras scene.


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