# painting muslin



## cb668 (Jan 8, 2010)

can anyone give us a step by step methed on painting a brand new muslin backdrop.its about 15x40.we have the stage floor for work space.thanks.


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## Tmeche (Jan 8, 2010)

Have you sized the muslin yet?


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## Van (Jan 8, 2010)

First, do a search, if you haven't already, I know I and several others have posted at least a few times on this subject. 
In a nutshell;

1: clean <sweep and mop> your paint deck, removing any staples, nails, splinters, lumps of paint etc. 

2: lay down a layer of bogus paper or Rosin paper. Make sure it is slightly larger in square footage than your new drop, 2-4 feet on each side.

3: unfold / roll out your new drop. <Be sure to enjoy its pristine beauty> 

4: THIS IS One OF THE Most Important Steps!!! Starting in the middle of the top and bottom < jute and pipe pocket or bottom hem > staple the drop to the deck. *Do Not Pull The Muslin Tight!!!* < it should be laid out with no wrinkles but do not pull it tight during the stapling process.> I recommend using 3/4" staples in a manual staple gun. Gaff a small piece of 1/4" luan to the bottom of the stapler so that the head of the staples stay proud. Go to the middle of the sides of the drop and tack them in place. Work your way around the drop always stapling between the middle of the drop and the corners. Basically you're continually dividing the sides into smaller and smaller fractions until you have the preimeter stapled at about every 6". Oh be sure to look in the Wiki for Drop Bridge. build a couple of these items and staple them in place too. 

5: Prep your Size. OK first step, choose your size. Many people prefer many different Sizes some folks only use Cornstach Size. Some folks use casein or animal glue size. Me? I like my Size the New fangled way - thinned latex Paint. put 2.5 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket, pour in 1 to 2 quarts of *cold* water.
< Luke warm water mixes faster but the heat starts the curing process of the Latex. Always use cold water to clean painting supplies I don't care what the freaking directions in the can say! >

Mix the crap out of it! don't go hog wild and froth up the mix that's not good for the paint or the paint shop. just make sure your mixture is very well mixed. 

6: Size the drop. Some folks will tell you the only way to size a drop is with a brush, I say They are gluttons for punishment or they are hourly. get a roller a long paint pole and a drop in screen < the kind that goes in the bucket>. Take off your shoes carry the bucket and roller to the center of the drop. Put on you headphones, plug in your Ipod and start rolling. Be sure the bottom of the bucket is clean and free of paint before you put it down. Really you can start anywhere but like any good project I prefer to start in the middle. You want to work a well loaded roller something with a 3/8" nap. You don't want to do all the rolling in one direction. Use a good amount of force and try to work the paint into the fabric from every direction. You are trying to fill all the pores of the fabric with Latex paint < which is why you thinned it.> try to work in a spiral pattern towards the edges and don't walk away from it. You can take a break but once you start you should really size the whole thing at once. 
You will notice that the more you paint the tighter the muslin will become. 

7: Once you have sized the whole drop place a fan or two at the drop bridges < you did make them, right? > to force air under the drop. This will keep the drop from sticking to the rosin paper and help the drop dry evenly. 

8: Once the size coat is dry base the drop with the called for color then it's happy painting time! 


That's about it.

Oh one step I glossed over. Some folks like to screw down a perimeter of 1X4 then staple the edges of the drop to that. When the Drop tightens up from the Sizing, it will automatically lift up off the floor. 

Happy Painting.


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## Footer (Jan 8, 2010)

A tack hammer is also a useful investment for this task. It has a magnetic tip that allow you to easily drop a tack in the deck. I use these over staples because to me they pull out easier and cleaner.


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## derekleffew (Jan 8, 2010)

Excellent work Van. 

I might add that a standard way of getting the design onto the drop:
(I think this is correct. I haven't done it in 25 years and can't find my Pecktal book.)
Overlay the rendering or photo with a piece of clear acetate with a grid of black lines sized such that each square equals one foot. 
Mark one foot increments on the sides and top/bottom of the drop.
Snap chalk lines (Use only blue chalk--the red and yellow are permanent.)
Cartoon the outline onto the drop using charcoal sticks.
Paint the drop to make it look like the picture. (This is the hard part, and why talented scenic artists are treated like prized possessions.)
The blue chalk and black charoal lines should just disappear when they are covered with paint, but if using light or transparent paints, "erase" small areas of them with a feather duster before applying paint.

See also Painting A Backdrop.


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## Van (Jan 8, 2010)

Thanks Derekleffew , I completely forgot the part about "gridding it out". I use the grid technique all the time. From laying out a ground row to painting a floor scale grids are the way to go. Actually the smaller the scale < ie if you layout the lines 6x6 instead of 12x12> the easier the drawing goes. Almost anyone, even a rank newbie can draw what they see inside a "box" on that scale. 
One other good layout trick, for folks that are not good artists is that when you do scale-up from drawing to the cartooning on the drop, work upside down. Once you turn the drawing upside down you brain tends to kick into mechanical mode and you dont "Think" so much about what you're drawing. A lot of Scenic Artists like to work completely alone when cartooning and painting small drops but using the grid technique you can have several people cartooning at the same time and still get really good results.


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## Footer (Jan 8, 2010)

If you have an LCD Projector on a mount, I have had really great success hanging that on a batten and flying it out until the image fills the area you want to paint. Then it because very simple mechanics. 

The paint shop at my summer home uses a combination of overhead projections and the grid technique for our drops. It really just depends on the artist.


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