# cardboard scenery



## Jackalope (Sep 24, 2010)

Hi,
I am thinking about using corrugated cardboard as a building material for scenery.I've read some interesting articles etc on it and think it might be a cheap and environmentally more friendly material. Anyone out there work extensively with it? Also I am looking for a place to buy it cheaply.

Jackalope


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## MNicolai (Sep 24, 2010)

You can get it at packaging companies, but understand your fire marshal will probably be very unhappy with you no matter how much flame retardant your mix in with your paint.


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## gafftaper (Sep 24, 2010)

My mentor teacher when I was in teaching school experimented with cardboard. The cardboard easily creased and bent, any dings/creases/bends show, it sagged when you got it wet (such as when you paint it), it doesn't take paint very well, and is likely to burn down your theater. If you want your shows to look like an elementary school production go ahead. 

Secondly, I would argue that building a fabric and/or wood flat that you can reuse over and over for years is far more environmentally friendly than it is to keep buying and recycling card board flats.


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## Van (Sep 24, 2010)

Corrugated Papaer products do have a place in Scenic Production, other than just as packing material. I have seen it used ,effectively, along with crayons and Markers and tempra paint on a 60' themed set for "....Forum". Outside of very clear choices like that I don't see it as a useful material in construction of flats or other scenery. It's not the fire hazzard so much as the limitations of the material that Gaff outlined.


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## JohnG (Sep 26, 2010)

Well working in theater isn't exactly environmental friendly. I'm afraid you'll have to lok for other ways to be more efficient like energy efficient lights.
Also don't use cardboard if you wish to be taken seriously I'm sorry. It's just not the best way to go now soft flats like those covered with muslin would be a lovely alternate. Or luon covered flats as well can be very good.


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## Tex (Sep 26, 2010)

I've used cardboard for cornice, crown molding and other decorative trim pieces. It bends nicely over simple profiles. I wouldn't use it to cover flats or face platforms/stairs though. It dents very easily, the edges bend and once it's creased, it's creased.


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## Jackalope (Nov 19, 2010)

Thanks for the input on it. I think I will be steering away from it as a replacement for fabric and wood... but I am a little enthralled by some of the images I've seen from cardboard sculpture

Check this out
5 Amazing Cardboard Artists and Their Sculptures : WebUrbanist

I think it would be a neat material to work in if it were part of the style/convention of the piece. If you put "cardboard sculpture" into google image search you see some absolutely amazing pieces!


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## erichart (Nov 20, 2010)

We had to do this set, and it passed fire inspection:


Of course, it took our scenic artist a good portion of a day to spray all those boxes with flame retardant. 
Within the last year, Rosco has began distributing Turning Star Flame-proofing products—they have a formula for cardboard and paper http://www.rosco.com/us/scenic/flamex/flamex_PC.cfm—which are known for keeping as up-to-date as possible with theatrical fire regulations around the country.


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## MPowers (Nov 22, 2010)

A few years ago, I had the unfortunate experience of using cardboard for a set. I was a guest director/designer for a community theatre near where i was teaching at the time. Seems that set budget was no problem......all the cover material was donated by a local box making factory. 6' x 12' sheets of double layer corrugated cardboard ( paper ribs paper ribs paper) It was almost as stiff as luan but still needed a wood or metal frame. At first it seemed OK but when I started painting, the ribs showed though. Fine for the wood paneling, but terrible for everything else. 

IMHO it can be a very viable product for things like platform facing, especially curved ones, but is not structural or very paintable.


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## shakescar (Jan 15, 2014)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Lumber/


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## Calc (Jan 15, 2014)

I feel like you're all going to laugh at me, but we use it here extensively for set decoration. 4'x8' sheets from a local packaging company.

The key is to use it in the correct places. Don't think of it as replacing your flats, but supplementing them. You'd be amazed by what we've churned out in cardboard and hot glue.

Gonna slap stucco all over that flat? Cardboard it first! 
'Brick' masking flats? Paint the whole sheet up like red brick. Then trace with a straight-edge and a razor blade to take the top layer of paper off (but not the corrugation) for mortar.
That ground row that's in the back hiding the cycs? Cardboard!
Layer it up for crown molding- pennies per foot.
Add a decorative false proscenium? You won't even have to throw bricks to balance it!
Curves. Make the creases on the back side, and the front will stay smooth. Wrap accordingly.
The two upsides to cardboard are cost and time. It's vastly cheaper. It's also a lot quicker and easier to carve out something with a razor blade than a band saw.
A few tips: 

Two options for paint, depending on what you're doing with it. Either use LIGHT coats of spray paint, or polycoat it.
There's a front and back side. The front will have slightly thicker paper.
When building with it, use the corrugation like you would use the grain on wood. It's much stronger that way.
Another key here is the 20ft rule. Standing in the middle of the set, of course it looks like cardboard. But from 20' away in the front row, nobody will be able to tell the difference.

I'm trying to dig up some pictures of some of the stuff we've done to prove my points (and forestall the oncoming laughter/scoffing). I'll see what I can find.


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## Calc (Jan 17, 2014)

Pictures, as promised!


As Bees in Honey Drown. Platforms are real, but all of the facing and the structures behind are entirely cardboard.


Lettice and Lovage. Some of the brick as described above. The wainscoting and molding are also cardboard.


Dark of the Moon. Best Picture I could find of one of the false prosceniums. Still a terrible pic, but you kinda get the idea.


The Little Prince. The frame for the plane is solid, but everything else on it is cardboard and tagboard. Groundrow also cardboard.



Wish I had these in higher resolution. From The Tempest, with a concept that the entire island is MADE of the crashed ships that Prospero has been luring in. Again, the props and platforms are practical, but everything else is cardboard, cheesecloth, and spanish moss.


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## kicknargel (Jan 17, 2014)

Pretty impressive. Looks great.
What are you doing for flame retardancy? Have you done any testing on that, or receive approvals from an AHJ?


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## Calc (Jan 17, 2014)

Campus Safety stops by to check things out. If it's something we think they even might possibly be concerned with (like the last pics), we'll bring in the Fire Marshall. Better to get in front of a possible problem than be shutdown mid-run.

We've never had the issue of flamecoating the sets come up. We do avoid pyro though, and any of the uplighting near the set is LED.


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## RickR (Jan 17, 2014)

An amateur group here does cardboard every year. Note that quality is not their goal, its parents raising money for a school. Since my kids go that school I've been around it all.

The cardboard is donated by a packaging company in 4x8 sheets.
Seams are done with drywall tape and diluted white glue
Frame is 2x4 and the cardboard is stapled down. You can see the dents at about 30' away.
Large props with overhanging cardboard (bushes, crenelations) show warping, but painting the back side can minimize that.
Sucks up paint, two coats of hardware store latex seems the minimum.
Too much paint shows the ribbing pretty badly.
Most importantly - keep the audiences eyes on something else! In this case it's 150 middle aged parents making complete fools of themselves.


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## RickR (Jan 17, 2014)

A few photos available on FB actually show scenery
https://www.facebook.com/HamonRegal/photos_stream


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## JonasA (Jan 17, 2014)

I feel like I've seen an article about a group of engineering students and a German scenic designer actually making a structurally sound two-storey set from corrugated cardboard... Apologies for being so inconclusive, but my point is that it has been done. Whether doing so would be practical in the realms of commercial theatre or not is highly questionable.

And calc - love those sets! I help build scenery for a huge amateur show and I think I'll be showing them your photos when we hit design time next year. With two carpenters on the staff, we're very big on pine and MDF for most things, but having seen what you've done with cardboard, I'm thinking we could really minimise our jigsaw and bench saw time in favour of some razor blades!


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## JChenault (Jan 18, 2014)

Many years ago we did a production of "Guys and Dolls" using cardboard flats - sort of. 

Frames the cardboard with 1x4, cut out skylines, covered them in fabric, and put several thousand Italian lights ( little Xmas tree lights) through the cardboard/fabric. Looked great, easy to build, and I had left over Xmas tree lights for 20 years.


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## Calc (Jan 19, 2014)

RickR said:


> Sucks up paint, two coats of hardware store latex seems the minimum.
> Too much paint shows the ribbing pretty badly.


Try a layer of polycoat first on it next time. It'll soak in like the paint does, but then the paint after it won't.


RickR said:


> Frame is 2x4 and the cardboard is stapled down. You can see the dents at about 30' away.
> Large props with overhanging cardboard (bushes, crenelations) show warping, but painting the back side can minimize that.


For attaching cardboard to the frames, we use regular 1" drywall screws, with masking tape over to hide them. For cardboard-on-cardboard it's hot glue. Wood glue works really well too, but hot glue dries a lot quicker. 
To get rid of any warping, reinforce the overhanging cardboard with a backer strip either following along the edge, or a couple in the middle against the grain.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jan 19, 2014)

JonasA said:


> I feel like I've seen an article about a group of engineering students and a German scenic designer



We did it in Atlanta! Honeycomb cardboard has some incredible structural properties, especially when laminated. The drawbacks are everything has to be built in one piece. So even though the second story floor supported 20 of us, it was one giant laminated floor with pretty substantial support walls. 

http://burnaway.org/lucky-pennys-threshold-a-balance-of-control-and-primal-forces/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## teqniqal (Jan 30, 2014)

Cardbord - see: NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, Chapter 13, Article 13.4.5.11 - Flame Retardant Requirements. Like Eric Hart's prime example above with ten billion cardboard boxes - _this can be accommodated_. Don't risk people's lives just because you are too cheap or lazy to apply the fire retardant. One spark and the whole thing could burst into a deadly conflagration. The example here was even worse - _they painted the cardboard with enamel spray paint_ - an accelerant!


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