Beer Mugs

These beer mugs were used in Marvelous Party. I used actual glass mugs and coated the insides with shellac. When it dried, a translucent, amber beer color was achieved. I added a bit of white paint to suggest suds and coated the outsides with spray frost to indicate condensation.

Halberds

These halberds were made for Shakespeare (abridged)'s Hamlet sequence and used by the guards. The shapes of the halberds were cut out of lauan and slid into notches cut into the ends of sturdy dowels. The pieces were screwed together and painted to look like weapons.

Shakespeare bust

I fabricated this Shakespeare bust using a block of styrofoam and a foam mannequin head from the costume shop. After setting them an an upright dowel, I carved out the desired shape and then coated the bust with cheesecloth and glue. I used two different colors of paint to achieve the "bronzed" look of the finished product. This prop could be knocked off the pedestal, hit the floor, and not be harmed.

British dish soap label

Origionally, I wanted to simply print out a copy of a British dish soap label and glue it onto a cheap bottle from a local grocery store. None of the images I found would print clearly enough, so I copied/traced the design in Vectorworks. The resulting image printed very clearly and I decoupaged it onto an American bottle of dish soap which had its label removed.

Passport modifications

I uploaded pictures of an actual British passport into Vectorworks. There, I was able to manipulate the images, edit out the existing information, and insert made-up information for the fictional character, Shirley Valentine.

Shirley Valentine's passport

For this prop, I used a headsot of Susan Greenhill, the actress playing the title role, and covered the origional photo inside the passort. I used sturdy cardstock for the cover and attached the pages inside with spray adhesive. The end result nicely duplicated the look, wieght, and feel of the real passport.

Martini Glass

A full martini glass was called for during a song and dance number in FST'd production of A Marvelous Party. The director wanted it to look full, but didn't want to use real liquid. An actual martini glass was used and filled with acylic. Rubber grapes, painted to look like olives, were pierced with a toothpick and placed in the glass as the acylic was hardening.

Marguritas

To make prop marguritas, I started out with plastic glasses purchased from a party store. The inside is a mixture of sawdust and paint. I used high gloss polyurethane and a little white paint to make the drink look like it was made from ice. The limes are little lauan cutouts glued to the sides of the glasses and painted to appear real. Straws and little umbrellas provided the finishing touches.

Tropical Sunrise

Another tropical drink. I used an actual Tom Collins glass and painted the inside to appear as if it were filled with liquid. I used spray frost to give the outside of the glass a look of condensation.

Harp

I fabricated this harp out from three pieces of wood. The strings are cheap guitar strings from a local music store. To paint the prop gold, I started with a base coat of crimson red. Then I did a heavy dry-brush of gold paint over that.

Fishbowl

When Florida Studio Theatre produced ...And L.A. is Burning, we considered using a live goldfish as a prop. To avoid a plethera of problems, we got a fishing lure, painted it orange, and hung it with fish line from the mouth of the bowl. After filling the bowl with water, the fishing lure appeared to be "floating/swimming" to the audience. The fake plant and rocks came from Walmart. I hand painted the name "Sheila" on the side of the bowl with glitter paint.

Black Pearl paper props

These paper props were completed for FST's production of Black Pearl Sings. The telegram was put together in a word document using actual lines from the script. Originally, a font duplicating authentic Western Union telegrams was used, but we switched it to Times New Roman to make it easier for the actress to read on stage. I also created a template for the envelope and then assembled each one by hand. The twenty dollar bill came from a simple google image search. I then edited the image to remove all serial numbers and carefully inserted my own text, PROP MONEY, NOT REAL. I'm not exactly sure if I avoided breaking the law or not. The photos, again, came from a google image search. I glued them to card stock and used dark tea to gently age/stain the photos. The small stack of letters began with contemporary stationary, but I used a vintage stamp and did a lot of distressing. I crumpled, smeared dirt, stained with tea, and tore edges to achieve the final product.

Baking with the BVM

This was a cookbook cover I fabricated for the show Nunsense.