Back again

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. There just has been very little to show. We had holiday break and then very little painting. But now things are picking up.

So what's a scenic to do when a turntable is red for most of the opera but has to be white for one scene?

Opera turntable

Make a turn table cosy of course.

Turntable cosy

This lovely little number is made out of muslin and took about two days to do. The first day I stitched together two pieces for the top, trimmed it to the circle, marked a seam line and basted the sides on (inside out). The second day was sewing the sides on. I left the hemming until it was in place and all the facing was on. It was quite difficult not to embroider some funky little thing on this. Oh and I hand stitched the hem too. We plan on salvedging the fabric when the opera is over. Hopefully they won't want it whiter and make me paint it.

The big project at my feet right now is On The Town. This has been somewhat of a troubled show from the beginning. The original director (who is an adjunct professor at the school sometimes) insisted on bringing in his own design team, instead of our usual options. Whatever...then he backs out of the show, two weeks before designs are due. The scene designer decides to stick with the project, as did the costume designer. The lighting designer didn't. We get a new director and all is well...or not. Designs didn't come when due. We go on holiday break. When we return partial designs arrive, but no color renderings. Then we find out I'm not getting renderings. He's going to send me paint chip numbers from Home Depot!!! So I am essentially painting a set by numbers. I've gotten a few computer drawings (not true to color) with the paint chip numbers labeling them. I might find it a little hard to be pleasant when I meet this guy. He doesn't even give me a sheen, just numbers or vague descriptions like "light steel" and "dark steel". *big eye roll*

So that's my job. Some of the drawings are rather rough, or questionable in intent. But at least I have plenty to work on. Oh and I didn't even get into the tale of the graphics....I'll save that for a later day.

I should have some other pictures of this set soon. Right now I'm in the land of the never ending blue girders. Unfortunately since it is paint by number, that means there aren't any real fun scenic-y treatments. But some of the future designs for the year hold promise.