Byron hired me to replace some rotten beams on the south side of his house. The top ones were the worst; the others had a few soft spots but were pretty solid so I patched them a little bit and left them. I did have to replace the main horizontal beam and the 3 pieces above it.
I bought 6×6 douglas fir posts and cut them to size. To make the curves I cut them down to 4×6 and then glued a 4×4 post to them, then cut them out with the bandsaw. I sealed everything with Kilz 3 exterior primer. It will be painted properly later.
A customer installed a brand new hot tub two summers ago and had used it only once, due in part to difficulty getting in and out.
She had the steps that came with the tub, but no handrails. I asked if I should build something sturdier, and she replied, “post-haste.”
Here is the result:
I used pressure-treated hem/fir lumber and then coated that with 3 coats of spar varnish. Normally I wouldn’t use varnish over fresh PT, but this customer had some success in the past on other small pieces, so we’ll see how this one does. (It’s a preference for look over functionality)
I was asked to design and build the set for Seussical, produced by VTT at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre for their Spring Musical. It was an interesting challenge. I started designing around Christmasstime when I had some free head space. I came up with something like this:
And then when the time came to build, I made some set pieces on casters, and a stump:
Then some 2D trees; and painted the rented vinyl floor with the director’s vision:
Next I worked on the staging and some larger static set pieces:
I spent some time fire-retarding some things that would be hung close to the hot lights: paper mache stairs, and clouds. I self-tested samples of both the plywood and the paper mache to see how they would handle flame. They both seemed to survive 10 seconds of a blowtorch 2 inches away, and the samples that were treated did burn slower. (the one on the left) Both pieces self-extinguished, which was reassuring…
Then it was time for load-in! Parent and venue helpers were great!
There were a few fixes and changes after that but mostly things worked well.
The lighting design by Victoria Bell was incredible. In fact it added so much colour that the director decided to repaint some of the coloured set pieces to the off-white of the stage, as it was a bit too much to take in at times (especially with the colourful costumes too!) It was a good decision and balanced things out. Basic painting was done by myself, but most detail and colour was by the director and parent volunteers.
Closing night
It was a wonderful show; superbly directed by Keri Smith and with great tech, stage management, acting, choreo, singing, band, costumes, etc, etc. It was my first exposure to Seussical; I do enjoy the silliness, as well as the way some important themes rise up.
photos by Galit Mishaal; Directed by Keri Smith; Costumes by Laura Meyers; Lighting by Victoria Bell; Choreo by Nicole Stevens; Set Design by Andrew Potts
I recently finished the build for Gallery 7’s production of Sound of Music. It was two full weeks plus a bit; we had quite a few volunteers helping as well. It is mostly flies that drop down in different configurations to set the scene. Tickets available until March 24 at www.gallery7theatre.com. (Many shows have sold out so far.)
Design is by Jeff Kiers.
Here’s a few pictures from the build process and also a few from tech week.
Jeff adding finishing touchesLighting by Nigel Brooke
TWU’s last show will be A Midsummer Night’s Dream in March. I was contracted for set construction carpentry, and spent a couple of weeks at their workshop in January. It was good working with the TD and the few students that are left in the small production class. (Set Design is by Alaia Hamer)
It’s my second time building for this particular show, but the nice thing about theatre is that every time is different!
Here are a few pictures of the build in progress. I didn’t get as much finished as I would like; too many set builds happening at once and I ran out of time. I left it in the Technical Director’s hands, and hope that they can finish everything!
Tickets to the show should be available from TWU’s website in late February or early March. www.twu.ca
Gallery 7‘s production of Snowbound is now playing at Abbotsford Arts Addition. I had the privilege of designing the set and building it. Here are some photos of the set build and a few shots from tech week rehearsal as well:
Large window bought on FB for $506×12 flatsPainting a melamine table
The set is quite simple, just a small stage with a backdrop. But it did take two weeks to build and set up.
The window is an important part of the play; it needed to open easily with a pull bar, revealing a snowy background behind.
painting the floortouching up the seamsThis large “shrub” (plastic ivy stapled to a thin board) helps hide the backstage tech table from the audience.
The floor was done with painted stage risers; painted vinyl laid on the venue floor for the lower part.
A small set built and run by Gallery 7 right before Christmas was this little gem, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. Due to venue constraints (MCA Abbotsford), our set had to be struck twice after load-in, so we kept it fairly simple. Design is by Jeff Kiers, and it was directed by Sarah Green.
Building 10 foot high windows
We had a library/entrance door on stage right, and a living room area on stage left.
View from backstageStage during light build
It was a lovely Christmas play; I attended closing night on Dec 23 with my daughter.
Don’t get me wrong. I did a lot of stuff right this year. As a handyman I’m doing so many different things in my job that there are quite a few opportunities for big mistakes if I’m not paying attention. And many jobs worked out wonderfully. However there are three that stick out in my mind – three too many – that I wish had gone the other direction.
Glass insert in door falls out: I replaced an oval glass insert and frame in a front door. A month or two later a good gust of wind sent it toppling to the floor. I had forgotten the silicone bead on the outside.
Round-up on some cedars. I read the directions on the bottle fairly carefully but somehow missed the part about watering it down 50 to 1. I very carefully applied roundup to a bunch of weeds. Somehow despite my care, a little bit got onto some nearby cedar trees (young ones) and caused some branches near the ground to turn brown.
Fireplace glass falling out on a gas fireplace. I cleaned the glass on 4 gas fireplaces in one house. Four months later, one of them fell out suddenly. I checked them and none of them were seated properly. Fortunately no one was hurt.
I was lucky, or blessed, that there was no lasting damage from any of these things. There certainly could have been. All of my customers were gracious with me. After learning about the problems, I made every effort to show up, fix what I could, as fast as possible. What makes it worse is that they were all small, fast jobs – half an hour each – with a low payout for me at the time, but in hindsight, high risk.
The other thing these had in common is that the problems all took time to show up. They were fine for months, and then suddenly I got the call. (What else is waiting to bite me??)
Anyway, so far I haven’t had to use my liability insurance. I hope to keep it this way!
Gallery 7‘s production of A Tale of Two Cities is now playing at Abbotsford Arts Centre. I designed and built the set. Here are some pictures!
Design was fairly simple: Floor with trapdoor, a couple of risers, and backdrop of a city skyline, with some furniture to create different scenes.
These show some of the build in progress: windowframes, flooring, candelabras, wedding arch, walls, trapdoor stage plug, chairs.
There were also some custom barrels which I cover in detail in this blog post.
The backdrop was a large undertaking, being 30 feet wide by 15 feet high, with windows that could be lit from behind.
It was flown in, so needed to be structurally sound. It was constructed of 2×2 SPF and recycled coroplast. Windows were painted muslin. Brick work was painted with a roller with slats cut out and dipped in various colours of paint.
(Director: Gabe Kirkley; Lighting: Ken Hildebrandt; Costumes: Dani DeJong; Props: Becki Cormier; Set Design: Andrew Potts)
For my recent build A Tale of Two Cities for Gallery 7 Theatre, we needed three barrels. One was to be carried and ‘spilled’ and the other two were to set the scene for the Defarge’s wine shop.
A Tale of Two Cities, Gallery 7 Theatre, November 2023
I found a helpful spreadsheet on Popular Machinist (link here) that helped me to know what size to cut the staves. I was able to plug in my dimensions (height, radius, etc) and it plotted out accurate numbers. I then transferred those measurements to a piece of 3/16 mahogany plywood to make a template; then cut all the curved staves with a table saw set at a small angle (please do not attempt to do this unless you are comfortable with power tools).
I cut the head,foot and middle circles out of 3/4 plywood, then stapled the staves on with some help from my assistant. After the first one, I added some extra interior structure before I stapled the staves on, and it was much easier to keep everything even.
There were some small gaps – these would be difficult to make perfect unless cutting everything with a CNC. My solution was 2-inch painters tape to cover the seams and give some structural support.
To protect the top and bottom and also to look more realistic, I added a ring of plywood as well.
My assistant did a great job of painting them and even added some Parisian stamps for realism. The final touch was a few rings of duct tape to simulate metal bands. I also added a few “bung holes” to the prop barrel. One of the larger barrels had a shelf inside so wasn’t completely enclosed, as well.
Overall, they worked really well. They are lightweight, reasonably sturdy, and (I think) realistic. And cheap – I was able to make them for the cost of a couple rolls of tape, since I had plenty of scrap plywood.
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