Thread: what do you do with.....

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Well, this year I made a semi large stage, 3 animated props and several other props. I got a lot of praise from people, and even had a traffic jam outside my house, it was great. But, now it's over.....what do you all do with the props? I had, already tore it apart, 2x4 framed wall with 3 sections. I was able to salvage the wiring and the props, but I was thinking about next year....going bigger. So what do you all do with the larger props? I don't have alot of room to house the building material and I want to start using 12V motors next year. I had thought about building ann electric chair, moving grave zombie and a rising zombie, and incorporate my older animated props. Do you all save the building materials?

I'm lucky, I have a five bedroom house (smaller bedrooms) that has a creepy basement that has a workbench in it. No kids. I've never had the guts to build props, but since I've found this site I'm going to start for next year. Someday I'm sure I'll have issues storing it all, but for now, it sits in the spare room.

Shed, Attic, rental storage space. And still need more space. :-(

When you start building props for year-after-year use, you'll start by thinking "How can I break this down and store it?"

My stage floor, which resembles a wharf, is actually a spare section of 6' stockade fence, which sits on six cinder blocks, with the foot lights built into round concrete forms painted and detailed to look like pilings, with a notch in one side allowing them to slip into and partially under the elevated fence/floor. A handmade mooring rope is looped from piling to piling and staple-tacked in place to keep the audience away from the animation. The animated skellies sit or stand next to a pile of wooden crates, which hide the controllers. When the time comes to take apart the display, the fence is propped up against the rest of the fence in the yard. The cinder blocks are stacked in a corner of the yard. The crates are used to store all the props, except the skellies, who sleep the off-season stacked in the toe pincher coffin. What is an 8' wide x 6' deep x 6' tall display effectively knocks down to a very small space in a corner of the garage.

And, when you start thinking about storage, you'll also figure out new ways to stack your stored display to make it easier to get out next year.

Craig

I have two words for you..

Nooks and Crannies. =) I have a three car garage that I havent been able to park my car in for 6 years. =)