As you may have noticed, I haven't been here much. I'll show you why. I've been building stuff and things.
The Velocity of Autumn set: Take note of the real Ash tree in the background and the 740 square feet of hand-painted parquet floor. The white walls are all muslin with paintings on the back. When lit from the front they appear opaque. Lit from the back they reveal the paintings.
And the best part; the designer's rendering. I think I nailed it.
Wow, nice job!
More to come. We're currently in our run of Big Fish so I am technically prohibited from posting photos. Next weekend we'll be done and I can release photos.
Its HUGE. Big proscenium show.
Very impressive!
That's at building an actual house level of construction.
Very impressive. The stained glass appearance is very cool
Woody wrote: Wow, nice job!
Plus eleventybillion! 
The building of stuff I can relate to, the architectural bit is something that eludes me but I can certainly appreciate. Nice work.
A couple things...
So you are saying that is not a real wood parquet floor but rather that is paint?
If so, I'm blown away!
I had to re read your post a couple of times and review the pics a couple of time to understand that the second to last photo is drawing of what someone from somewhere else would like this to look like and the last photo is what you actually made it look like in your location.
You certainly nailed it!
Ash tree? Where did you get that? Here, they are all dead from the emerald ash boarer bug that killed them all.
E36 M3 dude. You need to be in home renovations.
nice work. my cousin is majoring in theater and set design and has a couple years to go, maybe she needs to come work with you after school.
Wow, speaking as a long-ago techie myself, that's a great set, Curtis!
Curtis, you've found your calling
Congrats
Looks awesome Curtis! 
Looks great Curtis!
I used to build sets when I was in college, but nothing like that!
All the homebuilding commenters:
Saying this is like building a house I think is undervaluing this quite a bit. MOST homebuilders or remodelers work way fast and make tons of small mistakes and shortcuts. (Fix it with caulk). This looks to be a much higher level of craftsmanship to me.
Also not trying to knock homebuilders and remodelers, they are just building to a different purpose.
JohnRW1621 wrote: A couple things... So you are saying that is not a real wood parquet floor but rather that is paint? If so, I'm blown away!
All paint. I took 25 sheets of masonite and cut them into 2' x 2' tiles. Then (under the direction of a master scenic painter) painted every single one in a 7-step process; base, color, spatter, dry brush, another spatter, dry brush again, glaze, then finished with water-based poly once the tiles were down.
I had to re read your post a couple of times and review the pics a couple of time to understand that the second to last photo is drawing of what someone from somewhere else would like this to look like and the last photo is what you actually made it look like in your location. You certainly nailed it!
Thanks. Those were the designer's renderings. He sent me a full packet of sketches and elevations along with rough measurements for proportion. Then I put screws in wood.
Ash tree? Where did you get that? Here, they are all dead from the emerald ash boarer bug that killed them all.
Around here they still get relatively large but the borer kills them eventually. I got it from my property. There are several ash trees here, the biggest is probably about 10" in diameter but mostly dead. That is next year's firewood. I found this one (about 6" diameter) because I wanted a fully-live tree (didn't want to trust dead branches falling on an actor) and I chose the ash because it would have died soon anyway. I just hope no one noticed that it was an Ash because I glued 1300 maple leaves on it.
Robbie wrote: All the homebuilding commenters: Saying this is like building a house I think is undervaluing this quite a bit. MOST homebuilders or remodelers work way fast and make tons of small mistakes and shortcuts. (Fix it with caulk). This looks to be a much higher level of craftsmanship to me. Also not trying to knock homebuilders and remodelers, they are just building to a different purpose.
I have done lots of remodeling things, but Robbie is right. This set has a fair amount of foam, luan, and light-duty stuff. Those columns are all sculpted from pink styrofoam insulation sheets. The bay window is three "box" units made out of plywood. It was engineered to last for three weeks and then get torn apart. All the trim and crown was saved, but the rest was cut up for scraps to be recycled into the next show.
Most of my remodeling work looks a lot like this set; great from 20' away but it won't stand the test of time. Both are very similar forms of work, just with very different materials.
And if I never cut another piece of 52/38 crown molding at a 12.5 degree inside angle again, it will be too soon. That killed more brain cells than the beer I drank during this build.
patgizz wrote: nice work. my cousin is majoring in theater and set design and has a couple years to go, maybe she needs to come work with you after school.
Yes! Our 2016-2017 season has 7 shows in 9 months; two of them huge builds. Next February we're doing City of Angels. That show has two parallel story lines: one in color, and one in black and white. Technical nightmare.
I'm the only one here building. MUST HAVE HELP FOR NEXT SEASON
I really miss my theatrical construction days.
Enjoy!
I'll give you a quick preview of Big Fish even though I'm not supposed to yet.
Very Cool. I did lighting back in the day. It was fun!
The attention to detail and quality in craftsmanship is astounding! I know this is a theatre set, but by comparison in my world, If I could ever afford to hire out for a home improvement project of this caliber, this is the kind of end result I would want.
curtis73 wrote:patgizz wrote: nice work. my cousin is majoring in theater and set design and has a couple years to go, maybe she needs to come work with you after school.Yes! Our 2016-2017 season has 7 shows in 9 months; two of them huge builds. Next February we're doing City of Angels. That show has two parallel story lines: one in color, and one in black and white. Technical nightmare. I'm the only one here building. MUST HAVE HELP FOR NEXT SEASON
it's a shame my sis is bipolar and not at all reliable.. because she is an excellent Artist, has done scenic, and lives in Carlyle..
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