USITT 2017 Tech Expo Guide - 36

Tech EXPO 2017

Figure 4 - Closeup of crown
after silver Rub 'N' buff and black
acrylic paint was applied

Figure 5 - Crown after being painted with
silver Rub 'N' buff and black acrylic paint

laser cut and formed with a heat gun. This method
worked a lot better and gave both of the costume
designers something that they wanted.
The process of laser cutting acrylic begins with
designing what you would like to cut out using a
drafting program. In this case I used Vectorworks
2012, which is what the laser cutter recommended
in its owners manual. The design I came up with
was based off of the research that Valerie St. Pierre
Smith, the costume designer for Foreign Flames, had
given to me. I took traditional Celtic Lines and created the crown shape from interlocking peaks. I also
cut out some pieces to overlay on top of the crown
to give it a more three-dimensional shape. Once that
was done, I moved on to the final step with the laser cutter. In order to catch the stage light, give the
crown more depth, and to give a surface for paint to
stick, I engraved a texture into the cut crowns with
the laser cutter. The texture I engraved was a pixelated version of a hatching that was done on paper
and uploaded to the computer.
Once everything was done on the laser cutter, it
was on to the shaping of the crowns. Using the actors' head dimensions I was able to approximate the
shape of their head and create a crown that fit them
snugly. This was imperative because the actors were
going to be taking a lot of abuse on stage and the
crowns needed to be able to stay on their heads. The
crown was heated using a heat gun and then gently
bent, pulled and shaped into a circle. After that, I
glued the two ends together with a clear contact adhesive. I also added a small bit of metal mesh over

United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc.

the seam to ensure that the seam was stable while
the actors wore it. This allowed the crown to be both
flexible and strong while still maintaining its shape.
The crown was then left to cure overnight with a
small weight on the seam to make sure that it didn't
come apart.
After the adhesive dried, I began to paint the
crowns. I used Rub 'N' Buff, a metallic paint that
you can apply, let dry, and then take off using a cloth
to give a more rustic feel. I started with a light layer
of silver Rub 'N' Buff and then buffed that out. I repeated that a few times and finally filled in with a
layer of slightly watered down black acrylic paint.
This gave the crown a burnished silver look that was
what the costume designers were looking for. Once
the painting on the crown was completed and it had
some time to dry, I used some clear spray sealant on
the crown so that the paint would not come off on
the actors.
This project was a rather inexpensive way to create crowns that are easily replicated and look uniform across multiple copies. The one major expense
in a project like this would be the initial cost of the
laser cutter, which can be anywhere from $5,000 on
up. If you don't have a laser cutter readily available
to you, some libraries have them that you can rent
by the minute or you can look for a service online
to cut for you. For my crowns, it would have cost me
roughly $8 to use the library laser cutter. I was able
to find 18" by 24" sheets of acrylic at the hardware
store for $12 a sheet-enough for six crowns from a
single sheet. The only other costs in this project were
the adhesive, mesh, and paint, which cost $15. This
means that my crowns came out to be just under $6
a piece.
Laser cutting can be used to make a plethora of
different objects and is used on many different materials. The process is relatively inexpensive because
you can use everyday materials, such as glass, wood,
acrylic, and leather. You can both cut and engrave on
the objects to give them a more three-dimensional
look. Laser cutting does not take away from an object's ability to be painted on. It also creates replicas
that are identical to one another, so if you need to
make extras, you have the ability to get exactly the
same object over and over again. The laser cutter allows you to make your designs a reality in materials
that you otherwise would not be able to.

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