--- title: Creating Custom Candle Holders for Hamilton description: Jay Duckworth, the props master at the Public Theater, needed to create 160 candlestick holders for the hit musical Hamilton. See his unique method for carving the holders out of foam and protected th image: https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/candleholders2.jpg --- ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/Rosco/Images/page-top-bg.jpeg) [![NewSpectrumlogo](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/NewSpectrumlogo.png?width=320&height=150&name=NewSpectrumlogo.png)](https://spectrum.rosco.com) - [Home](https://spectrum.rosco.com/) - [About Spectrum](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products-3?hsLang=en) - [Featured Products](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products?hsLang=en) - [Rosco.com](https://us.rosco.com/en) Home About Spectrum Featured Products Rosco.com ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/candleholders2.jpg) # Creating Custom Candle Holders for Hamilton [Jay Duckworth](http://www.proptologist.com/) *is the props master at the Public Theater in New York who recently mounted* [Lin-Manuel Miranda’s *Hamilton*](http://www.publictheater.org/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/1415/Hamilton/) *– a musical,* set in the late 18th century, about [Alexander Hamilton](http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-hamilton-9326481). The production called out for custom candles – which then necessitated custom candle holders. Jay and his team created 160 of them out of foam using a DRILL PRESS-LATHE! Yeah baby! Watch the video below to see Jay masterfully freehand a candleholder before your very eyes. *As you can see, Jay* used three different coarse rat tail files to remove foam. Being round they were easier for him to hold on both sides. The carving threw off so much foam that he hooked up a [Shop-Vac](https://www.shopvac.com/) on the back to suck up some of the flying debris. [![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders1.jpg?width=710&height=435&name=candleholders1.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders1.jpg?hsLang=en)Once the holder was properly shaped on the drill press-lathe, Jay cut the top and bottom on the chop saw and brushed them with watered down [Rosco FoamCoat](https://www.rosco.com/product/foamcoat). After sanding them down and FoamCoating, and then sanding again – he painted the holders gold before gold-leafing them. [![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders21.jpg?width=710&height=395&name=candleholders21.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders21.jpg?hsLang=en)In the above picture you can see the FoamCoated candle stands behind the gold spray painted ones. Here is what Jay told us about using FoamCoat on this project: “The first coat of FoamCoat was watered way down, which helped us make sure that there was less sanding and it helped wash away any small bits of foam that may have escaped our first cleaning. I learned that technique from icing a cake. When you ice a cake you do a thin first layer so that no cake crumbs mess up your final look of icing. Additional coats gave us a believable enough surface to look like poured brass, which we then had to gold leaf so that they would shine when the lights hit them.” [![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders3.jpg?width=710&height=536&name=candleholders3.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/candleholders3.jpg?hsLang=en)A hole in the center of the candleholder helped the electricians feed wires through the holders straight into actual wax candles that made them realistically glow and flicker for this enlightening musical. [![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/33.jpg?width=200&height=354&name=33.jpg)](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/33.jpg?hsLang=en)Make sure you check out [the entire article from Stage Directions](http://www.stage-directions.com/current-issue/7169-16-0-candles.html) for a full description of Jay Duckworth’s candle holder technique. *Note: This production has moved to Broadway! It opens August 6th, 2015 at the* [Richard Rodgers Theatre](http://richardrodgerstheatre.com/) *in New York.* Joel Svendsen July 21, 2015 [Questions?](mailto:spectrum@rosco.com) [Scenic and Staging](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/scenic-and-staging) ![](https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/Joel-profile-pic-Nov-2016-160x160.jpg) ## About Joel Svendsen Marketing Director: Joel's Rosco career began in Rosco's Hollywood office in 1999 – first in sales covering the Western US and the Los Angeles Film & Television market, and then as Product Manager for Rosco's Film & Television Products. Joel's knowledge about Rosco's products and how they're used in each of our different marketplaces makes him well suited for bringing the stories in Spectrum to life. ### Related post [Party Like it's 1929: Rosco Slit Drape Adds An Elegant Touch To "The Great Gatsby"](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2013/06/party-like-its-1929?hsLang=en) [Promote Healthy Practices With Rosco Gobos For Health](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2020/06/promote-healthy-practices-with-rosco-gobos-for-health?hsLang=en) [The Birth Of A Gobo: Crawford Leaf – From Tabletop To Projected Pattern](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2018/03/crawford-leaf-from-tabletop-to-gobo?hsLang=en) [The Birth Of A Gobo: How Tony Tucci’s Hand-Cut Patterns Made It Into Rosco’s Gobo Library](https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2018/03/tony-tuccis-patterns-in-roscos-gobo-library?hsLang=en) ### Receive Email Alerts About New Spectrum Blog Posts! ### Categories [Architecture](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/architecture) [Dance](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/dance) [Entertainment Lighting](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/entertainment-lighting) [Film, Television and Broadcast](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/film-television-and-broadcast) [Photography](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/photography) [Rosco - The Company](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/rosco-the-company) [Scenic and Staging](https://spectrum.rosco.com/tag/scenic-and-staging) © 2022 Rosco Spectrum - [Home](https://spectrum.rosco.com/) - [About Spectrum](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products-3?hsLang=en) - [Featured Products](https://spectrum.rosco.com/rosco-spectrum-featured-products?hsLang=en) - [Rosco.com](https://us.rosco.com/en) - ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Joel Svendsen", "url" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/author/joel" }, "dateModified" : "2022-11-23T20:27:57.752Z", "datePublished" : "2015-07-21T13:30:59.000Z", "headline" : "Creating Custom Candle Holders for Hamilton", "image" : [ "https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/candleholders2.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/index.php/2015/07/candleholders-for-hamilton", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://spectrum.rosco.com/hubfs/ROSCO_WAL_H_RGB.png" }, "name" : "Rosco Laboratories" } } ```