Josh Kigner, a freelance theatrical designer, was hired by Fort Point Theatre Channel to design scenery and props for a new play that was debuting at Boston Playwrights Theatre. The script called for a large Greek plaster sculpture of a man, and Kigner needed a solution that was low-cost, could be easily carried on stage and had a rigged arm that could break on cue. This eliminated the choice of finding a rental, so Josh worked his magic with 1/4" Insulation foam and turned to Rosco for the rest.
Using a 3D scan of the V&A Museum’s Jason sculpture he obtained through the Scan the World Project, Josh altered it to fit his needs and uploaded it onto Autodesk 123D Make. The software works like a CAT scan – slicing the body/sculpture into many thin layers that Kigner then exported to a CNC machine. In order to keep a reasonable amount of detail, he set all of his parameters to fit 1/4” insulation foam.
After stacking all of the cut layers, Josh covered the sculpture with a thin base layer of FoamCoat mixed with strips of cheesecloth to help smooth out the ridges. After it dried, he added two more, much thicker coats, which were sanded down. The sculpture was then treated with Rosco Off Broadway Paint to age it and give it a terra cotta feel. The sculpture succeeded by being both extremely lightweight and, thanks to the heavy layers of FoamCoat, also very robust – withstanding heavy use over the course of the production.
To see more of Josh’s work visit his website or check him out on Instagram, which is where we first discovered his work. Visit the Rosco Scenic Products webpage to learn more about FoamCoat, Off Broadway Paint or any of our other scenic tools and how they can help your create your next prop or scenic project.
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