----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Waterson"
Subject: Wide backdrops
I have some 3 meter paper backdrops, but wondered if there was anything
like a 6 meter (without joining them).
If not, what suggestions for a seamless group backdrop.
To get anything that wide, you will have to build it out of panels.
We have made a couple of monster backdrops, around 24x30 feet using the widest muslin we could find (the 30 foot one is 3 panels.
Sew them together with a serger, and then paint them.
As long as you are a bit careful with draping, and can knock the background slightly out of focus, you won't see the seams.
I posted this to the list back in June 1999. It may help you out.
Simple Background manufacture: Buy some large pieces of muslin, and sew them together to make as large a background as you want. Our studio has 2 huge ones that must be over 20 x 20 feet each. Buy a couple of gallons of latex paint in colours you think might be apprpriate to your needs. For portraiture, I prefer warm neutrals. (An oxymoron, I am sure). You can go fairly dark, but again, try to stay in a neutral density range as well. Mix a liter of the paint that you want as the base colourwith a liter of water (or thereabouts, you want it fairly thin) and paint the entire background. We layed the fabric out on a lawn for this (you might want to use someone elses lawn)Quickly take a squeeze bottle (we used a well rinsed dish detergent bottle) with some of the other paint, and perhaps one with a mixture of the two colours, and spray beads of paint evenly onto the background. Then take a big step back in time, remember "tye-dying"? What you want to do, is to fold the thing up and twist it for all your worth. This is definitely a 2 person job, and expect to get messy. Unroll the background and check your work. You may want more paint here and there. Our backgrounds cost us the princelu sum of $200.00 each, most of that was for the muslin, which we paid premium for to get 9 foot widths.
William Robb
