paulears Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Real cream stinks when it goes off. Virtually everything will sting and stain if it isn't washed off. If you need large amounts of foam, then shaving sticks grated into warm water and stirred with one of those paint stiring gadgets in the end of a power drill work really well. I've worked on lots of foam shows and this method is now more often replaced by large budget cans of pre-made stuff. as bruce says, it does make the stage slippery, but so does everything else, and you always have to mop the stage anyway. To the best of my knowledge, shaving foam, despite stinging, doesn't cause any eye problems. I suspect I'd rather have that in my eyes rather than eggs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted February 5, 2006 Share Posted February 5, 2006 Real cream stinks when it goes off. You can get artificial / vegetable based squirty cream in a can which does not smell nearly as bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeer Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Thanks a lot for your replies I'm going to test all the methods mentioned above and see which one is most viable both value wise and practically. Thank you very much for your quick replies they were very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeer Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 One last quick question for paul. you mentioned shaving sticks grated into warm water and stirred. where can I get shaving sticks? and does the foam produce burn the eyes or stain? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Shaving Sticks can be bought from most supermarkets/pharmacies, the recipe we used for Panto this year added a teaspoon of Glycerine to the mix, which apparently stops the stinging. Stuff in a can: forget it, it's rubbish and you'll get through it so quickly it'll cost you a fortuneWhipped cream: is very greasy and tends to deflate very quickly As stated above, all will produce a slippery mess if allowed to come into contact with the floor so a thorough mopping will generally remove any slippage hazards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ankersandrew Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Shaving Sticks can be bought from most supermarkets/pharmacies, the recipe we used for Panto this year added a teaspoon of Glycerine to the mix, which apparently stops the stinging. Stuff in a can: forget it, it's rubbish and you'll get through it so quickly it'll cost you a fortuneWhipped cream: is very greasy and tends to deflate very quickly As stated above, all will produce a slippery mess if allowed to come into contact with the floor so a thorough mopping will generally remove any slippage hazards23 years in the biz worked with shaving sticks all my life, bit more work got so much more worth it, ask the circus ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magenta Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Has to be said, my all time favorite after a day of testing was Superdrug's own shaving foam, didn't sting (I had an actor with really senstive skin) and stayed "puffy" for approx 90mins before use. The can cost about 85p, but you used to get about 8 pies out of it. It did still leave the stage sticky, but when we did Bugsy the pies were only used in the end scene, so it was only the bows you had to worry about, but we kept flan flinging to up stage to lessen the risk. Also silly string was great, this was used for the splurge guns (and also used by the crew from the wings on the last night!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_s Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 My old school produced Bugsy Malone a few years ago. Like has been mentioned, we just used shaving cream. There wasn't much pie throwing until the final scene though, so that negated a lot of the issues with slipperiness. Not sure if it was mentioned above however, but it did make a nice mess of the black drapes! We also used cans of shaving foam in the guns (silly string - now that would have been a cool idea!), but I didn't really see much of that - I missed the rehearsals because of work experience, and ended up sitting behind a curtain for the 2 runs of the show that I was at :D On a related note, I thought I'd made a good escape not having been hit or covered in shaving foam on the way out after the show. Until someone walked past me and brushed against my (black) jacket. I wasn't impressed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy K Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Any of the suggestions are workable. At the end of the day you are gonna be chucking X amount of Y onto the stage so no matter what you use it will cause a slip hazzard. The simple solution is to limit the amount and the use of the pies. Simple to say but not so easy to manage. I have always used either shaving foam or angel delight for any pies / cakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Also silly string was great AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHH !!!!!! NO NO NO Evil substance that is the Snot of Bealzebub. Silly String reacts with Harlequin dance floors to give you a lovely plastic coating that cannot be removed from your floor. We had to physically attack the floor with a razor blade to remove it the one and only time it has and ever will be allowed anywhere near any of my floors. I still have the nervous tick from the last time it was used... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Old-fashioned shaving cream and a little water! Place a pea-sized amount of shaving cream in a bucket and add a little water. Beat with a hand mixer until you have a bucket full of dry foam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wycome5 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 What about hiring a foam machine and just pumping that out onto the sponge 'plates'. The only issues I can see are slippery stage (with anything and as far as I know this is the final scene so not too much of an issue) and maybe the eyes - not sure on the last one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richt Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 There's a company www.kave.co.uk that sells custard pie mix.They also advertise on ebayhttp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pro-Custard-Pie-Mix-...4QQcmdZViewItem To quote the page: Professional Custard Pie MixNot for eating - Just for throwing!1 Packet with added water makes 5 Ltr.Just add 1 pint of cold water and whisk thoroughly until stiff..... the perfect "in your face pie".To remove - wait until dry then just brush off or use cold water.Can be re-whipped the next day.Contains albumen. Has anybody tried it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 There's a company www.kave.co.uk that sells custard pie mix.They also advertise on ebay Has anybody tried it?This looks like the stuff that we used in a show last year. It did, accidentaly, end up in peoples eyes during the run and they said it stung but not in the way that soap does. It does wash out of costumes but does not brush off as it promises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 There's a company www.kave.co.uk that sells custard pie mix.They also advertise on ebay Has anybody tried it?This looks like the stuff that we used in a show last year. It did, accidentaly, end up in peoples eyes during the run and they said it stung but not in the way that soap does. It does wash out of costumes but does not brush off as it promises. We got it from Lancelyn in Oxford, but it may well be the same stuff. the spraycan stuff was rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.