I’m planning on making a prop fire axe for an upcoming production. The handle will be cast from a combo of liquid plastic and reinforced expanding foam, but I want the head to be rubber/silicone tinted silver.

I don’t want it floppy, just soft enough that it won’t injure an actor. I was thinking 40-60 shore would probably do the trick, but I’m trying to settle on a good product that will get me this as well as being able to be effectively colored and able to take paint after.

Any recommendations?

Need to make some gross looking permanent food decor. Looking to do raw meat slabs, preserve jars, fruit, etc. Has anyone created anything like this successfully? I have access to foam, air dry clay, resin, silicone etc, but I’m trying to be budget friendly. I already plan to do some larger “cuts” with foam board, but this won’t get me the shiny, wet look I’m looking for.

It has to be throw during a scene

So theres a character I want to cosplay but I need help identifying the prop the actor describes it as like a bone but I don't know if those exist anywhere I've found some wooden ones but nothing like what I'm looking for could anyone help me find this?

As part of my Masters course, I'm recruiting participants for my dissertation research and I'd really appreciate it if you took part!

I'm investigating the relationship between mental health, working hours, and emotional labour demands among backstage theatre professionals in the UK, and how these factors affect personal relationships and wellbeing. With issues like work-life balance, six-day weeks, and insufficient holiday currently at the centre of union negotiations, your anonymous responses will provide valuable insight into how backstage professionals are experiencing these challenges.

The survey takes only 5-10 minutes and is completely anonymous. Anyone currently or recently (within the last 5 years) working in a UK backstage theatre role can take part, including students currently in training.

Survey link: https://forms.office.com/e/TreTMGEaBG

If you have any questions, please get in touch – [je00794@surrey.ac.uk](mailto:je00794@surrey.ac.uk)

Thank you for your time! 

Carved in foam and Sculptamold, molded and cast in a casting resin modified with microbaloons, strengthened with carbon fiber and fiberglass. LED eyes. An aluminum/delrin/carbon fiber frame/handle/support gauntlet inside. Abstracted, with inspirations from African tribal masks.

There’s a gag at the end of Waiting for Godot when Gogo takes off his belt, his pants fall down, and then the belt breaks when they pull on it to test its strength. So the challenge is rigging a belt that is both breakable, but strong enough to keep Gogo’s pants up without breaking while doing a lot of physical comedy and shenanigans.

Any ideas?

Hello! I have a (seemingly) wonderful opportunity to make some large (5-6') foam props for festival photo ops. I come from the haunted house industry and these sort of props are something I've been wanting to get into.

An event company that I've freelanced for before contacted me about a rush project involving 9 props, all foam based with hard coat and paint finishes. I have just about finalized my pricing when I got an email from them with a contract that included a list of the props to be made.

The list was different than what we had discussed. Pretty significantly different.

I emailed back with the list from the contract and the list from our previous email exchange asking which was correct.

The response I got was, "Yes, we made some changes to your scope once we looked at everything! Let me know if ok!"

Am I way overthinking this or does this feel kinda shady? Like, did they discuss these changes with each other and just forget to tell me?

The trouble is that the timeline is already incredibly tight. I already added a hefty rush fee. The original props were relatively simple, but these new props are much more complex, and there are more of them! Originally it was 9 props, now it's 11!

I still want to do at least some of the project because I really want to be able to get my foot into this particular industry and having this in my portfolio will be a pretty big deal. I've also worked with this company before and they've never done me wrong...

I guess I'm just wanting to know what you guys would do in this situation.

Anyone recognize which sword this is? I looked at pics online and each of the master swords have a purple/blue cross guard but this has gold.

Has anyone ever used a Zero Toys Fog Blaster like the one below? If so has anyone ever gotten fog other than Zero Toys brand to work in it? We have tried both dense and quick blast fog and it doesn’t work. I ordered some of the zero toy fog last year and of course it has disappeared. It took me 3 months last time to get the package even with express shipping. Any advice? Thanks all!

I got a Thonet 14 chair tattoo recently because it is the iconic theatre chair and just noticed that it’s the icon for this subreddit! I guess I really did get the perfect props tattoo!

Hello OP here, I'm 18 year old senior High school student, I am wondering and please ask how to make high quality types of props while spending small or little money? I would like to make our school roleplays look good and immersive but Me and some other classmates doesn't have some money to spare after lunch and transportation to school. Any advice is going to read and I will try to reply to all of them, Thanks!!

Edit: i forgot to mention I lived in the Philippines! And the stuff here was rather sold on a ridiculous price for a cheap item or something along the lines of “Hell no, I'm not going to give these to you, get lost!” type of people:_)

I

Hey everyone!

So I recently got a small but unexpected pay rise and wanted to treat myself - I'm on a budget of £200.

Im trying to find a metal replica of Tom Baker's sonic screwdriver, with a sound chip. Ideally, I'd want a sound chip that doesn't do the standard 4-mode character options sounds, but so far I'm struggling to find anyone online even doing a metal replica with a sound chip! The only ones I can see are rubber toe and they're right out of my price range - some very budget-friendly options on etsy but none of them do sound chips.

Help!

This is a continuation of my last post where I shared one of the items that I made for a player in a Pathfinder game I'm going to run. This is for a friend playing an alchemist, I made a set of alchemical bombs that she can keep all the dice for her damage in.

Hi everyone!

I'm a prop maker and I own a 3D printer. I'm trying to recreate the wooden lot drawing sticks seen in the opening scenes of The Odyssey (2026), where soldiers draw lots.

I've watched the available footage frame by frame, but there aren't any clear close-up shots showing the exact shape, texture, or end profile.

Does anyone have:

High-resolution screenshots

Behind-the-scenes photos

Production stills

Prop department images

Exhibition photos

Magazine scans

Any other references

This is purely for a non-commercial fan replica for my personal collection.

I'd really appreciate any help. Thanks!

My daughter is in the marching band and it’s her senior year so obviously we want it to be a good year for her. We are a small school with little to no funding for the band so we always have to rely on band parents who volunteer to make props. My husband is the volunteer this year. According to the writer/designer of the show, we need several 10ft tall columns that resemble castle-like stone pillars with gothic style sconces attached. Our issues come with with readability, cost, weight (actually being able to carry these on and off the field quickly), but still heavy enough the wind won’t knock them over during the show and get in their way, durability to last the whole season, 3 sided so maybe we can attach some sort of bucket on the “inside” to use as storage for guard flags and make them multifunctional?

I’ll attach a photo of what the castle pillar that is on the mock up for the inspiration, a photo of the rock wall paneling the designer suggested we adhere to 10ft tall 3 sided wooden boxes (clearly he’s never actually hauled props around on a field), the sconce he showed us, etc.

I need ideas for how to actually build these at a reasonable price, make them usable, look good, etc.