Transporting My Stage Posted by Chris Arveson on Apr 14, 2010
One of the challenges of moving a puppet show from one side of the planet to another, (or to the next town) is getting my stage there. On airplanes, it is especially challenging to have it condensed down, and fit into a bag that the airlines won't charge extra fees for oversized baggage.
For my Siberia trip, I decided to make my own bag that would fit the dimensions the airline requires, and hopefully be protective of the stage pieces, so that enthusiastic baggage handlers wouldn't do too much damage. I have had stage pieces bent and bruised by the end of a trip.
Here are all the items that need to fit in the bag. Four stands, nine cross-bar pieces (they assemble into three cross-bars), an upper curtain, a lower curtain, a backdrop, and a little assorted hardware and bungee cords for hanging the backdrop and a piece of scenery.
A side view of the bag. I made it out of luggage fabric I got online, it's pretty heavy duty nylon. I must have bent ten heavy duty needles on my sewing machine until I gave up, and went to a regular needle. No more problems. The heavy duty needles weren't as sharp as the regular needles, so they couldn't go through the fabric. The regular needles went through multiple layers of the fabric and double layers of the nylon webbing I used for straps, as long as I stitched slowly. The bag is single layer, except the top and bottom of the bag that is two-layer, with a pad of half-inch polyfoam sandwiched between. Previous bags tended to wear out at the bottom, where the legs of the stands poked at the fabric. The foam is also to help protect the ends of the stands and crossbars from being slammed on hard surfaces.
Top view of the empty bag. Inside I put in six thin-wall 4" diameter pvc drain pipes. One of the problems I had with other bags is the stands would get tangled up with each other, and pulling on one component might bring three other pieces out with it. They also had a tendency to scratch each other up. The pipes keep them separated, making it very easy to pull a stand out, or slide it in. They also serve as protection from bumps from the outside, in case a baggage handler decides to see if the bag will bounce.
Looking down at the loaded bag. There is a stand in each of the four corner tubes. the backdrop and upper curtain are rolled up into one of the middle tubes, and the main front curtain is folded and rolled into the other middle tube. The cross-bars for the stage (nine pieces) fit in the cavities between the tubes and the fabric of the bag. Hardware pieces for hanging the backdrop are in a ziploc bag stuffed into one of the tubes on top of a stand. Zip it closed, and I'm good to go.
Over all, the bag performed very well. The PVC tubes added five pounds of weight, so the total weight of the loaded bag was about one kilo below the weight limit. The one thing the bag could not do, was protect the pieces from zealous customs agents. In either London or Washington, D.C., customs opened the bag to examine the contents, and ended up destroying two of the stands beyond repair. If British Air had gotten our bags to us when we arrived at Heathrow, I would have been able to walk my bag through customs, and kept the pieces protected.
There are a couple places where I need to go in and add some more reinforcing stitches, but I was really satisfied with the way it performed. It was easy to carry around, sturdy enough to protect my stage pieces, and made it so easy to unpack and repack the stage wherever we performed.
For my Siberia trip, I decided to make my own bag that would fit the dimensions the airline requires, and hopefully be protective of the stage pieces, so that enthusiastic baggage handlers wouldn't do too much damage. I have had stage pieces bent and bruised by the end of a trip.
Here are all the items that need to fit in the bag. Four stands, nine cross-bar pieces (they assemble into three cross-bars), an upper curtain, a lower curtain, a backdrop, and a little assorted hardware and bungee cords for hanging the backdrop and a piece of scenery.
A side view of the bag. I made it out of luggage fabric I got online, it's pretty heavy duty nylon. I must have bent ten heavy duty needles on my sewing machine until I gave up, and went to a regular needle. No more problems. The heavy duty needles weren't as sharp as the regular needles, so they couldn't go through the fabric. The regular needles went through multiple layers of the fabric and double layers of the nylon webbing I used for straps, as long as I stitched slowly. The bag is single layer, except the top and bottom of the bag that is two-layer, with a pad of half-inch polyfoam sandwiched between. Previous bags tended to wear out at the bottom, where the legs of the stands poked at the fabric. The foam is also to help protect the ends of the stands and crossbars from being slammed on hard surfaces.
Top view of the empty bag. Inside I put in six thin-wall 4" diameter pvc drain pipes. One of the problems I had with other bags is the stands would get tangled up with each other, and pulling on one component might bring three other pieces out with it. They also had a tendency to scratch each other up. The pipes keep them separated, making it very easy to pull a stand out, or slide it in. They also serve as protection from bumps from the outside, in case a baggage handler decides to see if the bag will bounce.
Looking down at the loaded bag. There is a stand in each of the four corner tubes. the backdrop and upper curtain are rolled up into one of the middle tubes, and the main front curtain is folded and rolled into the other middle tube. The cross-bars for the stage (nine pieces) fit in the cavities between the tubes and the fabric of the bag. Hardware pieces for hanging the backdrop are in a ziploc bag stuffed into one of the tubes on top of a stand. Zip it closed, and I'm good to go.
Over all, the bag performed very well. The PVC tubes added five pounds of weight, so the total weight of the loaded bag was about one kilo below the weight limit. The one thing the bag could not do, was protect the pieces from zealous customs agents. In either London or Washington, D.C., customs opened the bag to examine the contents, and ended up destroying two of the stands beyond repair. If British Air had gotten our bags to us when we arrived at Heathrow, I would have been able to walk my bag through customs, and kept the pieces protected.
There are a couple places where I need to go in and add some more reinforcing stitches, but I was really satisfied with the way it performed. It was easy to carry around, sturdy enough to protect my stage pieces, and made it so easy to unpack and repack the stage wherever we performed.
Re: Transporting My Stage Posted by Chris Arveson on Apr 14, 2010
Time, time, where did I leave my time? It's here somewhere . . .
Won't be any time for a while. I'm in puppetry withdrawal, I have most of my stuff packed up. I'm moving in the end of June, and have a household to put into boxes. All my little buddies are suffocating in plastic bins. My puppetry books and dvds have disappeared from view. The sewing machine is packed, I'm losing it, I tell you, I can't go on like this . . . . AAAAHHHH!
It's going to be a good move, but boy I hate the packing part.
Won't be any time for a while. I'm in puppetry withdrawal, I have most of my stuff packed up. I'm moving in the end of June, and have a household to put into boxes. All my little buddies are suffocating in plastic bins. My puppetry books and dvds have disappeared from view. The sewing machine is packed, I'm losing it, I tell you, I can't go on like this . . . . AAAAHHHH!
It's going to be a good move, but boy I hate the packing part.
Loading