rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:23:14 -0800, Lloydj
wrote:

> I had one made for some
>> friends when they got engaged, a 3' square sign with a love heart and
>> twelve letters cost $150, including a (non-UL) control gear. Even
>> buying your control gear north of the border would get you UL and cost
>> effectiveness.
>>
>> Calle Victoria is the Mexican center for the neon sign trade in Mexico
>> city.
>>
>> All the best.
>>
>> Thomas
>
>Real neon can be a complete disaster if you're flying it. Any bump
>and the stage gets showered with glass, and the 10-15,000 volt
>transformers are nothing to get close to with all the steel in a
>typical fly gallery. Granted they're only a few milliamps of current,
>but I got hit by one years ago and I still remember, it made that much
>of an impression!
>Side emitting fiber optic comes to mind, but isn't cheap. The sources
>are controllable and some chase and/or change color with dichroic
>wheels.
>End lit bent lucite rods can be effective but might not be bright
>enough.
>Depending on the background and distance from the audience you could
>get away with light boxes with milk plexi face masked off to leave
>only the negative space open for light to pass.
>I'm not a fan of rope light, it tends to have hot spots.
>My 2 cents
>LJ


We have produced literally hundreds of flying neon signs for Broadway,
Off-Broadway, and even Tour productions. Some gigantic and extremely
complex. We rarely have breakage even when the framework is minimal
and the grid is packed tight. We did "Sweet Smell..." on Broadway by
the way.

My experience is that neon projects that run into trouble are those
that are not well thought out. Often they are last minute additions or
the production is using the bottom of the barrel bid. I understand
that this is sometimes necessary. I try to help the smaller
productions.

As for cost, it's hand fabricated glasswork. Yet I have had many
instances where my bid was lower than the LED imitation and neon was
able to accomplish tight and graceful shapes that were not possible
with other look-alikes.

Kenny
Krypton neon