[SML] Pre-cut breaking glass and hiding the seams

[Pat Kight]

Joe D via Stagecraft wrote:
> I am considering how to do a particular effect with breaking glass. This is for Neil Simon's Fools, and I am proposing that one of the shop keepers has an ongoing struggle getting his broom through the door. The final solution is when the broom accidentally breaks the shop window, and he realizes the broom handle is part-way into the shop. This becomes his preferred way of getting the broom in, and so it must be reset several times.
>
> I can imagine making the broken glass from plastic, and cutting it into the broken pieces.  What is missing is a way to hide the seams.  I am thinking that if the seams are fairly tight, I can put a little water on the seam. This should make it nearly invisible, provided I can cut the pieces so they fit with very little clearance. So, the kerf of the cut will be a problem.  I might make the pattern so that I can push the parts together, and any space from the kerf is only seen at the outer perimeter, where it can be hidden by the frame.
>
> Any thoughts on this? Do you think it will be viable to hide the seam the way I am suggesting?
Is the door viewed from the inside of the shop or the outside?

If the former, what about hanging a short, lightweight sheer curtain 
over the downstage face of the window - a lot of small shops have them. 
Something like this: 
http://www.kohls.com/product/prd-1331355/united-curtain-co-batiste-door-window-panel-54-x-40.jsp 
only hanging loose, without the bottom tension bar. You should be able 
to find similar sheers at any big box store with home furnishings, or 
possibly at Goodwill.

That would mask the breakage lines, and also provide a but of a shatter 
guard to keep the "broken glass" from scattering all over the stage if 
the actor gets too enthusiastic. (You'd want to hang the door with a 
decent gap at the bottom, though, to keep it from hanging up on the 
shards if the actor has to open the door.)

(The last time I needed a breakable door pane, for a 1989 production of 
Stephen Metcalf's "Strange Snow," I went old-school and cast my own with 
reusable plastic "glass' resin. It was a total pain in the rear, with a 
failure rate of about  one in three panes cast. The fumes were terrible 
- and toxic - and man, you do not want to get a splatter of that hot 
resin on your skin. A google search today turns up no suppliers for the 
resin, and it's probably just as well.)

-- 
Pat Kight