[SML] Fire effect onstage

[Joe D]

>  The character of Arlie needs to accidentally set her sleeve on fire. 

Setting an actor on fire should only be done under very highly controlled situations, and implemented by stunt artists. I suspect you are MUCH better off finding an alternative.

For this particular effect, I suspect that smoke is the more important thing to see.  A pencil fogger is a great solution. This has battery pack that is reasonable to put onto an actor, and has a separate head that actually emits the fog.  You might put the battery on a belt pack, and then strap the head to the actors forearm. Adding some red LEDs to the proposed burn area may also be good addition. 

Since a pencil fogger is not cheap, and the actress clothing not good for concealing the pencil fogger, you might even consider just using a regular fogger with flow control.  Have it near the fire source, or rather block the actor so they are near the fogger.  Perhaps have a fan to help disperse the fog a bit. In a real fire on the arm situation, waving the arm around, like a person is likely to do, the source of the fog should not be that distinct.

It might be good to have two layers of sleeve.  A burnt sleeve underneath a good fabric sleeve.  Then, by pulling the good sleeve off, the burnt one is revealed.  It might even show some skin that looks like it has suffered from the event.

To expand again on the idea of multiple sleeves.  What if there were three layers.  The good and final burnt ones as already mentioned.  The additional sleeve is in the middle, and has some red glitter or shiny material added. What gave me that idea is that I saw a fake fireplace with some red foil that was painted black, and then some of the black rubbed off.  The results were very realistic burning embers.  But, it is easy to pull just one sleeve off, having two layers to pull off at different times is something I have not figured out.

-Joe