From Newbury with Love

I spent the best part of last week travelling down to Lewes daily to help build the set for a show in Newbury, just outside of Reading. Despite the show being in Newbury the production company had rented out a warehouse in Lewes as it was more affordable for a show on a strict budget. My main job was cutting all the plywood sheets and metal tresses down to size so the set could be constructed.

The metal was alot more of a task than the wood. Where wood is a nicer material to work with, as it can be shaved and sanded, metal is alot more of a struggle. We therefore had to be dead on with our accuracy so that we did'nt waste the supply of resources the company had bought.

As the metal was being welded together, and the plywood fixed on top, the accuracy of our measurements was crucial. We would measure a length, move it into position over the saw, re-check the measurement, bring the saw down to the mark, check it again, tighten the metal tress into place and check the measurement again. We were advised to not mark a line on the metal/ wood as this gave a small chance of inaccuracy. Therefore we laid a tape measure over it and brought the blade of the saw down to the mark to be certain.

Once we had cut the metal we would check

the measurement again and, if necessary, shave off any unwanted millimeters. This was particularly difficult for metal that had to be cut at an angle. This was an incredably tiring and time consuming task but completely vital.

After a while we began to get into the rhythm of the routine and picked up speed, but the first hour or so was pretty gruelling! We spent the majority of the first day just cutting the metal and getting used to the chop saw. All though the tasks we were set were very repetitive, I really gained alot from simply using a tool over and over again. As well as the chop saw and circular saw I also got very comfortable with using a jigsaw and angle grinder. Tools that I had some experience with in the past but not to the degree I had during last week. It was a brilliant opportunity to not only become skilled with a number of different tools but also to become more experienced at dealing with the stress of having to get measurements spot on every time.

Here you can see the plans for the flooring of the stage. Each sheet of wood had to be scaled up from the drawing on the plans and marked out before being cut with the jigsaw. Again this helped me massively improve my skill with power tools as well as drawing things to scale and working from a design plan. By the end of the week I was exhausted but satisfied with what I had achieved and learnt during my time in Lewes. The next production week isn't until the 21st of february so hopefully I will be free and able to travel down to help out again.