What is the best fabric to paint senery on

[sspuppets]

I was wondering what type fabric most use when painting scenery for backdrops. What type paint is best for painting the fabric.

SS Puppets

[gspuppets]

I don't have a lot of experience in backdrop painting, so if anyone has any further suggestions that would be great.  We don't typically do painted backdrops for our shows, but I understand that canvas is the fabric that is most widely used.  Latex paint would probably be the most economical for backdrop painting.

[jomama]

I don't know if there is truly a "Best" fabric for painted backdrops. Your backdrop has to meet your particular needs. If you are a traveling show with limited space, canvas with latex paint would probably not be the best material to use. Reason being, canvas is already a little stiff, when you add latex paint you are adding stiffness so the fabric would need to be rolled up. If your backdrop is 8 feet wide, you have a pretty big roll of fabric you need a way to transport. Latex tends to want to crack over time so again perhaps not the best for traveling.
 
Using a quality bedsheet then airbrushing or using fabric dye like paint works well. The sheet can be folded for transport and easily attached to your stage for your backdrop. The sheets are lightweight, easily packable and last for a long time.

Sue

[Puppets And Stuff]

Traditionally backgrounds in theater are painted on Muslin.  Check out the this site: http://www.rosebrand.com/subcategory175/fabric-by-use-scenic-painting.aspx

Rosebrand is the old standby for most theater companies but you can find Muslin anywhere. It is just that they often have it in wider widths. They also sell scenic paint and the sizing that you use to treat the muslin before you paint it.  Just like if you where going to paint on canvas with oil you would first stretch your muslin and then size it.  Stretching muslin can be done on 4' X 8' sheets of press board.  You can find it in Home Depot and it is normally used under flooring.

Found this interesting DIY article for making a dyed muslin background: http://www.diyphotography.net/homestudio/chaep-diy-muslin-photography-background.

I also found a Google book called Scenic Art for the Theater. http://books.google.com/books?id=K9BMA92i41EC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA11,M1  It is not the complete book but there is enough there to give you some basics.

[Jinx]

I'll second Rose Brand as an excellent resource for buying unbleached muslin. I tend to use standard theatre flat-style construction for backgrounds, and I do use latex paint, not only for painting, but also for sizing.

True, latex does not have as good longevity, but I generally don't need them to last beyond a year or so.

[maranatha]

Hi!
We used  bed sheets.  Many motels will give them to you.  Due to the limited space of our stage, the material had to be soft enough to flip over.  We often had several sheets fastened at the top and we would flip them over for scene changes.  The sheets were then anchored and stretched at the bottom with bungee chords.  Scenes were painted with acrylic paint. They never got hard or flaked.  We rolled the scenes up like a big book for transport.
Good luck!
Bob