How to Make Seaweed Out of Plastic Tablecloths - Scenic Artists' Tips and Tricks

Maybe you are preparing sets in case you can get rights to Sea Ya Later: An Underwater Musical! by STAR Theatre. In that case, you might need huge set piece that is supposed to be seaweed. If this is what you need, you can make seaweed out of plastic table clothes. This is somewhat similar to making seaweed out of trash bags, but plastic table cloths do not stretch like trash bags do.

An underwater view of seaweed, especially on the right side of the picture.

In order to make these seaweed set pieces, you need the following items:

1. Scissors such as CCR 8-inch Scissors with Soft Comfort-Grip Handles
2. Plastic table cloths such as White 12 Pack Premium Disposable Plastic Tablecloth, though you may want to get colors such as brown or green.
3. Brown spray paint such as Krylon Leather Brown COLORmaxx Spray Paint
4. Green spray paint such as Krylon Hunter Green COLORmaxx Spray Paint
5. A way to hang your seaweed outside
6. A way to hang your seaweed as the set piece or pieces

In this tutorial, only one tablecloth will be used to make seaweed. If you need more than one table cloth for your set, repeat the process with more tablecloths.

In order to make the seaweed:

1. Unfold the tablecloth and make sure that the longest side is at the top while the shorter sides are at the sides as it is likely that this is the way you want it (though, if your measurements are different, then position the tablecloth for your measurements).
2. Cut vertical strips about two inches wide, starting from the bottom and leaving about two inches uncut at the top. None of this has to be completely perfect because if it is perfect, it is likely that it will not look like seaweed.
3. Once the strips are cut, the they can be twisted lightly by hand. Do not try to stretch the tablecloth.
4. Take the tablecloth outside and hang it up.
5. Spray paint the tablecloth with brown and green spray paint. You want to make sure that this covers all the seen parts well.
6. Let the paint dry. If this looks good, you can leave it.
7. You can twist the strips of the tablecloth more if you would like.
8. If the paint did not cover well, you can spray paint again.
9. Repeat the process of twisting and painting until you are happy with your results.
10. Once happy, the seaweed can be hung as a set piece.

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