Tips: Spike Tape on Demand

[PSMKay]

Ever get tired of having to have 10 different rolls of spike tape available in the theatre? One way to solve this is to create a spike stick -- take a fairly big dowel rod, and drill a hole close to one end, big enough for a piece of tie-line to go through. Then spend a little bit of time and wind various colors of spike tape around the dowel....a couple inches thick will go a long way. The tie-line handle comes in handy for either storing on a nail backstage, or hanging from your belt.  And it's not so clunky to drag around during tech week when you have to quickly add or fix spike marks of many colors. We often create these during the first days of prep or rehearsals, when you don't have much to do, rather than waiting until tech approaches and you suddenly have no time....

Submitted by smejs (Erin)

[smejs]

Hey, that's me! (Just now checking out this thread, obviously.) - Erin 

[PSMKay]

Proper attribution sorted, thanks!

[Patlienemann]

One of my fellow SM's at wayne state decided to make a spike stick last year.  It worked well for him usually, but he didn't use it often enough to warrent needing a stick when he could just have a roll here or there.

Would this be something that is more useful outside of college/university theatre?

[Maribeth]

Would this be something that is more useful outside of college/university theatre?

A useful situation is backstage, when you may not need (or have room for) 12 different rolls of spike tape both SR and SL, but it is useful to have a few feet of a variety of colors to spike furniture. Also convenient when you get onstage, ready to spike something, and realize there is already a green spike nearby- you can easily switch to another color without having to go back and get a new roll of tape.

[smejs]

Agreed. Most useful when you have a big show, including with spikes that get a lot of traffic and may need to be replaced more often.