- Product Designer for playful and educational experiences

Tag: Props

Silent Library – Egg Gatling Gun

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: silent library, Props, willkrause

My task on this project was creating an automatic mechanism that would fire a dozen eggs at contestants on Silent Library. I experimented with a tennis-ball-style launcher first, but settled on a gatling gun setup, powered by a disassembled t-shirt gun. The revolver chamber is made out of sections of PVC tubing ringed with UVA [...]

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Silent Library – Wrecking Ball Crane

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

This seven-foot-tall crane was made to strike game show contestants in the groin with a sand-filled plastic wrecking ball. The frame is made from steel, with plywood panels, heater vents,  lawnmower wheels, and some video arcade switches. Courtland Premo helped with the electrical system, and I managed to hit the poor contestant in the groin [...]

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Silent Library – Phony Ostrich Eggs

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

This was a fun challenge! The writers for Silent Library wanted to hit the contestants with ostrich eggs... but since ostrich eggs are expensive and are so hard that they need to be opened with a hammer, I needed to create some fake ostrich eggs that would make a mess and not kill anyone. I [...]

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Silent Library – Wheel of Rulers

Posted: June 30, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

I cast my hand a whole bunch of times on the third season of Silent Library - in this case, six times to make a machine to slap contestants with rulers. The vinyl rulers are sewn to the hands with fishing line so that they don't go flying off in dangerous directions, and the wheel [...]

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Godzilla-like puppet Must Destroy Healthcare!

Posted: February 5, 2010-Likes: 0-Comments: 1-Categories: Propmaking, Godzilla puppet-Tags: destroyasaurus, Props, willkrause

I made this puppet for a health-care advocacy group. In a short video, the puppet will wreck hospitals, clinics, and maybe even get to eat some ambulances and doctors. I'll be doing the puppeteering today, so I'll post a link as soon as it is available. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that fire will be [...]

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Silent Library – Tennis Ball Bike

Posted: December 20, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Silent Library, Propmaking-Tags: willkrause, silent library, bike

This bicycle was rebuilt from a machine that was used the previous season. I only ended up using a few pieces from the original machine since it functioned in a very different way - the contestants needed to be hit in the face instead of the groin, so the new machine needed to be completely [...]

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Sesame Street – Letters and Numbers for Sesame Street

Posted: December 15, 2009-Likes: 1-Comments: 0-Categories: Sesame Street, Propmaking-Tags: Props, sesame street, willkrause

I'm working in the Art Department of Sesame Street, and I made plenty of letters and numbers for the 41st season. Most were made out of foamcore or blue foam, but I did make some "7's" that I scored so that they would break apart easily when Cookie Monster chomped on them.  

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Silent Library – Noogie Machine

Posted: November 20, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: willkrause, silent library, noogie

I cast my hands in silicone rubber with a wooden dowel inside each knuckle. The hands were attached to two drills, and I made a crane mechanism that would lower the fists slowly towards the contestant's head. It made a girl cry! (not because it hurt her, but rather because it mussed up her hair [...]

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Silent Library – Dizzy Machine

Posted: November 4, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Silent Library-Tags: Props, willkrause, silent library

This machine was made out of a giant turntable with a truck hub inside, and some bike parts. All of the smooth bearings make it pretty easy to turn fast enough to make a contestant barf. Becky Holmes painted the machine with some pretty amazing paints and made the whole thing look like it was [...]

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Whitest Kids U’Know – Great Wall of China puppet

Posted: October 7, 2009-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Whitest Kids U'Know-Tags: great wall of china, Props, willkrause

I went to Chinatown and picked up some pyjamas from a bargain rack to get some fabric for this puppet. The head is made from foam and cardboard (with googly eyes) and the mouth is opened and closed with a piece of clotheshanger wire.

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Blue’s Room – Miniature Props

Posted: March 10, 2006-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Blue's Room-Tags: Props, willkrause, Blue's Room

For the show's introduction, we needed some dollhouse-sized props for a tiny set. These props are all about 2 or 3 inches in size. It was fun to use some music wire for the guitar's frets!

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Blue’s Room – Critters

Posted: March 10, 2006-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Propmaking, Blue's Room-Tags: robots, aliens, Props

I learned to love polystyrene foam on this project. Sure, static electricity leads to annoying dust everywhere, but it is incredibly easy to sculpt to a smooth, kinda durable finish. Plus I got to use pipe cleaners & construction paper!

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Blue’s Room – Drawings

Posted: March 9, 2006-Likes: 0-Comments: 0-Categories: Blue's Room Illustrations, Propmaking, Blue's Room-Tags: Props, drawings, crayons

When I was working on Blue's Room, some days I'd be doing nothing but coloring pictures for twelve hours a day. The set was dressed with new drawings for episode, so many drawings were needed. Some were tacked to the walls, and others were placed into polystyrene foams. I developed a fondness for "Stabilotones" in [...]

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