I need to make 200 hand-thrown projectiles that burst upon impact.
September 21, 2014 11:43 AM Subscribe
I need the projectiles to be heavy enough to be easily thrown 10 yards. I'm planning building broadcloth pouches, but I don't know what to fill them with. I need something cheap and heavy, but not rocks. Any ideas?
This is for a show, the audience is throwing the projectiles. I don't want people to get hurt from ricochet. Also, no glitter. They have to weigh enough to pierce cheap paper from 10 yards away. I was thinking beads, but they might be too light. Running out of ideas. Help!
This is for a show, the audience is throwing the projectiles. I don't want people to get hurt from ricochet. Also, no glitter. They have to weigh enough to pierce cheap paper from 10 yards away. I was thinking beads, but they might be too light. Running out of ideas. Help!
Response by poster: I have to clean up after the show. It's an indoor show. No sand, no water. Also, they all don't need to burst. Just some.
posted by Philipschall at 11:46 AM on September 21, 2014
posted by Philipschall at 11:46 AM on September 21, 2014
Ball bearings? I don't know how you'll get broadcloth pouches to burst on impact though, regardless of filling.
posted by eugenen at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2014
posted by eugenen at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2014
Well, that probably rules out my suggestion which was going to be tomatoes.
posted by MsMolly at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MsMolly at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
I hate to waste food but all I can think of are dried beans or rice.
As for breakaway bags; maybe very loose stitching?
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
As for breakaway bags; maybe very loose stitching?
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
Response by poster: I'm building the broadcloth pouches myself to pretty much break on impact. Ball bearings might ricochet and hurt.
posted by Philipschall at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
posted by Philipschall at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
Copper BBs?
Dried beans?
I'm not sure how you're going to get anything to burst the bag, though. Cloth is strong, and unless the contents are under some pressure there won't be much force being exerted against it-- wrapper and contents will be moving at roughly the same speed in the same direction.
posted by Bardolph at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
Dried beans?
I'm not sure how you're going to get anything to burst the bag, though. Cloth is strong, and unless the contents are under some pressure there won't be much force being exerted against it-- wrapper and contents will be moving at roughly the same speed in the same direction.
posted by Bardolph at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2014
rice. tie the packages closed with paper streamers, handle them carefully until tossed.
posted by edgeways at 11:51 AM on September 21, 2014
posted by edgeways at 11:51 AM on September 21, 2014
You could also go for a mix of materials-- one dense, non-bouncy thing to give momentum (rock? bar of soap?), plus lots of light objects (beads/ styrofoam peanuts/ plastic filler pellets) for drama upon explosion.
Finally, unless you're shooting these from a gun or dropping them from above, I seriously doubt you'll have enough energy to hurt anybody with a ricochet, even if you do use ball bearings. Collisions within the bag, plus the energy of breaking the bag open, are going to absorb a lot of the energy upon impact for a hand-thrown bag-- nothing's going to come rocketing up out of there and through somebody's eyesocket.
posted by Bardolph at 11:57 AM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Finally, unless you're shooting these from a gun or dropping them from above, I seriously doubt you'll have enough energy to hurt anybody with a ricochet, even if you do use ball bearings. Collisions within the bag, plus the energy of breaking the bag open, are going to absorb a lot of the energy upon impact for a hand-thrown bag-- nothing's going to come rocketing up out of there and through somebody's eyesocket.
posted by Bardolph at 11:57 AM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Home-made playdough? Unless you want something to spray out of the burst projectiles, which I suppose might be implicit here...
posted by XMLicious at 12:00 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by XMLicious at 12:00 PM on September 21, 2014
The problem is that anything solid or pointy enough to pierce paper could also get into someone's eye and do some real damage, even if it's small and light. Maybe even especially if it's small and light.
I hate to be all IAAL, IANYL here, but I hope you have really good liability insurance for this show, and possibly get everyone who attends to sign waivers, especially if you're giving the items out to people and essentially inviting the public to throw things at people.
posted by decathecting at 12:00 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
I hate to be all IAAL, IANYL here, but I hope you have really good liability insurance for this show, and possibly get everyone who attends to sign waivers, especially if you're giving the items out to people and essentially inviting the public to throw things at people.
posted by decathecting at 12:00 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Actually, if we're using food, one could go for pasta; curly pasta will give the bags (what size?) some heft and mass for throwing, and the remains (assuming the area is cleanish to begin with) can be swept into a container and used as animal food. We got an infestation of bugs in the pasta closet once; instead of dumping the remains we called a local farmer who took it away to mix into feed.
To get at edgeways suggestion, sew tubes and tie them shut with paper at both ends.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 12:01 PM on September 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
To get at edgeways suggestion, sew tubes and tie them shut with paper at both ends.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 12:01 PM on September 21, 2014 [2 favorites]
Finally, unless you're shooting these from a gun or dropping them from above, I seriously doubt you'll have enough energy to hurt anybody with a ricochet, even if you do use ball bearings.
Someone walking on them afterwards can slip and fall.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 12:04 PM on September 21, 2014
Someone walking on them afterwards can slip and fall.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 12:04 PM on September 21, 2014
the audience is throwing the projectiles. I don't want people to get hurt from ricochet
You don't actually mention if you don't want the audience to get hurt from the random audience member who decides to throw something at a person on purpose or has absolutely terrible aim.
Some shows, people kind of expect that they might get hit with random small items, end up with things on the floor that roll underfoot or make the floor slippery. (things less round than ball bearings like beans and some rice will do this as well. Most beads will roll when stepped on.) Certain sorts of bands, Rocky Horror Picture Show, etc.
If your show isn't known as one where there's going to be a mess on the floor and throwing of things at people, you need to figure out how to convey this to your audience in advance so they can decide if that's their sort of things and dress appropriately.
Even if most people would not be hurt by what you are using, you need to consider people with different abilities and needs. Someone recovering from a broken leg, or who has a surgical scar that's healing, might be much more likely to be injured by things on the floor or flying objects than others. Even someone who's had a simple common thing like LASIK done needs to avoid things that might be fine for others.
How much time do you have to clean up after the show, what type of flooring do the house and stage areas have, will there be permanent or temporary chairs you need to clean around?
posted by yohko at 12:55 PM on September 21, 2014
You don't actually mention if you don't want the audience to get hurt from the random audience member who decides to throw something at a person on purpose or has absolutely terrible aim.
Some shows, people kind of expect that they might get hit with random small items, end up with things on the floor that roll underfoot or make the floor slippery. (things less round than ball bearings like beans and some rice will do this as well. Most beads will roll when stepped on.) Certain sorts of bands, Rocky Horror Picture Show, etc.
If your show isn't known as one where there's going to be a mess on the floor and throwing of things at people, you need to figure out how to convey this to your audience in advance so they can decide if that's their sort of things and dress appropriately.
Even if most people would not be hurt by what you are using, you need to consider people with different abilities and needs. Someone recovering from a broken leg, or who has a surgical scar that's healing, might be much more likely to be injured by things on the floor or flying objects than others. Even someone who's had a simple common thing like LASIK done needs to avoid things that might be fine for others.
How much time do you have to clean up after the show, what type of flooring do the house and stage areas have, will there be permanent or temporary chairs you need to clean around?
posted by yohko at 12:55 PM on September 21, 2014
Flour
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:02 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:02 PM on September 21, 2014
I wonder if you may be best served by buying pre-made bean bags, like the ones kids use in a bean bag toss. They're not heavy and they're unlikely to break and spill, and I think you really don't want anything that could break or spill, here. You could maybe get away with water balloons, as long as you warned people there was a risk of getting wet. But anything else, even stuff as seemingly safe as rice or flour, could cause you big problems. What if somebody gets rice in their eye? What if somebody is allergic to flour?
You could also probably do OK with bags full of packing peanuts or something. They wouldn't be heavy enough to cause damage.
The paper that you want to pierce with the bags should be very, very fragile. Find stuff that will fall apart if you barely look at it, or maybe rip it apart and then barely tape it back together. Or maybe it could be wet already.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:55 PM on September 21, 2014
You could also probably do OK with bags full of packing peanuts or something. They wouldn't be heavy enough to cause damage.
The paper that you want to pierce with the bags should be very, very fragile. Find stuff that will fall apart if you barely look at it, or maybe rip it apart and then barely tape it back together. Or maybe it could be wet already.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:55 PM on September 21, 2014
Piercing paper from 30 feet away? Half your audience is not even going to be able to throw that far. I hope all the throwing is coming from the front row, or the folks in front are going to be under a rain of projectiles.
I'm wondering if your "contents that pierce" and "contents that burst" all need to be in the same packages. It seems like maybe it would be easier to have some projectiles that are heavier but won't break, and some flimsier projectiles that don't need to have penetrating power but will burst apart showily.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 3:25 PM on September 21, 2014
I'm wondering if your "contents that pierce" and "contents that burst" all need to be in the same packages. It seems like maybe it would be easier to have some projectiles that are heavier but won't break, and some flimsier projectiles that don't need to have penetrating power but will burst apart showily.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 3:25 PM on September 21, 2014
An audience throwing things 10 yards? With something heavy enough to burst on impact? Are they all standing in a line so no one in the back can nail someone further up if they suck at throwing? This is making the armchair lawyer in me cringe.
But what's the desired result here? Does the explosion really need to come from the bags? If you had the audience throw beanbags to break the paper thing, could you have someone behind the paper thing do something, or trigger something that just *looked* like the bags were creating an explosion? Theater is great in that the visual result does not need to come from the expected source.
posted by ananci at 3:35 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
But what's the desired result here? Does the explosion really need to come from the bags? If you had the audience throw beanbags to break the paper thing, could you have someone behind the paper thing do something, or trigger something that just *looked* like the bags were creating an explosion? Theater is great in that the visual result does not need to come from the expected source.
posted by ananci at 3:35 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Audiences usually throw eggs or tomatoes, don't they?
posted by SemiSalt at 4:22 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by SemiSalt at 4:22 PM on September 21, 2014
Would it work if the audience's bags didn't break, but some bags cunningly supplied to secret cast members did? The bags thrown by cast members could be filled with anything you like, because they're the only ones that will show their contents. The regular bags, thrown by the audience, could be filled with beans or a mixture of beans and styrofoam beads, for lightness. You could probably have the breakable bags thrown in from the wings without it being too obvious, especially if a whole lot of regular bags are landing at once.
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:17 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by Joe in Australia at 9:17 PM on September 21, 2014
I hate to waste food but all I can think of are dried beans or rice.
Think twice before using rice: it can be surprisingly slippery on a hard floor - particularly if you are wearing hard-soled shoes, the grains act like tiny rollers.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:58 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
Think twice before using rice: it can be surprisingly slippery on a hard floor - particularly if you are wearing hard-soled shoes, the grains act like tiny rollers.
posted by Dr Dracator at 9:58 PM on September 21, 2014 [1 favorite]
confetti and a rubber ball?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:04 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 10:04 PM on September 21, 2014
A rubber ball (for weight) surrounded by dried beans (for bursty-ness). Inside a bag that's made of something way more delicate than broadcloth, or through something that's way more friction-y than paper.
posted by Kololo at 10:06 PM on September 21, 2014
posted by Kololo at 10:06 PM on September 21, 2014
I used to save up all my eggshells from cooking and the paper from the hole punches at work to make confetti eggs.
posted by malocchio at 7:02 AM on September 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by malocchio at 7:02 AM on September 22, 2014 [2 favorites]
Bird seed? Has surprising heft, and is vacuum friendly.
posted by Lafe at 10:19 AM on September 22, 2014
posted by Lafe at 10:19 AM on September 22, 2014
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