Shaved Ice:
Pros: Just like nature makes
Cons: melts quickly and creates safety hazards with puddles on stage
The stuff inside diapers:
Pros: white and fluffy
Cons: Can be costly. If you think glitter gets everywhere, you haven’t ripped open a clean diaper lately
Styrofoam peanuts:
Pros: taking up space in storage anyway
Cons: Cling to everything, and only look like snow if your production design is cartoon based.
Tissue Paper:
Pros: readily available
Cons: Requires team of devoted stage moms to cut and wrangle. Director inevitably wants it “bigger” or “smaller” than cut when presented with large mass of snowflakes.
Dinos don’t care about their fake snow.
Of these options, the most commonly used option is tissue paper. It’s affordable, easy to use, and can be reused. It’s helpful to try and shake the dirt off of it before reloading your snow cradle. If the tissue paper is too “flat” to read as snow with the stage lights on, try adding in some glitter to the mix. It picks up stage light beautifully and adds that special twinkle so often found in the magic of falling snow.
A snow cradle is basically a large piece of fabric, usually dark, that has several vertical cuts down each side of the fabric that has been attached to two separate fly battens. The snow can be made to fall by moving one batten up and down in a smooth but swift motion, shaking the cut open and releasing the tissue paper snowflakes. The cradles are often made out of old sheets or spare muslin and are attached securely looping from one fly batten to the other. Some industrious dance companies have been known to put in grommets along the edges that fasten to the battens and use tie line to secure the cradle. A well-made snow cradle may be used for years to come. The end result is a U-shaped fabric “basket” that is hopefully high enough to be out of sight of the audience even when in action.
Snow cradles also make great confetti cradles for other times of the year. If you do use tissue paper, or confetti, make sure to lightly spray all of the paper with an aerosol type hairspray to keep it from static clinging together and creating large clumps.
Keeping your snow clean starts with keeping the stage as clean as possible. A sweep and a mop before showtime, with plenty of time to dry is necessary. Inevitably some sequins or buttons may fall in with the snow that is swept up at the end of the night. Just try to sift through it as best you can. We have a great big mesh colander that has been known to make field trips to the theatre.
With all this in mind, if you prefer to go the ready-made route, we’re here for you. Don’t hesitate to call if StageSpot can help make your winter production a wonderland.
