Shiny floor - RESULTS !

[Hodders]

I bit the bullet and just went and bought some of those acrylic panels in my local Wickes. Took me ages to find them, but now have them back home. I'm a bit concerned with how easily they might scratch, but as you suggested, the written "Wickes" protective sheet is only on one side £22.99 each.

What are you using as the white material? Is it just vinyl?

Eager to have a play myself now. Just missing a hilite :bonk:

Yup, just white vinyl from Tony Beal Ltd. Although at low angles when the reflection is strongest any light flooring would probably do the trick.

 

[sparklies]

I've been using 2mm acrylic for a while now. It was fine with my own kids, maybe because I feel more able to confiscate toys/tell them off over misbehaviour right away. I got a good five sessions out of it at home and it still looked fine. But within two sessions of other people's kids at their homes it was written off - probably because I suspect parents don't like other people yelling "NO!!" at their kids so I don't! It's often too late by the time you've politely asked Mum if she could stop little Johnny smacking the crap out of it with his toy which she gave him when you turned your back for two seconds.

Words of warning - don't let children smack their hard plastic toys into it, and don't put stools/chairs on it either. At some point it got cracked on one side trying to get it in the car, and somehow the car door chopped an inch off one corner as well (still not sure how this happened!) This was with me taking extra care of it and trying hard to stop the little ones from mistreating it! Basically it is super scratchable, crackable, dentable and generally very fragile.

Fortunately it's quite cheap as you say, but if I keep on using it I fear for my local landfill! I'm certainly planning on warning parents in future to keep hard objects (heck, all objects) away from it.

But the effect is great.. it's probably worth it!

Rosie

 

[Hodders]

Words of warning - don't let children smack their hard plastic toys into it, and don't put stools/chairs on it either. At some point it got cracked on one side trying to get it in the car, and somehow the car door chopped an inch off one corner as well (still not sure how this happened!) This was with me taking extra care of it and trying hard to stop the little ones from mistreating it! Basically it is super scratchable, crackable, dentable and generally very fragile.

Fortunately it's quite cheap as you say, but if I keep on using it I fear for my local landfill! I'm certainly planning on warning parents in future to keep hard objects (heck, all objects) away from it.

But the effect is great.. it's probably worth it!

Rosie

I think at £25 per sheet you have to regard it as a disposable item. If you get 5 sessions per sheet (2.5 per 'side') then it is £5 per shoot of overhead possibly even less than the petrol involved it getting to site.

If/when I get a studio I will probably look at a harder/more durable surface like the tileboard stuff EdinburghGary uses.

It's always useful to get a heads up though !

 

[Derek_W]

My experience of the acrylic was as a secondary glazing panel and it was quite good but after a year it started to discolour slightly and became quite brittle. This was in direct sunlight so not a problem that you will get.

What you might find is that regular rolling up to put into the car could cause stress fractures in the acrylic leading to breakages as well as the kids banging away at it so I agree with Glen that you consider it as a disposable item and cost the job accordingly.

I'll have to try using my half sheet of the PVC as a floor panel some time I can make enough space and see how it fares. It's certainly not going to be as good as the acrylic but it's all I have.