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Any hints on a visually stunning but safe and easy enchanted rose? Or suggestions on theatrical rentals of the enchanted rose?

We know Heartland Costumes to be a very reliable and high quality rental company: http://www.heartlandcostumes.com/props.html

We're just starting on this production as well (blocking starts this weekend). I've been burning the midnight candle at both ends (how's that for mixed metaphors ?), devising a solution for dropping petals on demand.  I had seen some rentals available out there, but I felt they were a bit pricey, given my limited budget. As it turns out, by the time I'm done, I might be getting close to their rental price. (On the plus side I will own the product afterwards, and have plans in place to share on building your own).

The premise is to use small servo's and LED lights, that will be controlled through a wireless connection, *and* optionally to tie it into the lighting console. So cues can either come from the DMX signal, or from a manual control device (a bit like an RC car controller).

Based on my readings, a fair number of places have gotten away with "swap the flower during a blackout". I have until June to get this working, or I too will be using "swap in a blackout".

Our middle school just did the show last spring and I (as the mom in charge of props) had the same quandry.  Here's what we did....we used two silk roses, magnetic tape and fishing wire. Rose #1 had a few  petals removed. Then they would be stuck back on with magnetic tape. (Tried velcro...but it stuck too well!) Use very small pieces of magnetic tape or the petals fall too fast.  The petal was attached to fishing line that went down through a hole in the table.  A child hid underneath and pulled the line on cue.  Towards the end of the show we used Rose #2 that had most of the petals removed with the last few stuck on with magnetic tape.  With a lot of practice and adjusting, the effect looked great and people were amazed. Good luck!

Don't suppose you have some pictures to share? 

I'll have to look and see if I can figure out how to upload!

http://www.mtishowspace.com/photo-albums/367035/julie-winters-photos

I don't have many photos of just the rose but here is Rose #2 towards the end of the show.

Hmmm.. something amiss, as this isn't rendering to a photo at all. :(

Odd....I just clicked on it from my comment and it showed the photo. 

It takes me to "http://www.mtishowspace.com/" 

I've tried cutting/pasting as well. If I click on your name, it shows your profile but no sign of any photo-albums, or files as having been uploaded to your account.

This is one for the MTI IT DEPT.

Did you try looking under Beauty and the Beast Jr. page.  Also, I think you need to be logged in to view it.

No luck. From my seat, your photo album doesn't exist.

Not against your name/profile, not against the show, and not linked from here.

Very odd. Can anyone else see it?

http://www.mtishowspace.com/photos/367036/enchanted-rose

Thx Jason.  There definitely seems to be something amiss with the database running behind the scenes here (I note that the URL you passed me has a different photo# (036 vs 035), and it still doesn't list as a valid photo album on Julie's webpage .. perhaps it's not an album afterall?))

Either way.. I can now see the image. Thank you!

ps. I'm considering use of the MTI blog to track development of our Rose (success or fail). Is that considered a reasonable use of the blog?