10 Rosco Products Every Scenic Artist Should Know
Scenic artists work across timber, fabric, foam, metal and plastic — often within the same production. Having the right paint or coating can make the difference between a finish that survives the season and one that begins cracking during rehearsals.
Here are ten useful Rosco products to keep in mind for your next set, prop or scenic treatment.
1 Off Broadway Scenic Paint
Off Broadway is a versatile, ready-to-use scenic paint with a rich, flat finish. It works well for base coats, faux finishes, backdrops and general scenery on materials including timber, muslin and wallboard.
It can be applied directly from the tin or diluted for washes and ageing effects.
Technical data: Rosco Off Broadway
2 Supersaturated Roscopaint
Supersaturated is a highly concentrated scenic paint designed to be diluted before use. Scenic artists can create anything from strong opaque colour to transparent washes from the same paint.
It is particularly useful when you want intense colour, flexible mixing options or a compact paint range capable of producing many different effects.
Technical data: Rosco Supersaturated Roscopaint
3 Tough Prime
A good scenic finish begins with the surface underneath it.
Tough Prime is a water-based primer made for many of the difficult materials found in scene shops, including timber, metal, PVC, foam and some plastics. It is available in black and white and provides a reliable base for scenic paint.
Test first: always clean the surface and test adhesion on a sample before committing to the whole piece.
Technical data: Rosco Tough Prime
4 FlexBond
FlexBond is both an adhesive and a flexible coating. It can bond combinations of fabric, timber and foam while remaining pliable as the finished piece bends or moves.
It is especially useful for laminating foam, attaching fabric to scenic structures and preparing difficult materials such as Ethafoam for painting.
Technical data: Rosco FlexBond
5 FoamCoat
FoamCoat creates a hard, protective shell over carved polystyrene and other suitable foam scenery.
It is a useful choice for sculpted rocks, brickwork, architectural details and props that need to look and feel more substantial. Texture materials can also be added to create stone, masonry and other dimensional finishes.
Technical data: Rosco FoamCoat
6 FlexCoat
Where FoamCoat creates a harder shell, FlexCoat is designed to remain flexible.
It provides a protective coating over polyurethane foam, polystyrene, Ethafoam and other suitable surfaces. This makes it useful for lightweight scenery, touring props and pieces that will be handled or moved repeatedly.
Technical data: Rosco FlexCoat
7 CrystalGel
CrystalGel is a clear scenic coating used to create raised texture and translucent effects.
Apply it with a brush, trowel, spoon or piping tool to create water, ice, textured glass and dimensional details. Paint, glitter, mica and other texture materials can also be mixed into it.
Worth knowing: drying time depends heavily on how thickly it is applied — allow considerably longer for heavy texture work.
Technical data: Rosco CrystalGel
8 Metallix
Metallix is Rosco's range of water-based metallic paints, formulated with mica to create reflective gold, silver, copper and bronze-style finishes.
Use it for gilded details, machinery, armour, decorative props and metallic highlights.
Test first: the effect changes with surface texture and lighting, so always view your sample under the production lights before signing it off.
Technical data: Rosco Metallix
9 TV Paint
TV Paint is designed for environments where control of reflected light is important.
TV Black provides a rich, low-reflectance matte black, while TV White provides a controlled white surface for film and video applications. It is useful for studios, camera-facing scenery, masking and hybrid theatre-and-video productions.
Technical data: Rosco TV Paint
10 Roscoflamex MC
Roscoflamex MC is a premixed flame-retardant treatment for many porous materials used in scenery and props, including raw timber, fabric, paper, cardboard and open-cell foam.
Test first, and check the venue: the material must properly absorb the treatment, and requirements vary between venues and authorities. Always test on a sample and confirm what documentation or independent testing your production requires before treating the full build.
Coming soon: Flame-Retardant Treatment for Scenery and Fabric: What You Need to Know
Technical data: Roscoflamex MC
Not sure which product you need?
The best choice depends on what you are making, the material underneath and whether the finished piece needs to remain flexible, withstand handling or meet a specific venue requirement.
Tell us what you are creating and what surface you are working with, and we can help you narrow down the right Rosco paint, primer or coating.
Sources
Product descriptions in this article are summarised from Rosco's current technical product pages, linked under each product above. Rosco's technical data sheets and safety data sheets are the authoritative reference for application, coverage, dilution and handling.
Image credits
All photography is courtesy of Rosco and is reproduced with acknowledgement, sourced from Rosco Spectrum. Individual photographers and scenic artists are credited where Rosco has identified them, including within the images themselves. Each caption links to the original article.
- Header image — The Art of Schlepitchka
- Off Broadway — Creating a plank wood floor with scenic paint
- Supersaturated — Ed Reynolds on Supersat as a mural paint
- Tough Prime — Tough Prime Black for stage floors
- FlexBond — Large-scale papier-mâché scenery
- FoamCoat — FoamCoat for coating a foam sculpture
- FlexCoat — Three-dimensional foliage
- CrystalGel — Three scenic solutions using CrystalGel
- Metallix — Rosco's Metallix paints (photo credit Pam Reyes)
No application photography is currently published by Rosco for TV Paint or Roscoflamex MC, so those two sections are illustrated with text only.
Creative Film & Theatre Solutions is the exclusive Rosco agent for Australia and New Zealand. Always review the current technical data and safety information, and test the complete finish on a sample before production. Rosco, Off Broadway, Supersaturated, Tough Prime, FlexBond, FoamCoat, FlexCoat, CrystalGel, Metallix and Roscoflamex are trademarks of Rosco Laboratories Inc.