Improving the backdrop at Herndon

Well, I was taking a picture of a kit I was selling and used a piece of ground foam to hold it up.  It got me to thinking of how could I use that foam to make a steep embankment to cover the base of the picture. 

I was thinking I would use it in a vertical format and cut a very shallow angle on my table saw. Mat Thompson who was working with me, suggested we stack the foam instead. That was a better approach so we computed a good angle and cut it, reflecting three pieces to cover the white which rose about 6 inches off the deck there. 

The foam bent around the curve I had in the sheet rock and reached towards the webbing and plaster scenery already erected. 

 I was trying to match the angle of the slope at the end of the plaster hill. 

Using carpenter glue and dry wall screws, I glued and screwed the pieces together. I staggered the joints to make it smoother. You can see that the base is now hidden. I wanted the hill to rise above the base and have some space at the top so the plaster coating would drop down into the picture. 

So, I cut some small strips that I placed on top of the wall and about an inch away from it. I also used the plaster hill to cover the joint and slope downward onto the backdrop as it comes around the curve.

I carried the webbing out onto the foam and the hot glue worked to hold the cardboard onto the foam. So, here we have me building the last portion of the hill. You can see the tabs that the webbing will be glued to, they are just under the plaster covering that was pulled back so we could work there.