Portable Studio/Stage Lighting Stands   These all-metal portable studio stands each take up to 4 flood-lamps or spotlights.  One has has a double power-point at the top of the pole, has a steel 4-point base and extends to approx. 2 metres (7 feet) tall. The other has a tripod base and extends to 3 metres (10 feet). They were built for an annual carols-by-candlelight program. Photos and descriptions courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley . 

Portable Puppet Theatre #2 This folding hand-puppet theatre is designed to unfold and bolt with wing-nuts onto a custom-made wooden folding table.  It has draw-string curtains and a plain black back-drop.  The whole assembly folds flat for storage and transportation. Lionel made the "hamburger" puppet from a plastic pet's squeaky toy purchased at a discount store and cut in two, and then added a body, a tongue and ping-pong-ball eyes.  Backing tracks were pre-recorded with sound effects and narrated scripts written by and read by Lionel and others. Photos and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley . 

Miniature Piano for Marionette  This miniature mock grand piano, that Lionel made for the string puppet "Bert", has a speaker inside to play pre-recorded piano music from an external device so that it sounds and looks like the puppet is playing.  It has painted keys and  a matching piano stool.  The music pages were photo-reduced so that their size is appropriate in relation to that of the piano.    This last photo shows the puppeteer, David, playing it in a public street in Murwillumbah NSW, to give you an idea of its relative size. Photos and descriptions courtesy of Lionel Hartley.  Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley . 

Sleigh Stage Prop The two sides of this sleigh (built as a stage prop) were each cut out of a square sheet of 5-ply plywood. Lionel planned it so that the sides of the seat shape and inner curve on he frontsides could be cut with a single sweeping arc to elimaste wasting material. The curved front is from three layers of 3-ply, steam laminated into a curve using a temporary shaped form made from scrap timber and the layers adhered together with hot glue.  The runners are simply painted onto a wooden strip as the whole thing rides on a set of hidden casters. The rail at the front is from a discarded broom-handle. The seat is upholstered with red corduroy stretched over upholstery foam and finished with a piece of white lace.  Photo and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley .

Three-monitor Presentation Screen . This portable system was used occasionally by Lionel for family-life seminars in Nerang (Qld).  It consists of a metal stand on wheels with a very large screen on one side (facing the audience) and on the back is a video monitor showing the presenter the view from a recording video camera, and a second screen (the lower one) that is a clone of the large screen to show the presenter what the audience is seeing on the big screen. If the presentation is not being filmed, then the video monitor, which has a built-in DVD player, can be used to screen a video which is able to be cloned on the large screen. All the connections for power, video, computer audio, etc. are all centred in one place at the back to save having a tangle of cables in all directions. Photos and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley.  Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley . Update: Unfortunately, this was completely destroyed by a deliberate act of...

Stage prop for Drama 'The Cardboard Christ' Lionel made this cardboard cut-out for the drama 'The Cardboard Christ'. It was used for a performance at the Bray Park SDA Church. Although the final production was not recorded, a video was made of the very first rehearsal. Photos, video (of rehearsal) and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Posted with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley .

Project-a-sign As a fundraiser in the 1970s, Lionel invented Project-a-sign .  This was a resource for enabling sign-writing, making stage scenery, cycloramas, murals, plywood Christmas displays, posters and banners etc. without the actual user having the need for any artistic skill.  The hand-drawn illustrations, mounted in projection-slides were simply projected onto the posterboard, plywood sheet, canvas flat etc., the user then traced around the outline and painted the article as appropriate. The Project-a-sign project consisted of 2,650 hand drawn original pen-and-ink illustrations that were photo-reduced to the size of a 35mm film slide, printed on transparency film, cut and mounted onto plastic slide mounts. These were then sold in sets of 20 (Sign lettering, traffic signs and subjects such as hobbies, transport, cartoons, music, religious graphics, people, occupations, seasonal illustrations, etc.) The sign lettering slides had the full alphabet on each slide in a dif...

  Clown Car Petkof the Clown squeezed into this tiny clown car at a staged event on Brighton Beach (New Zealand) in the late 1960s. Lionel modified it from a 1930s sheet metal pedal car and anything else he could find that would add lunacy and humour to its appearance. One wheel was originally from a baby's pram, another was a square lid from a discarded metal toolbox, another was made with wooden spokes and a piece of garden hose for a tyre and the fourth was a saucepan lid. These spring-mounted wheels dramatically fell off at the shift of a lever but the clown car still kept moving because of another small set of proper wheels hidden underneath. An opening under the floor allowed the "driver" to move it along with his or her feet. The headlight was hinged with a wire connecting it to the steering wheel so it nodded when the wheel was moved. It had a very loud claxon (klaxon) horn and a brass bell hidden under the bonnet. Pressing the foot against a water-filled rubber h...

 Musical Saw Natalia Paruz ( The Saw Lady ) writes: This saw was made around the 1970s by Lionel Hartley, who says of his musical saws, "I made only a dozen or so. These were made out of spring steel cut to size and shape by Coulter's Springs in Christchurch. They had French-polished handles, hand-carved from English Oak salvaged from an old dining table. The handles were slightly larger than a conventional saw handle and contoured so that it could be comfortably supported with the knees while playing. I also made matching Left-hand Grips that could be fastened to the end of the blade with a spring clip. The blades were 31 inches and the total length of the saw, including the handle was one yard exactly. The blade was fastened to the handle with home-made brass studs turned on a home-made lathe. I chose spring steel specifically to give my saws a distinctive tone - less melancholy than a conventional steel saw, and easier to play (spring steel 'sings' naturally). I us...

  Mahogany Cabin Trunk This large cabin trunk was made by Lionel to transport a set of handbells. The sides were made from a single plank of recycled mahogany cut into four and dovetailed together to form a rectangle. Then the Masonite base and top were glued and screwed on before the whole thing was cut in two along the sides, separating the box and lid. The brass hinges, safety chain, locks, handle and corner protectors were then added. completing the trunk. When used for handbells it had a foam lining with individual cut-outs for each bell. Photos and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Published with Lionel's permission by The Friends of Lionel Hartley .

 Nature Sound Effects Generator This stage or film/video recording sound effects generator, built into a handy storage box has a volume control, Stereo RCA output and runs on 240volts AC. It has a continuous unlimited loop of rippling brook & bird sounds that are stored on a pre-programmed computer microchip and played through a small built-in amplifier and speaker or sent directly to a sound mixing desk (or both). The sound track was recorded by Lionel in the Watagan Mountain National Park in NSW and transferred to a microchip wired to and using a compiler written for an Atari ST computer. Photos and description courtesy of Lionel Hartley. Published with Lionel's permission by the Friends of Lionel Hartley . Video by the Friends of Lionel Hartley