fabricating the riddler's decorative cane handle
Obtained from an online retailer who sold hand-made wooden Riddler Walking Canes, the production's first prop was quickly deemed unsatisfactory for the stage production. The plain sculpt, rough texture, obvious wood grain, and un-even contour shape of the question mark cane head simply did not resemble the look of a machined metallic prop as hoped for by the producers.
Using Adobe Photoshop, a pattern template for a new question mark cane head was created and then sent to Delvie's Plastics in Salt Lake City, UT to fabricate new laser-cut plexiglass pieces. Fabricating in plexiglass allowed the prop to be completely smooth (avoiding the un-attractive wood-grain of the original prop). Plus, the laser allowed for precision cutting of a smooth-edged prop. The new question mark cane head design would feature a raised border edge to give the prop a more decorated and sculpted appearance.
Final pieces (main question mark and raised border edge) were laser cut from sheets of gold-mirrored plexiglass . The original design called for the cane head to be mirrored (like polished brass). However, it was determined late in the final paint and detailing phase that a non-mirrored finish for the entire prop was preferable for use on stage.
fabricating the riddler's walking cane
The basis for the Walking Cane prop began as a 39" long wooden stairway baluster rail. The final prop was imagined to be metallic brass-textured , with the top section near the handle being ornate and very sculpted. Therefore, this baluster rail (already primered in white) would require fine sandpapering to make the surface metalically smooth.
Using an orbital palm sander, the top "boxy" portion of the baluster was rounded off to appear more appropriate as a walking stick..
prop detail: The riddler's walking cane
prop detail: the riddler's walking cane handle
The Riddler's Walking Cane prop designed and constructed by Production Designer Roberto Williams
The nefarious RIDDLER (David Estrada), dangerous with his walking cane weapon!
TRansport and Storage: The riddler's walking cane
Custom-made boxes for the storage and transport of all costume and prop pieces were obtained from The Custom Box Company of Flower Mound, Texas. This is the box for The Riddler's Walking Cane.
