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Writer's pictureSteve Baker

Creating a Gnome-Themed Foam Wonderland: Behind the Scenes of Our IAAPA Entertainment Design Backdrop

Every year IAAPA (the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) hosts a convention of over 40,000 attendees showcasing hundreds of amusement park companies and entertainment design professionals. Being an IAAPA member, our team had the privilege of participating in IAAPA for the first time this year in Orlando, Florida.


The key was to create a backdrop that not only represents our brand, but showcases our skillset as well


Our backdrop was a gnome inspired bakery playing on our company name "Baker Studios." We wanted to create whimsical backdrop that showcases the flexibility of our skills as well as how we use our services to create themed environments.


This backdrop showcases our capability of doing fairytale cottages in a small scale way that our booth visitors will be sure to remember.


Here's How We Did It


It all begins with an idea...

In order to build our foam backdrop, we begin by planning it on the computer. Our team first modeled the backdrop in 3D. Here, we tested color ideas, textures, as well as measurements so our final product would be exactly what we needed it to be.

Our rendering in which we settled on colors, textures, and structure of our backdrop


Then we carve it

Once we've approved our model, we send it to the CNC machine. Each model goes through two passes: a roughing pass and a finishing pass. The roughing pass breaks down the foam into blocky pieces so that the finish pass can complete the fine detail. Each stage requires us to use a different size drill bit; a larger one for the roughing pass and a smaller one for the finishing.

Viewport display of our model in Aspire, our 3D CNC machine software


Timelapse of one of our panels going through the finishing pass


Then we coat it

Our next step is to spray our backdrop in a plastic hard coating as well as paint the backdrop. For this project, we used a mixture of paint sprayers and hand painting to complete the finer detail. We also used our plotter to print a bakery window display to put the backdrop window.

One of our early painting passes of the backdrop during painting


Our team had a lot of fun the past few months preparing our booth for IAAPA. We hope to do full scale fairy tale cottages in the near future and this project was a great test. If you are attending IAAPA, we hope you visit us at booth #4083!


What if you could create your own whimsical cottage or fairytale environment that captivates your audience?



Do you have an a cool project idea? We can help!

Contact us today and we can build whatever you imagine.


Phone: 303-358-1108​



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