DIY Faux Cooked Rice (yes, really)

[Steve4Physics]

TL;DR

How to make faux cooked rice (for theatrical prop).

I would like to make something that looks reasonably like cooked rice but that will last - without perishing/changing appearance - for several months. It’s basically a theatrical ‘prop’. I only need around 0.5 litres.

Faux rice can be bought but is ridiculously expensive. So I wondered if there are any DIY suggestions.

The only idea so far is polystyrene but it would be difficult to get grains of the right size/shape and it would get blown around too easily.

Thanks

 

[Baluncore]

Free cooked rice grains could be 3D printed from white or off-white polymer. It would have a density very close to cooked rice.

You might slice many short pieces of a white polymer line to form cylindrical grains. If you need rounded ends, tumble them with an abrasive such as sand, in a gemstone polisher or similar tumbler.

What variety of rice, size, and shape grains do you require?

Will it be handled? What must it sound like when served?

Does it need to stick together? Maybe wet it with water or silicone oil?

Very small silica-gel beads are available that would absorb water and look like rice.

 

[berkeman]

Free cooked rice grains could be 3D printed from white or off-white polymer.

I was thinking 3-D printing as well, but printing the whole top of the rice bowl pile.

@Steve4Physics -- Do the actors have to be able to stir the faux rice, or is it just a stationary prop?

(think of the displays in front of Japanese restaurants...)

 

[Steve4Physics]

Thanks for the replies @Baluncore and @berkeman.

The rice type/shape isn't too important. It's part of a bowl of food which will be just a stationary prop. It's for a friend's 'movie' and may be needed for shots over some weeks. For continuity reasons, the appearance needs to remain unchanged.

(Plastic cooked chicken legs have already been sourced!)

The silica-gel beads (which are available in various sizes) sounds promising and straight forward.

 

[BillTre]

google search for prop rice:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=prop+rice

 

[Steve4Physics]

google search for prop rice:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=prop+rice

Thanks. I'd already found that stuff but (as noted in Post #1) the price seems disproportionately high. I'm probably just being a cheapskate though!

 

[Tom.G]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/713673716/10grams-faux-white-rice-silicon-plastic

above found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=prop+rice

 

[Steve4Physics]

https://www.etsy.com/listing/713673716/10grams-faux-white-rice-silicon-plastic

above found with:
https://www.google.com/search?&q=prop+rice

Thanks. But I'd alreaady found those. The commercially available stuff - as noted in Post #1 - is too expensive. I wanted a cheap option for a few hundred grams.

 

[Baluncore]

Make a bowl of real rice.
Take a silicone rubber mould.
Use the mould to make a plaster model.

 

[Klystron]

Try using real uncooked rice. Place rice grains on appropriate surface. Spray with clear acrylic varnish available in artists supply stores used to finish paintings. I have preserved many different organic items in art this way, rice no exception.

Experiment a bit if you need individual grains, such as bouncing the grains before they set. A fixed bowl of (uncooked) rice is simple. Steamed rice cooked only to the correct shape should also work using clear acrylics.

 

[Tom.G]

should also work using clear acrylics.

Hair spray is another possibility; you might even find some from the makeup artist.

 

[Rive]

'Moldable Plastic Pellets'?
'Plastic granules filling'?

 

[Klystron]

Adding to my above post, as simulated cooked rice is too expensive, I have seen varieties of dried pasta or macaroni formed to resemble grains of rice. Fancy imported dried pasta even with inflation costs under 2.00USD/pound.

Inexpensive dried barley also resembles rice.

If uncooked rice grains look too small on camera or stage, try a larger uncooked variety such as long-grain or basmati rice.

Color can be adjusted with water-soluble paint such as Ivory White acrylic. Paint, like aforementioned acrylic varnish or hair spray, also acts as an adhesive with the advantage of a flat veneer that should appear more natural, less reflective under bright lights.

If your director wants surrealism, look at the many additives for acrylics available online or in art stores such as iridescent, metallic and flake.