Stage Designs

Floralplast

Gian Benallo from First Christian Church of Huber Heights in Dayton, Ohio brings us this cool look.

This design was composed of five towers (from the center to outside 7, 8, and 9 foot in height) so they were progressively taller toward the outside, separated by four 2’x4′ panels. The panels were made of 2×4 sheets of 1/4 inch clear acrylic (plexiglass).

The Panels:
They used rotary tools to carve/etch a criss-cross vine pattern they had designed using the larger rounded bits from this set we purchased on Amazon.
They created a frame for them using 1×2’s with a channel routed in them with a 1/2 t-slot routing bit. That allowed them to put LED tape around all four sides of the acrylic panels and then insert the panels into the same slot sending light straight into the sides of the panels. (see diagram) Then they screwed a leg on each side and used L-Brackets to secure them to the stage.

Tip: Gian used a blow torch to polish the edge of the panels to allow as much light through as possible (search YouTube for that technique).

The Towers:
They used one 18″x7′, two 18’x8′, and two 18″x9″ pieces of Coroplast. Those were painted light grey, and while they were still wet, they brushed a slightly darker grey over the top in a criss-cross pattern to give it texture. (see picture) They were then attached to a 2×4 frame that had a small section diagonal 45 degrees at the top. At the bottom, they were attached with 2 screws.

They didn’t want people to see two screws at the to so they had to get creative. The solution they came up with was to epoxy a small 2″x 4″ piece of Coroplast 3 inches from the top and then they attached two small hooks into the end of the 2×4 and hooked them into the fluting of the Coroplast to keep it in place. (see picture) They attached them to the stage with L brackets and up lit them with LED pars they already had.

Tip: You’re going to have to push the Coroplast into that curve and have someone run screws into the bottom so there will be some tension holding it in place. They also found that to get each curve looking exactly the same they had to use some gorilla tape in a few strategic places on the back.

Cost:
Acrylic: $200
Coroplast: $25
LED Strip: $60
Wood: $50
Router and rotary bits: $20
Total: $355

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