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I’m Feeling Glassy

Tyler Herron submitted this design concept to the site in an attempt to create something new. The design centers around panels of glass (probably plexi) with either white vinyl or etchings in the glass. This would ideally make the words on the glass glow. What do you think of his ideas? Would that work? Would it be something your church might want to use?

This site’s an attempt at creating a brainstorming community among Christian stage designers…what’s your input?

(Don’t worry…the image above is a 3d rendering…those aren’t weird looking alien people. As far as I know they don’t exist.)

You've Been Framed Move Me

9 responses to “I’m Feeling Glassy”

  1. Tim Owens says:

    Cool idea. Biggest issue I can imagine would be consistent lighting to get the letters to light up. I've seen it done with small LEDs at the edges of plexi but I'd imagine with words covering that large space you might have to surround all 4 corners with LEDs to get the light bright enough on the letters to be legible. I wonder if the same effect could also be achieved with translucent vinyl applied to plexi (cheaper option to test with before having custom etches done).

  2. jthtiger says:

    I never thought about the letters not being visible!

    That's why I love working with a team of people. (I've never actually had the luxury of a team, but I ask my parents their opinions) Things like that would be caught quickly!

    And no, the alien people don't exist. Although I wish they did! It would make focusing lights much easier! Instead of having people stand in the light, then get bored and drift out of the way, you could use mannequins!

    . . .we don't have any :(

    -Tyler Herron

  3. Steven Hall says:

    I think this is a cool idea. It should work out pretty well if it is done right.

    I would be very careful trying to front light this set piece. Since they would be glass or plexi, their reflections are going to be pretty bright. If you light it from the front, you will want to do it at an angle that will push the reflection into an unused space. The best to front light it would probably be a really sharp angle from above.

    A better solution may be to only back light the set pieces. This will create a halo around the word and give it some real good dimension.

    Any other Ideas?

    -Steven

  4. Rik says:

    I think it would be a good idea. I think it would look better to do a negative of the words so that the rest of the glass would be frosted. This would give you the option of throwing a LED fixture on it and that would make it quite dynamic.

    Audio wise I would think it would add alot of issues being such a hard surface with no sound dampening material on it. But it would be really cool to do.

  5. Andrew says:

    Nice work Tyler. How bout this idea: 3M makes this really cool product line called Vikuiti and in that product line they make a projection film that's easy to cut, it self adhesive and designed for projection. You can use it on glass or other clear surfaces and it's easy to remove. http://cl.ly/2Y3C

    What if you used projectors to light up the letters or any other shape/creative concept you can make that's applied to the glass? To take it a step further, I wonder if you could use multiple layers of design to take advantage of the projected colors and take advantage of the shadows produced by the Vikuiti film?

    It's technically designed for rear projection and I'm not sure if they make it for front but here's a nice video for ya: http://cl.ly/2YOS

  6. jthtiger says:

    @Steven – I talked about that in the full post. The panels are angled down towards the stage to try to reflect the light onto the floor.

    @Andrew – That is amazing! That would be so cool to have! I'll definitely keep that in mind if we decide to implement this design! You took my idea of using projectors inside your light riser and twisted it on me! HA!

    @Rik – When I originally did this design I thought about etching, but knew we wouldn't be able to afford it. My mom has a vinyl cutting machine for her business so the vinyl would be free. Etching might be the better way to go though. I like the idea of doing a negative etching.

    @Dorothy – I love sites like these. I get to throw out crazy ideas I'll never be able to afford and see what kind of response they get! I don't know if my current church will use this design anytime soon (although our pastor loves it), but when I graduate in four years and get into a church where I can do stuff like this I will definitely pull this one out!

  7. Kay Lewis just emailed me saying:
    We have used etched glass vinyl that is installed on glass but it is a vinyl—nothing is etched into the glass.

    Pretty cool stuff. http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Windo

  8. James says:

    Just food for thought.

    If those surfaces are as reflective as the rendering, I would be worried that the reflection of your front light will glare too much into your audience's eyes.

    Great concept.

  9. keith says:

    What about white lettering and lighting and using UV light? Panel placement and how the rest of the stage was lit would be crucial

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