Jesus String

John Lamb from 5 Point Church in Easley, SC brings us this cool string look.

From John: Our pastor had one want for our Christmas stage. He wanted Jesus in big letters across the back of it. We brainstormed, using Church Stage Design Ideas and Pinterest, and came up with a couple of different designs but the yarn and nail look is what we wanted. It is simple, not too cumbersome, and fulfills our pastor’s vision. Add-in the LED tape between the letters and it really provides a stage design that looks great in-person and online through the camera.

The setup can be extensive, however, we were able to use supports from the previous design and that helped save us some time.

First, we painted the plywood black, which took multiple coats of paint, then we stenciled the letters using transparencies and an old overhead projector. Projecting the letters helped keep the letters uniformed on each piece of plywood.

Next, we took roofing nails along the letter outlines and the edge of the plywood then ran white yarn randomly between the nails. The same person ran the yarn for each letter to help keep the same look throughout the design.

Then we mounted the letters to our support system that was already installed from the previous design. This consisted of 8′ vertical 2x4s and 8′ horizontal 1x2s. This is another time-eater but was worth the work to fully support the plywood.

Once the letters were up, we installed the LED tape lights. Each light is on its own decoder and power source and are attached to vertical 2x4s.

For the Christmas trees, we put them all on Chauvet 4-channel dimmers.

Materials:
– 5 4×8 plywood
– 2x4s
-1x2s
– Black paint
– Roofing nails
– White yarn