(This post is part of Creative Chaos at RagamuffinSoul.com - check it out!)
I know all ten of you have been waiting for our newest stage design pictures, so here they are. It was a sad time taking down the Heroes set but we got over it. Okay, down to the details.
The theme of our series is Essentials and we are looking at the basics of the Christian faith. They are simple foundational truths that all Christ-followers should believe and agree on. So we decided to go with alphabet blocks as our imagery.
We took 8 sheets of plywood and built “steps” that we were going to put the letters on.
We then cut out foam for the blocks and spray painted them (20 letters plus 142 feet of border). This took some time and is not fun in the hot sun. Side note: regular spray paint melts foam…lesson learned.
We caulked the letters and borders onto the “steps” to give the illusion that the blocks were stacked (blocks spell out “Essentials”).
We then hung little cardboard boxes created to look like alphabet blocks from bent metal to look like a giant baby mobile.
This is the result (click to enlarge):
It looks a lot more simple than our Heroes set, but took a LOT of hard work. Especially the spray painting…not fun. I really like the look of the stage though. It turned out better than I imagined. Oh yeah, for pre-service music we played Rockabye Baby (lullaby renditions of Metallica, Coldplay and Beatles).
So there you go. That’s all you get. 
Stephen
P.S. - I have to give props to JoAnna Wise. She does an awesome job at this.
stevolec@gmail.com
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June 5th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Stephen
Looks great–thanks for sharing the tips and the pics.
Jim
June 5th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
You do an amazing job!
June 5th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Wow… still have spray paint on my jeans!! Wind was not a fun factor also.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Looks great with the fabric! worth all the sweat right?
June 5th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
jason - totally worth it. i love my job.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Thanks Stephen! You always do a stupendous job as well!! I’m really pleased at how it turned out!
June 5th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
One word: BRAVO!
June 5th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
This is great stuff. We’re in a college town (Auburn) and I just met with a graphic design professor that goes to our church today. I’m looking forward to doing this type of work. People get excellence everywhere else, they should get the same at church.
I will come back and check the comments if you’ve got time to leave me a reply or an e-mail. I’m really interested in how you’ve made up your team from the people who come up with the ideas to the people who spend time spray painting foam and making it melt, to how much you budget every year to pull off cool stuff like this. Appreciate the post.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Excellent work. gotta ask… what kind of spray paint didn’t melt the foam?
June 6th, 2008 at 10:13 am
kim - krylon h2o latex
June 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
What kind of fabric is that that’s stretched? How did you cut it? what did you use to hang it? can you e-mail me this info? gracias.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
what kind of foam did you use?
July 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
@Jeanne - I’m not sure. It was given to us after it was leftover from a construction job.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
This kind of stuff floats my boat.
Re: Styrofoam We’ve been investigating (researching) using EPS foam (expanded polystyrene) for stage set designs. We found a company called Universal Foam Products. It requires a minimum $250 order, but it’s industrial foam.
I’m trying to find other people that are interested in set designing and 5S (using all the senses) experiential worship elements.
If you are looking for this kind creative exchange of information feel free to contact me.