Essentials Stage Design
(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.
Jim Drake on June 5th, 2008
Stephen
Looks great–thanks for sharing the tips and the pics.
Jim
Amanda Drew on June 5th, 2008
You do an amazing job!
Hillary Murrah on June 5th, 2008
Wow… still have spray paint on my jeans!! Wind was not a fun factor also.
Jason on June 5th, 2008
Looks great with the fabric! worth all the sweat right?
Stephen on June 5th, 2008
jason - totally worth it. i love my job.
JoAnna on June 5th, 2008
Thanks Stephen! You always do a stupendous job as well!! I’m really pleased at how it turned out!
Karla B on June 5th, 2008
One word: BRAVO!
b/ on June 5th, 2008
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.
kim on June 6th, 2008
Excellent work. gotta ask… what kind of spray paint didn’t melt the foam?
Stephen on June 6th, 2008
kim - krylon h2o latex
Emily on June 17th, 2008
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.
Jeanne on July 24th, 2008
what kind of foam did you use?
stephen lechner on July 25th, 2008
@Jeanne - I’m not sure. It was given to us after it was leftover from a construction job.
dorothy (vicar of vibe) on August 4th, 2008
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.
Erlu on January 6th, 2009
hello stephen
i saw ur work.its great.
thinking u cud help me.;)
im the in-charge stage designer for our hi -school homecoming in philippines.im planning of using fabric as pillars with lights inside but i dont konw if it works.should i use ordinary fabric?we dont have resources here like yours and have only minimal budget.also,i really dont know about lights..its effect etc.hope you can give me tips and hoping its for free.pls email me.thanks