Jon Morris from Harvest Time in Fort Smith, Arkansas brings us this large-scale use of an inexpensive material.
They has a 27′ x 90′ space to fill, so they chose window-screening material. They purchased the screening in 25′ rolls (4′ wide), unrolled them and wrinkled it up. No cutting necessary! They hung the screens with zip ties and lit them with American DJ – LED Megabars. The materials (not lights) cost $450 and the whole set took only 2 of us 3 hours to setup. Awesome!
I write and speak about the creative process – especially for churches. Call me a resource for the church creative wanting to make their ministry better.
Can you provide the link where you purchased the material from?
You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. It's a type of screening for windows. It holds it's shape and the edges are sharp, so it isn't like the regular black screen. Go take a look in the store for it.
was the color of the screen material black?
Since you said the edges are sharp, am I correct in assuming that it is aluminum screening and not the softer mesh kind?
The edges are not that sharp. I wrinkled and hung the screen with no gloves. Only got pricked a few times. :)
It needs to be "Brite Aluminum Screening" Fiberglass wont reflect very well. It is normally near the windows and doors in your local hardware store.
Was wondering if there is a baptistry behind the scene and if so how do you reveal it for use? Also, how much distance between the wrinkle screens and the back wall? Thanks
No, there is not a baptistry behind it. We have a portable baptistry that we put on stage when needed. Most of our baptisms are done immediately following service. We film them, edit them down and show them the next week during worship. Works great!!!
What you see as black behind the wrinkle screen is actually a black curtain. It sits just a few inches behind the wrinkle screens. They are attached on the same truss. Behind this curtain was our original choir loft. We’ve gutted it and it’s now backstage/storage for worship and creative elements. We keep all the instruments, risers, microphones and more back there. It’s an awesome space to have. We are really blessed to have this!
Jon,
I love this bro. The church I’m working with now is under reno and they are also gutting backstage and adding the curtain. I’m stealing this idea and I’m going to add a little twist. I’ll send you pics in a few weeks when we get it done.
Wow We love it so much we would like to recreate it is the a way you guys could give us the materials list and either an overview or step by step thanks in advance.
Ray, we purchased 25′ rolls of aluminum window screening (Brite) from our local Home Depot. Brite is important, you don’t want black or the normal dull gray. Secondly we stretched out the material full length and then grabbed and pinched and wrinkled it top to bottom. Once we had a nice texture, we cut small holes in the top and zip-tied it to our truss in our ceiling (you could probably zip-tie it to drop ceiling framing as well). Once it was hanging we used some LED lighting fixtures to make it glow. We used the Amercian DJ megabars (http://www.americandj.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ItemNumber=2000&Category=L.E.D.&txtSearch=) but any led or gelled par cans can probably take care of it. We lit them from the top and bottom for a good color wash. If you have any other questions feel free to email me jmorris@harvesttime.net
I’m looking at adding the screen elements to our new stage layout. Are the screens anchored at the bottom and what do you do to keep people from bumping the LED strips on the floor?
Great info! I’ll be coming back here often.
Love the stage layout. The church I am working at will be doing a remodel of the stage next year and I am trying to gather as much information as possible.
What are the dimensions to your center video screen?
Are you using ProPresenter?
After having used the aluminum screening for several months now would you have changed anything?
What size projector screen is that and where did you purchase it?
I don’t understand. Why do churches need screens? And where is the organ?!?
Thanks for your comment. I responded, if you care.
Blessings,
Jonathan
Wow Harvest Time has come a long way since I was there back in 2008. I was the worship leader at Grace Community Church down the road. When I visited Harvest Time it looked like a trip to my parents church from 1990. Great transition!!!