Christmas Designs

Christmas Bubble Cages

Duane Loux from Grace Community Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas brings us their 2013 Christmas stage design.

Their budget was $50 for flagging tape which is cheap. Everything else was reused.

The 2 outside trees used a wider 2″ wide tape. The other smaller trees used the standard size. Other than that, they used various sized white paper lanterns, fishing line and pvc pipe.

To achieve the bottom curve of the trees, they took PVC pipe and curved it into a half circle and screwed it to the platform. Then from there, they tied the flagging tape to it in predetermined spacing. The large 20′ trees where attached to the structure at the top. The smaller trees had a 2×2 in the center attached to the floor and painted black so it disappeared.

The paper lanterns were placed inside using fishing line.

The trees were up lit by LEDs on both the outside and also inside so they could play around with colors inside being different than the outside. This design took 8 volunteers about 4 hours to complete in one afternoon.

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Most Popular – December 2013 We Will Build

13 responses to “Christmas Bubble Cages”

  1. Denise says:

    How are you getting the paper lanterns to not hang just straight down? They look like they are coming down at angles, filling the empty spaces inside the tree.

  2. Shawn says:

    I am wondering where you found the 2″ flagging tape?

  3. Toni says:

    We used this design for our 2014 Christmas Stage Design. We do not have a fly system, so we couldn’t hang this from above. I used Christmas tree stands with Extension poles painted black. I worked great and allowed us to determine the height.

  4. Tamara says:

    We used this design for our 2014 Christmas stage design at Oakbrook Community Church in Jonesville, SC, but on a smaller scale. It was a big hit with our congregation and wasn’t that hard to complete. Thanks for giving us such a wonderful design and allowing us to use it.

  5. Jennifer says:

    Hi to anyone who has used this (delightful) stage design:

    Can anyone tell me how they gathered the flagging tape together at the top?? What is the structure/hardware that keeps each tape piece taut, together, and attached to the suspension above?

    Thanks to anyone for any help offered! I’m excited to see this come together in our church this Christmas.

  6. RC says:

    I also would like to know how it was done to the above question/comment. And how did you all get the lanterns to hang not just straight down?

    Thanks!

    • Jennifer says:

      I’m still waiting on anyone to throw out an idea for how the flagging tape could be gathered together and affixed to stay up.

      But as far as the paper lanterns, I’m planning on hanging them from fishing line. Since it’s practically invisible, I will suspend them from any place in the ceiling to arrange them within the tree shape. So they will each be hanging straight down from varying lengths of “invisible” fishing line. Does that help?

  7. Jan says:

    I plan on using 1/2″ PVC for the base of the tree. It will bend a great deal and you can use a variety of connectors to get the size you need. I can’t work from the ceiling so I am going to use three more PVC pipes to form the upright tree. I plan on painting the PVC pipe white to get rid of the printing on it. The tape should hide the pipe. I’m not sure yet if I will need a center support. To get the decorations to hang in different places, I am going to screw very small eye screws into the three upright PVC pipes at different heights and then run fish line through them. I should then be able to hang the decorations using fish line in any area.

    We don’t have much floor space so I am only making one floor tree, but I am also going to make split trees to hang on the walls. Being frugal, I plan on using the white and silver decorations we already have and then add some larger ones.

    Hope this gives you some ideas!

  8. Emily Davis says:

    Hi there! I am confused about the flagging tape. I’m not able to find in 2 inches wide. Also, is this the same thing as the reflective police tape? Or is it gaffer tape?

    • Jan Lindquist says:

      Amazon sells flagging tape. I used the 1 3/16″ size. I didn’t find 2″ either, but the smaller width worked fine for me.

  9. Daniel Webb says:

    Sorry I did not see this earlier everyone! I am not the originator of this design, but I am the technical director for the church and can remember some of the details you are asking about, although it might be too late for some of you!

    For those wondering about how this was done at the tops of the “trees” as I called them. We just tied them onto the trussing for the large trees. For the short pieces, we used a 2″x2″ for support in the back. It is painted black so you are unable to see it. If I remember right, we used fishing line to tie the lanterns to the top support and stapled (or it could have been screws/eyehooks) the bottom of the line into the floor in the locations we wanted them.

  10. Jenna Petree says:

    Hi, my question is about the lighting. Is it led strip lighting? Where did you place the lights & how to attach. Thanks!

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