Stage Designs

Floating Arcs

Jeff Abbott from Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI brings us these warped boards on his back wall. (Originally posted December 2012)

He wanted to give the impression that arcs of wood were floating against the walls of the stage. So he bought 4×8 sheets of 1/4″ underlayment (about $10 each) and ripped them into 8″ strips. Then they cut them to length. They used five colors of stain to stain the fronts of each underlayment and get some texture in the design. Then they added those onto a frame made from 1x4x8 firing strips cut to length with a 1/2″ deep x 1/2″ wide Dado cut on each end.

They painted the back wall black to let it disappear.

They screwed the back boards to the walls and nailed arcs into the dado cuts (2 small nails each end). There was a center line through the form of Jeff’s design. All back boards were either centered or shifted 6″ or 12″ up or down. Across the stage the form was symmetrical left to right, but the colors were not.

Folded Inward Throwback: Squared Wings

18 responses to “Floating Arcs”

  1. Kaleb Wilcox says:

    Now that is a cool design! Nice work.

  2. Steven Hall says:

    Jeff,

    Amazing work! I love the dynamics of this set. This is a set that would even look good without formal lighting. Great job.

    ,Steven

  3. Ryan Martin says:

    Solidworks?

    I know you can do a lot with lighting already, but have you played with any of the water based color stains? They offer a wide range of color.

  4. Vince Farrell says:

    I would love to know the 5 colors of stain you used. Thanks!

  5. Brandon says:

    Great job on this one guys! It really is one of the best this whole year. Great look. Simple enough to do. Not too expensive.

  6. David Hawkins says:

    That is an awesome design. Thank you so much for the very detailed construction information. That is most helpful.

  7. Steve says:

    Awesome design
    I think we will use this element for out event

  8. Chaz says:

    Hey Jeff, great job on the design looking to use this for our easter set! How did you do your lighting?

  9. Jeremy says:

    Hi Jeff… Love the design! Do you have a SketchUp of the completed panels?
    Thanks!

  10. Jeff Abbott says:

    Luan (underlayment)

  11. Nez Flowers says:

    Hey im apart of Abundant Living Family Church and we are attempting to build a floating arc similiar to yours for our Cross Culture services on Sundays.. I was wondering what kind of wood you guys used? If possible, could you send me an email with more information about the process you guys used to build your arcs.

    Thanks in advance!

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