Lindsay Hefner from Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, OH brings us this great fake wood look using brown paper, gel stain, and a wood grain tool.
For their student ministry worship night, they wanted the look of a wooden wall on their stage flats but couldn’t afford real wood. So instead, they created their own wood look from brown paper ($25), gel stain ($10), and a wood grain tool ($5).
They started with a roll of brown paper cut into rectangles so it was in easy sections to work on. They found that being able to reach from end to end was important. They started by painting the brown paper section with a white base coat to keep the gel stain from bleeding. Once the white coat was dry, they rolled on the gel stain and while the stain was still wet they rolled the wood grain tool over it—changing the roll pattern each pass to keep it natural looking.
Once the gel dried (full 24 hours to dry) they cut the pieces into strips to replicate wooden slats and stapled them onto the stage flats.
To finish the look, they hung white Christmas lights and bare bulbs to match the worship night graphic. They put the bare bulbs on a dimmer to match the brightness of the Christmas lights.
Total stage design cost was less than $50.
Wow! the appearance was brilliant and it made a great look of the stage
Thanks so much Takondwa!