Joey Riggins from Lighthouse Church in Panama City Beach, Florida brings us this wall of styrofoam plates and bowls.
In this design, Joey wanted something that would be easy to execute and quick to install. He knew styrofoam plates would be both easily available and cost effective, so he began laying out a few different patterns on the ground. After a few tries, he decided to layer in some styrofoam bowls to add dimension and to give something to glue all the plates to.
He lined the first row up with the edge of the stage to ensure that every starting point was the same and then eyeballed the next 3 rows up. Once the plates were laid out, he set the bowls in place and glued all four touching sides with a hot glue gun. They found that the low temp setting worked best as the high temp setting melted the styrofoam.
Once all the panels were made (16 of them) they hung them one at a time making sure they were both close enough to the next panel of plates and straight. After all panels were hung, they came back and glued bowls at the connection points making the pieces seem like one large piece.
To finish the design off, Joey really wanted to incorporate audience blinders. So he bought 16 Par 38 cans and 3 dimmer packs, then mounted them on the back wall in the 1 foot gaps between the plates. The lights were set at 30% during pre-service and speaking segments and really helped tie the look together. They never use the blinders higher than 55% and only sparingly as a special effect. The dimmer packs along with the power cords were hidden neatly behind the plates.
The total cost for the plates and bowls was around $60. The optional dimmer packs, par cans and power cords cost around $1000.
It looks pretty amazing for what it is. Making something ordinary extraordinary.
That looks FANTASTIC! Great use of inexpensive materials and execution! :)
Beautiful design!!!! Question, what are the plates attached to? What kind of framing is hidden behind, and is that what the PAR 38 are hanging from as well? Thanks
We actually have a grid made fro 2×4’s on the back wall that we use to attach things to. Its pretty noticeable in picture 5. The par 38’s are mounted straight to our back wall cinder blocks with masonry hardware. Its a bit unconventional but was the easiest way to accomplish the look without dropping pipes down. The whole thing is so light weight that it could be stapled straight to drywall and never move. Anymore questions just email me.
Who would have thought styrofoam plates and bowls could look so good…..brilliant!