Stage Designs

Painted Psalm

Kris Woltjer from Fair Haven Church in Hudsonville, MI brings us this painted backdrop.

From Kris: Psalm 23 was an eight-week message series. What to do with an 80 ft wide stage for an eight-week series on Psalm 23?! Searching for ideas, but knowing I did not want sheep on the stage, I came across Words Words Words. Now, our final result looks nothing like words, words, words but the final result is also nowhere near where I started. I started with different scripts for different parts of the scripture and had the full scripture planned. After talking with our lead pastor we decided on fewer but powerful words.

First came some planning. How large of a banner can we make? What will look like on the stage? Using an old photo we mapped out what size would look best. Decided on a 24ft wide 14/15 ft high. We did this by taping two 12ftx15ft canvas drop cloths with Gorilla glue tape. We also created the top pocket with the tape. Multiple pieces of conduit were joined and threaded through the pocket for hanging purposes.

Because the Canvas drop cloth was tan we first painted it with white primer.

Then we printed the words, one letter at a time on 11×17 sheets, cutting them out to create a reverse stencil. We then painted around the letter with the black paint using a small roller filling in the larger blank areas with a larger roller.

Thanks to some awesome volunteers and facilities team this design was completed in 5 days.

Things we learned… Drop cloth soaks up a lot of primer! Aaannd soaks through to the other side. Put something under the cloth before painting. Our black floor became spotted white where we painted. Paper letters are a pain, having to cut them out and they like to stick to the paint. There were many conversations after about how the letters could be made better, or easier… like using contact paper as the reverse stencil or to paint everything black then attach white contact paper letters. There is no correct answer; they all have pros and cons.

Our cost: less than $600 for both banners.

If we had used a sign company make these we estimated they would have cost $1200-1500 per banner.

Products used:

  • 4 – 24ftx15ft Canvas drop cloth from Lowes. Approx $30 per cloth.
  • 1 role of Gorilla glue tape (Lowes). Approx $10
  • 60 ft of conduit and pieces to join three sections (Lowes). Approx $3-5 per 10ft section
  • 5 gal of white primer.
  • 4-5 gal of black paint.
  • 11×17 paper.
  • Painting supplies: rollers, brushes etc

Dotted and Risen Filtered and Stacked

3 responses to “Painted Psalm”

  1. Kris Woltjer says:

    Commenting so if anyone has a question I can answer it for you.

  2. Adam says:

    I love this design. A simple, scriptural truth that’s always on display for people to appreciate.

  3. Josh Gregoire says:

    Thank you for sharing this idea. I wonder if a similar approach could be used to make it able to be back-lit. If a drop cloth was thin enough to allow light to shine through and you didn’t do a first coat of white I wonder if the space were there wasn’t black paint would illuminate.

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