String Typography

Cameron Helwege from Statesboro First United Methodist Church in Statesboro, GA brings us this string typography stage design.

Cost: $12 on two skeins of navy yarn, around $150 on hardware (mainly lots and lots of screws), $0 for lumber (it was donated)

This design was inspired by the string art installation design found on CSDI. They were going for a simple, understated feel, so they kept the wood un-painted. They normally use a lot of LED lighting in their services, but for this series, they more or less limited themselves to a “warm” look and a “cool” look—also trading out most of their LED lighting for tungsten fixtures.

The logo was projected and traced onto the plywood panels and took 793 1-inch screws and a little over 500 yards of yarn to make. The yarn was woven within the logo somewhat randomly and was side-lit from extreme angles from the wings of the stage with Chauvet SlimPar lights to help bring some color to the logo and backdrop. The string was wound in several layers allowing the topmost layer to catch the light and create a cool effect and simulate more depth. Since they wouldn’t be flying any large set pieces, the panels that make up the backdrop were constructed in a way that would allow them to become additional staging platforms if needed for future series. They’ll likely paint them black after this Advent series.