Stage Designs

Throwback: Tiny Lines

Joe Stratford from Catch the Fire in Toronto, Ontario, Canada brings us this design using tons of tiny lines. (Originally posted June 2012)

Quite simply, they started by making frames from 2×4’s that they painted black and screwed together. They cut 2″x4′ strips of white Coroplast and nailed them to the wood. Then they arranged them on the back wall and lit them up!

They created the word by projecting letters onto white Coroplast, tracing them, then cutting them out with a jigsaw. The overall cost of the project was just over $300.

Trip Wide Light Separated

30 responses to “Throwback: Tiny Lines”

  1. Stephen Hinkle says:

    Very cool! Love the clean design. Looks great. We have some tall frames we used for our Christmas design. Now I know what we’ll use them for next! :-)

  2. How did you cut the strips?

    • Sean Short says:

      Hey Jeremey we used what our sign people call a ‘Coro Cutter’. It is amazing because there are two blades and it guides you! You can choose to cut all the way through or half way (to make a bend in it)

    • Joe Stratford says:

      Hey Jeremy I cut all the strips just with a knife and ruler. Was easy to cut but took the most time.

  3. /theRVK says:

    What type of fixtures did you use to light the frames and letters? You’ve got really nice color even when the overhead lights are on.

    • Joe Stratford says:

      /theRVK Will talk to the lighting guy and he will let you know the setup. Thanks for the comment.

    • Glad you like it! We have a mid-stage truss with 12 COLORado Tri-Tour LED Pars that are washing the whole backdrop… that’s what you see covering all the frames/strips and the letters. Those mid-stage LEDs are rarely moved as they cover the white cyc (behind the black curtain) evenly. There are also 8 more COLORado’s on the up-stage truss that are hitting the letters from above for the extra punch.

  4. HUGE fan of this stage! Love the vibe!

  5. Mike Fowler says:

    I’m trying to do a similar design for my church. How long did it take you guys to construct everything?

  6. Josh Sperry says:

    Hey Joe, what kind of coroplast did you guys use for bars and letters and do you know how thick? Also, what kind of led lighting did you use? Pars or bars? Thanks for posting this!

  7. Blanton says:

    I can’t see that there’s a drummer in the pix – is there?

    • @Blanton – There is a drummer, rear center. We didn’t place him on a riser, which is probably why he’s hard to see – but look under the H in the black and white photo.

  8. cdenning says:

    LOVE this design! I just completed a build where I took the frames & lines and used them on our stage. They look great and cast a very cool effect on the curtain behind them. I’ll shoot you some pics if you’d like. Thanks for the idea and great details, made everything so much easier for us.

  9. Adam says:

    I love the design…and it makes me miss being at Freshwind!

    I’m just curious about the fastening of the letters…I like how they look suspended, but how exactly are they held up?

  10. Kris says:

    Is there a reason you went slanted with your design?

    • @Kris There were two reasons we went slanted, one was simply for safety so the 12ft stands didn’t fall forward on to people, and secondly as they were being lit by LEDs from directly overhead.

  11. Freddy Wachter says:

    What type of Coroplast did you guys use. I’ve done some research and found different types. Glossy, non glossy, flat, etc. Thanks!!

  12. Tyler Sanchez says:

    Looking to buy some sheets of Coroplast and I would like to know what type of sheets you bought and from where. size,thickness, color, etc….

    thanks!

  13. For all of you asking about the types of Coroplast…
    The sheets we buy are 8ft by 4ft, they are about 1/4″ thick in white colour. We didn’t specify any gloss or matt finish, so they are slightly shiny and have a mildly ribbed feel.

  14. Kris Dunlop says:

    We used Laird Plastics: $16.16/sheet w/shipping (http://www.lairdplastics.com/). They have fulfillment centers many places.

  15. We’re based in Toronto, and got our sheets from http://www.emplastic.com for about $10/sheet.

  16. Scott brown says:

    Wow. This whole setup looks great! I know u have the color straps lighting up the backdrop, but what does ur entire lighting rig consist of?

  17. DeAndre Morris says:

    How much separation is there between each strip of chloroplast?

  18. Hello, first I would like to congratulate the designer who was amazing.
    And I would also like to know, how do I have the authorization to make a good-looking designer like this for an event in my local Church? I’m from Brazil. hug

Leave a Reply to Joe Stratford Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.