Zac Morgan from Austin Christian Fellowship | ACFstudents in Austin, TX brings us this warm environment. (Originally posted April 2015)
These ten stand-alone pieces formed a versatile stage setup for any building. The wood pallet pieces were 8’x3.5′ and the blinders were 8’x4′.
To create the blinders, Zac bought commercial grade, 16″ mixing bowls and cut out 2″ holes in the center of the bottoms. He bought lamp strand kits from IKEA and simply slipped them through the holes and tightened them with the plastic tighteners that came in the kit. He then cut out 15.5″ holes in an 8’x4′ piece of plywood, placed the mixing bowls in the holes, and secured them with metal screws. Zac made a simple frame for the piece of plywood and attached them together and then finished it off with a black coat of paint. He used 40 watt, half-chrome light bulbs from 1000bulbs.com so the light would reflect back onto the bowls instead of directly out. It made a really neat light ring and doesn’t completely blind everyone in the room. On the back of the panel, he stapled the chords down to the plywood and fed them all to two separate power strips. All 4 blinders together measured 960 watts making it safe to run through their DMX box which maxed out at 2000 watts.
To create the wood panels, he made a simple frame out of 2’x4′ pieces and painted them black. He then purchased cedar wood fence panels, cut them to size, sanded them, stained them three different colors, and then attached them to the inner frame with screws. He used the same IKEA lamp strand kits to run three separate strands in different lengths on the top end of the panel frame. He stapled the chords down the back of the frame and fed them to a power strip that was attached the back of the panel. He purchased 40 watt edison bulbs from 1000bulbs.com and installed them into the strands. To add some extra light and warmth, Zac set simple pin spot lights in front of the wood panels to show off the stains on the wood.
Basic Supplies:
– 2’x4′ Lumber
– 8’x4′ Plywood
– Cedar Fence Planks
– Deck Screws
– Black Paint
– Various Stains
Blinder Materials:
– 16″ Mixing Bowls
– IKEA Lamp Strand Kits
– 40 Watt Half-Chrome Bulbs (1000bulbs.com)
– Metal Screws
– Staple Gun/Staples
– Zip Ties
– Power Strip
Wood Panel Materials:
– IKEA Lamp Stand Kits
– 40 Watt Edison Bulbs (1000bulbs.com)
All together, this set design came in at $1300.
Zac Morgan is an incredibly hard-working WP. When he is not using his mad skillz building sets, he is building up student musicians and bringing awesome worship to our church.
That is one fantastic piece of work! Nicely done Zac!
Great look! How did you cut the 2 inch holes from the 16″ metal bowls?
You also mentioned that you connected thru your DMX lighting board. Forgive my ignorance but how?
Hey Mel,
To cut the 2″ holes in the metal bowls, I first got an ice pick tool and hammered a small hole into the bottom of the center of the bowl. After that, I took a jigsaw with a metal bit and started in the small ice pick hole and then drilled around in a circle. Take a sharpie and draw your circle first!
To get them hooked up to our DMX board, we had some DMX boxes that have outlets in them. Something like this…
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/american-dj-dp-415-4-channel-dmx-dimmer-switch-pack?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=CKqB24_V3cYCFYVAaQodORUAog&kwid=productads-plaid%5E80558288307-sku%5E801286000000000@ADL4MF-adType%5EPLA-device%5Ec-adid%5E51870555867
Could you use the reflectors you place into an electric stove (oven burners) instead of metal bowls?
Very cool look!!
Thank you so much for sharing this set design. We built a set based off your design and it turned out AWESOME. Our students absolutely loved it. I wish there was a way to share our photos and video clips with you.
Christopher!
That’s so awesome and encouraging to hear, man! Shoot me an e-mail! I would love to see some pictures of your set!
Thanks Zac! I will explore this opportunity with a few twist.
Such an awesome design! Zac, do you happen to have a link to the mixing bowls you used for this set?