Christmas Designs

The Bethlehem Set

Lin Bratcher from Williamson’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Mooresville, NC brings us this Bethlehem set design.

This was the set for their Children’s Christmas Music Celebration. The children did the musical “Arrest These Merry Gentlemen” which was set in Bethlehem. The back of the set was constructed out of 4×8 sheets of Styrofoam Insulation 3/4″ thick placed on 1×2 supports. The panels were painted dark blue before mounting them on the 1x2s.

The silhouette of Bethlehem was found on the internet then transferred onto the styrofoam with an overhead projector and cut out with a hot knife. The windows were backed with yellow construction paper, and below each window was placed a ledge (from styrofoam) that gave the windows depth. The Bethlehem village was adhered to the back panels using hot glue. The center section was mounted directly onto the back rails of the raisers.

The starry sky was made by 2 people on either side of the panels using hot glue guns to melt a hole through. The person on the front started assuring proper placement and the person behind simply matched up with the front hole. This created the perfect size hole for a mini LED clear Christmas bulb which when inserted remained in place. (They got the seed for using Christmas lights inserted through the panels from the “Particles of Christmas” post on CSDI.) The lighting on the front of the set was done with 6 LED can lights using shades of blue and purple.

The construction and on-site design was done by church member Dewey Ward. The cost of the set was approximately $150.

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One response to “The Bethlehem Set”

  1. Jenna says:

    Hello,
    Thank you for the detailed instructions!
    What type of base did this have to stand freely?

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