Special Event Design

The Cross is so Metal

Check out this metal silhouetted cross submitted to us by Nate Westerfield from Great Oaks Community Church in Germantown Hills, Illinois.

Nate and the crew came up with a simple design using corrugated metal and styrofoam board for lettering. They hung the corrugated metal, using the negative space to display the cross.

The lettering was created using 2-inch thick styrofoam board (from Menards home improvement stores). Two 8’x4′ pieces for were used for each word (2 pieces thick). They used a fine blade on a sawza to cut it out.

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4 responses to “The Cross is so Metal”

  1. Barbara says:

    This looks FANTASTIC!!! What are the metal sheets hung with? Did you mean to say that you cut the letters out with a sawzaLL? Is the styrofoam Owens-Corning insulation sheets? Where did you get the template for the letters? What were they painted with? How are they standing?

    Thanks and God Bless You!!!

  2. Went through and answered your questions the best I could. Let me know if you have any questions.
    What are the metal sheets hung with?

    They are hung with 1/4” aircraft cable (wire rope). One of our techs had some on hand that was a little larger than what Lowe’s sells, but those at Lowe’s will work well, just keep in mind how much weight you are adding to it. We created to loops at each end with the crimp and then attached the two sheets together with, one bolt, 2 washers and a lock nut.

    Did you mean to say that you cut the letters out with a sawzaLL? Is the styrofoam Owens-Corning insulation sheets?

    We cut the styrofoam, owen’s corning 2” insualtion sheets, with the a battery operated sawzall, and a fine tooth blade. Makes a mess with the foam, but it cuts quick. If you have a really nice hot knife it works as well.

    Where did you get the template for the letters?

    I used the font that I used for all they other promotional materials for the series, Bookman Old Style, and then we used a projector to display the text as large as we wanted on the sheet, traced the letters then cut them out with the sawzall. I did set the tracking for the lettering to be closer to leave them touching at the bottom so they were still connected. Flimsy, but still connected at the bottom to give them a little stability.

    What were they painted with?

    We primed them first with a red paint that was close to the color we had chosen, then applied the main coat. 2 coats covered it great! Just used a simple paint roller.

    How are they standing?

    We made the letters(word) big enough to lay against the metal sheets, then just used some duck tape to hold them to the metal sheets.

  3. Tracy Grubbs says:

    hey nate,
    totally copied your cross design for a series on faith we are doing at Lake Forest Church in Huntersville NC. loved that the negative space speaks to what isn't seen. thanks for the idea.

    Tracy Grubbs

  4. How did you light up the metal?

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