Stage Designs

The Holy Trinity of Spandex

Josh Parrish rocked this sweet little stage design that you could recreate for about $650, plus a few LED par cans and two flat screen TVs. The truss elements are actually antennas that you can pick up at your local pro electronics store. They run for about $90 each. Then get some spandex from either a local fabric supplier or an online company like Rose Brand. Once you stretch the spandex and tie it to the antennas, shine some color changing LED par cans on it and you have a pretty versatile setup.

Add some extra flare to it by putting visuals on some flat panel TVs on the corners and you’ll reach mega-church status by next week!

Thanks to Josh for putting this on his blog. Check out his blog at: joshparrish.wordpress.com

Raising the Bar Shoji...Oh, Gee!

10 responses to “The Holy Trinity of Spandex”

  1. Sam says:

    Hi there! I got a question about the truss system. What did you mean they are antennas? 90bucks is a really good price. When I looked at the pricing for most truss bars, they’re pretty pricey.

    Please elaborate more on this for me if you could. Our church is in the middle of a remodel and I’m in charge of stage design.

    Thanks!
    Sam

  2. Josh Parrish says:

    I just found this site and discovered that we were on here. Very Cool! Thanks for the love.
    Sam: we bought our truss pieces from a local antenna shop and they were actually about $130 a piece. (still very cheap in comparison) We are a mobile church that meets in a middle school so we attached them together with 1/2 inch conduit and zip ties. It was a surprisingly sturdy structure that worked well to hold the spandex and the lights.
    Thanks again for posting this on your site. I have found the other articles to be very helpful.

  3. Jeff says:

    Thank you for posting the pictures. I have a few questions.

    How are the zip ties and 1/2 inch couduit connected to antennas? Also, the electrical cords from lights… are they ran down the antennas to outlet? One last question. How is the spandex connected to antennas?

    Thank you again for this simple but AWESOME idea!

  4. Josh Parrish says:

    Jeff,
    We drilled small holes through the end of the conduit and ran the zip ties through the holes. They are simply wrapped around the Antennas in a way that keeps them from sliding up and down. The extension chords and DMX cables run down the back of the antennas to hide them from the audience. You can use more zip ties to keep them in place. The spandex is tied in knots on each corner with a zip tie run through each knot. We found that leaving a tie through the knots and then adding another each week to the existing one was much easier than retying the spandex. (We are mobile and have to set up and tear down each week.) By attaching them through the cross beams of the antenna it keeps them in place. Make sure to attach the spandex last…after you have secured your structure with the conduit. Also, this is at least a 3 person job. The Antennas w/out a base are not very stable on their own. You’ll need two people to attach the conduit and at least one person to hold the structure until it is complete.
    Let me know if you have anymore questions.

    Josh Parrish

  5. Jeff says:

    Josh:
    Thank you for passing along this information. I appreciate it very much. Can’t wait to get started. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

    Jeff Doughty

  6. Pastor Jimz Sejera says:

    i like the design stage church… pls send us more design.

  7. sg says:

    This is so depressing.

  8. Shane says:

    Can you take a picture of the knots being tied on the spandex?

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