Heroes: Stage Design

This past Sunday was the first of a 9 week, church wide series at Southern Hills called "Heros."  Each week we are looking at a hero from the Old Testament leading up to Jesus on Easter Sunday.  Several weeks ago I began building the stage set for the All Stars, our children's ministry.  After the volunteer's banquet on Saturday night, I began setting it up.  With a few hitches, help from Corey, and some much appreciated insight from Kevin Jarrett, it all came together.  Here's a few pictures to give you an idea, but the depth of the set is lost.  To get the full effect, you'll have to come check it out personally!

For those who might find it helpful, here are the logistics of the set- The Pow, Bam, Boom, and Batman logo are made of insulation foam board.  I used foam board because it is light, easy to work with, and adds a dimension to the piece.  You can purchase this at Lowes or Home Depot.  It comes in varying thickness.  Your project (and budget) will determine what thickness will be best.  For these pieces I used 3/4 inch foam board.  I projected the images onto the board, traced it, cut it out using a hot knife and jig saw, and finally painted it with your basic acrylic paints.  (Most insulation foam board has a plastic sheet on it that needs to be peeled off prior to painting.)  Pow, Bam, and Batman are hung with fishing line from the frame of the ceiling.  For the Batman logo, I simply used duck-tape to attach the fishing line to the back of the foam board.  The Boom is actually 3D itself, with the "Boom" and yellow explosion each being two pieces thick and the black background is one (which I should have also made two thick so that it would be more stable, but hindsight is 20/20).  Foam board glue must be used with insulation foam board; other adhesives will eat through the styrofoam.

The city silhouette is cut out of thin plywood.  (I believe it's called polywood, but that might not be right.  It's whatever the cheapest 4x8 sheet of wood is at Lowes).  It is 10 inches away from the wall, screwed into a 2x4 that we nailed onto the floor.  It stands on its own fairly well, but to add stability we added a 10 inch piece of 2x4 towards the top and middle.  The lit windows of the city are mailing labels that we printed all yellow and cut into squares.  The starburst behind the city is the back of a canvas we used for a previous series.  It is hung from its grommets with picture hooks.  Behind the city is a rope light that adds another dimension to the set and makes the city "glow."