Star curtain help

I did search and came across a few recommendations and have decided to pursue the scrim with tin foil/sequins on thread options.

Has anyone done this and has pictures they could share or input on achieving the best result? What kind of string is best?

The scrim is about 8'in front of the cyc, with the cyc lights halfway between. Planning on dimly lighting the cyc in a dark blue. Also will be using the cyc for a Northern Lights effect.

Show is "Almost, Maine by John Cariani.

Here's a picture of the space from the last show. Cyc hasn't moved.

This may be a stretch depending on your budget but another idea of something ive seen done a lot.
Take a black curtain and poke white Christmas lights through the material.

we are doing this production this year and have used star gobos (Rosco) on our catwalk. you could do a 45 degree ERS on your center stage electric pointing down with star gobos in them. The gobos aren't too expensive either. their about $11 and you would probably only need 2.

We did what AxID1234 said. We took a white backdrop, then painted it. After that we poked Christmas lights through the fabric.

Get some inexpensive plastic fiber optic cable from:
http://www.fiberopticproducts.com
and poke thru a black curtain. Bundle the fibers together at the other and use a LED fixture (less heat) to provide the light and color changing.

I did something similar years ago to what AxID1234 mentioned. In this case, I used a blue cyc as a background and a black scrim with no pipe in the bottom pocket about 5-10' further downstage. I then hung some Christmas lights on a batten in between the two. The natural waving of the scrim in the free air flow caused the small lights to twinkle as they were seen in the openings of the scrim weave. It was very simple and amazingly cool.

I did have to dim them as they were too bright, and I also taped over almost two thirds of them to give a more distant looking star field as opposed to randomly hung strings of Xmas lights. Oh, and I never lit the cyc for the scene.

Hope that gives you some cool and cheap ideas. It may not work for you with the light strings unless you can get away with lighting the scrim instead of the cyc [now that I read the details again].

David

I've done exactly what David North mentioned. It was time consuming to black out the lights, but it worked amazingly!

If you're going with my idea of using a black curtain with Christmas lights. if you need them not as bright then don't put all of them through...leave some of them behind the curtain.

AxlD1234 said:

This may be a stretch depending on your budget but another idea of something ive seen done a lot.
Take a black curtain and poke white Christmas lights through the material.

Click to expand...

Don't have the budget/material for that option. The director is also wanting to use the cyc for the northern lights so it's not an option.

Thetechmanmac said:

we are doing this production this year and have used star gobos (Rosco) on our catwalk. you could do a 45 degree ERS on your center stage electric pointing down with star gobos in them. The gobos aren't too expensive either. their about $11 and you would probably only need 2.

Click to expand...

The original thought was to use the gobo's. There are to many sight line issues for Gobo's to work. There is a unmovable border in the way to project from the stage electrics. I thought of projecting from the deck from behind what there calling the "ground row" of trees just in front of where I've hung the scrim. That didn't work due to the angle causing massive image distortion.



Right now my plan is to use several wash type conventional fixtures(fresnel, Par, StarPar, whichever is available) with a split gel from the deck up onto the cyc for the northern lights. Lighting dimly with blue from the cyc lights 4' in front of the cyc up top. I'll rig the strings with foil/sequins from this electric. 4' in DS of the cyc electric if the batton I've hung the scrim from. Just DS of the scrim is the "Groundrow" as their calling it which is a tree wall which is the back of the set. I'll light the sequins/foil stars from the side with leko's shuttered to avoid overspill onto cyc or scrim. How many fixture's I use for the northern lights is dependent on how many lights/circuits I have to use for the side lights and practicals. I only have 9 circuits available on deck.

AxlD1234 said:

This may be a stretch depending on your budget but another idea of something ive seen done a lot.
Take a black curtain and poke white Christmas lights through the material.

Click to expand...

Kudos to this. Over in my venue, we've got something like this for our Christmas concert. Just a roll of duvetyne long enough to hang from one of the battens all the way to the stage floor with just regular string lights poked thru. Of course the thing's about 15-20 years old and a fire hazard (gotta love wiggling wires).

Something that we've been talking about recently to add to that...is adding Small Dimmer Packs (Along the lines of a Light O Rama ) and being able to add different colored Christmas Lights or making the Christmas lights "Twinkle" (By Chasing them)

I would Definetly go with the sheet and led christmas light thing. There bright, cheep, and durable

Dustin,

Another option is renting a LightScape® Fiber Optic Curtain, we at Main Light Industries, have plenty of size options available:
http://mainlight.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34&Itemid=74
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Does anyone make an LED curtain on a black mesh net instead of a drape? We already have a black rear drape and I wonder if it is more economical to just hang an LED mesh. Or is tangling too much of an issue?

Tim,

Main Light Industries manufactures Soft-LED/Scrim Panels are made to withstand many weather conditions and come with removable Velcro liner allowing projections, lighting, and scenery elements behind it. They fold and travel with the same ease as the fabric panels.

Might have what you are looking for in rental stock or custom fabrication. Check out the website below:
http://mainlight.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&Itemid=139

YouTube video of panel in use in front of black backdrop:

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Max Huber said:

Tim,

Main Light Industries manufactures Soft-LED/Scrim Panels are made to withstand many weather conditions and come with removable Velcro liner allowing projections, lighting, and scenery elements behind it. They fold and travel with the same ease as the fabric panels.

Might have what you are looking for in rental stock or custom fabrication. Check out the website below:
http://mainlight.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&Itemid=139

YouTube video of panel in use in front of black backdrop:

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

View attachment 12750 View attachment 12751

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Thanks Max, We are looking to buy. Whom do I contact for a quote?

Awesome, you should contact our Soft-LED Manager Giovanni. You can either give us a call at 302.998.8017 or email our sales department at [email protected].