Wizard of Oz rainbow

Jon Majors

Active Member
I'm wanting to make a rainbow for the Wizard of Oz. I was originally thinking 30' arc covered in plexiglass with rgb strips inside that I can control from our console. It would be able to fly in and out. Has anyone does something like this before and can point me in a good direction?

Thanks,
Jon
 
yes... I've done exactly that for this show. Scene shop built the rainbow light box with frosted plexi front, we ran RGB tape through it, mounted the controllers on the back, flew it and boom. Rainbow.
 
yes... I've done exactly that for this show. Scene shop built the rainbow light box with frosted plexi front, we ran RGB tape through it, mounted the controllers on the back, flew it and boom. Rainbow.
Also, with the price of plexiglass so high, is there a better alternative? Plexiglass will weigh it down significantly. Did you make yours one continuous rainbow or was it divided in order to have multi rolls of colored tape shine simultaneously.
 
Wax paper is always a great alternative as it’s already frosted. The downside is that anyone, performers, could put a finger through it pretty easy. You would also be limited to the width of the wax paper.
However still miles from a plexi purchase.
 
Also, with the price of plexiglass so high, is there a better alternative? Plexiglass will weigh it down significantly. Did you make yours one continuous rainbow or was it divided in order to have multi rolls of colored tape shine simultaneously.

This one was 3 rainbow stripes each with front and back LED tape. We could mix the color in all sorts of fun ways. We had very thin opaque plexi, but you could probably get away with something as simple as rolls of frost/diffusion to save some cash.

I probably have photos somewhere, but that show was 10? years ago... surprisingly I've managed to not do it again, but I've been out of the summer stock regional market for several years now, so I'm missing out on some of the classics.
 
There are tons of threads here about backlight materials; do some searching. I always come in with a plug for Coroplast (a sign material). You could also use a number of fabrics, including muslin. I've had good luck sizing muslin with a mix of Flexbond glue to make a diffusion material that hides point sources.
 
In the dark ages before LED tape I did this moon box with the muslin and flexbond method. It's lit with a LOT of 5w C7 bulbs, I think about 6" O.C. I think LED tape would be at least as bright as that, no? The box is about 6" deep, and the lighting was very even with no visible point sources.

IMG_1743.JPG
 
Not the rainbow.. but while we're tossing ideas. I photographed our witch, as both gulch on bike and witch and made a printed gobo on transparency of each with a tornado added . Got ahold of some IR reflective glass from American Science and Surplus to protect it.
Loaded one gobo in a follow spot with Gulch on the bicycle with the tornado behind.. panned from left to center, faded out gulch and faded in the witch in the other follow spot who flew off right during the tornado sequence. Used the iris to protect it, so that it was exposed just for the sequence. Each gobo lasted about 3 performances
witch.jpg
 
I always come in with a plug for Coroplast

I've always had difficulty finding translucent coroplast in quantities that make sense. No one around here seems to stock it, do you have a better place to look?

As for other options, a buddy of mine just built some light boxes into a piece of scenery and found some stuff at Walmart that worked well. It's like very thin quilt batting, I'm not sure I'm getting the name right because batting is usually pretty thick and fluffy, but this stuff is about as thin as wax paper, but fabric. Imagine translucent weed cloth for landscaping that's white.
 
As for other options, a buddy of mine just built some light boxes into a piece of scenery and found some stuff at Walmart that worked well. It's like very thin quilt batting, I'm not sure I'm getting the name right because batting is usually pretty thick and fluffy, but this stuff is about as thin as wax paper, but fabric. Imagine translucent weed cloth for landscaping that's white.

Sounds like you might be describing gossamer - a non-woven material that's thin, and kind of reminds me of cheap air filters. I've used it many times, both back-lit as well as front-lit. (In 90s and 2000's TV studio sets - easier/faster than sponge painting that was popular back then.)
 

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