Framing for Small Drop

[deadlygopher]

This seems like something that must have been discussed before, but I was unsuccessful at searching...

I want to hang the logo of a festival I'm designing at the back of the stage. The image will be about 5' wide x 6' high. I was hoping to paint the image on some black duck.

I don't have a lot of experience constructing soft goods, and I was wondering if anyone has suggestions about how to cheaply build the piece so it'll hang nicely. One suggestion I read somewhere said to use two pieces of 1x3 along the top, but since the top of the piece will be visible, that seems to be a bad solution.

Is my only option to stick a pipe pocket in the top and bottom? Should I grommet the top instead and tie it onto a separate pipe?

 

[MarshallPope]

If you are wanting to hand it like a standard drop, grommets on the top and pipe pocket on the bottom would probably be your best choice. However, for this application, I might lean towards building a frame like you would for a soft flat and just wrap the edges, stapling on the back. It seems like that would give you the cleanest appearance since it's fairly small and the whole thing will be visible.

 

[mstaylor]

There are several options. If it is indoor, I would either pocket it top and bottom or grommet the top for a pipe and pocket the bottom. If outdoors, make a flat and add hardware for hanging. Whatever you do, allow for adjusting the height. Too many times I am handed banners with no thought of how to hang it or adjust it.

 

[jglodeklights]

The best solution is probably a 1x3 Broadway style flat. This will give a clean appearance, while having decent rigidity. Rigging would most easily be a D ring and keeper at the bottom of each side, and then another D ring and keeper at the top. Black painted aircraft cable threaded through and secured with crosbys would hold the flat up.

Something like this. Grey is the keeper, gold is they d ring, and purple is the aircraft cable. The fabric could be wrapped nicely to ensure a flat surface, and stapled like one would a painting. Soft flats like this work well, are cheap and easy to construct, and make small drops easy to paint. After the initial use, the hardware and drop can be stripped and reused at a later time, the flat itself can be discarded if one doesn't wish to store it. Properly putting the aircraft through the top D rings so that when weight is on the line will keep the flat almost perfectly upright.