# DIY Star Drop - Photos?



## StephanieW (Oct 2, 2019)

I've been researching some low-cost ways to create a star effect, and found a few references (including on here) to using filament and bolts/washers/foil with side lighting.

If you've created this, can you share any photos of it (in use in production or BTS)? 

I'd appreciate any guidance on this!

Thanks!
S


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I've been researching some low-cost ways to create a star effect, and found a few references (including on here) to using filament and bolts/washers/foil with side lighting.
> 
> If you've created this, can you share any photos of it (in use in production or BTS)?
> 
> ...


I've done this at least three times but don't have any photos. I've used small pieces of Rosco Mirror mylar approximately 1.5 by .625" then pinched and tightly twisted in their centres like tiny bow-ties then supported them at random heights with matte black fishing line in front of a black traveller cross lit with three 6 x 16 ellipsoidals from each side, sometimes with all six in open white, sometimes in a light steel blue and sometimes with steel blue from one side and open white from the other. In all cases the ellipsoidals focused directly across stage with their beams disappearing off stage behind black velour legs on their opposite sides. Never as spiffy as a fibre optic star drop with LED illuminators but at a fraction of the cost, labor intensive, but cheap if / when labor's free.
*EDIT*: A larger quantity of narrow angle ellipsoidals put more light on the stars and burned the shutters less resulting in less heat buildup within the instruments. Experimenting with donut sizes sharpened the shutter cuts keeping them off the black traveller and off the black scrim used down stage. For donuts I was using matte black foil in matte black cardboard frames beginning with small donut holes and gradually enlarging them for the best compromise of sharpness Vs. light output.
The bolts or washers were serving as weights on the bottom of each vertical black line to prevent the stars from blowing wildly about when folks open and closed doors back stage. One or two box fans operating at low speed can rotate the stars slightly improving their twinkle without blowing them side to side.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 2, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> I've done this at least three times but don't have any photos. I've used small pieces of Rosco Mirror mylar approximately 1.5 by .625" then pinched and tightly twisted in their centres like tiny bow-ties then supported them at random heights with matte black fishing line in front of a black traveller cross lit with three 6 x 16 ellipsoidals from each side, sometimes with all six in open white, sometimes in a light steel blue and sometimes with steel blue from one side and open white from the other. In all cases the ellipsoidals focused directly across stage with their beams disappearing off stage behind black velour legs on their opposite sides. Never as spiffy as a fibre optic star drop with LED illuminators but at a fraction of the cost, labor intensive, but cheap if / when labor's free.
> *EDIT*: A larger quantity of narrow angle ellipsoidals put more light on the stars and burned the shutters less resulting in less heat buildup within the instruments. Experimenting with donut sizes sharpened the shutter cuts keeping them off the black traveller and off the black scrim used down stage. For donuts I was using matte black foil in matte black cardboard frames beginning with small donut holes and gradually enlarging them for the best compromise of sharpness Vs. light output.
> The bolts or washers were serving as weights on the bottom of each vertical black line to prevent the stars from blowing wildly about when folks open and closed doors back stage. One or two box fans operating at low speed can rotate the stars slightly improving their twinkle without blowing them side to side.
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard




Thank you so much for the specifics. We don't have LED drop rental funds, so we are going to give this a shot. I appreciate all the detail in your response!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> Thank you so much for the specifics. We don't have LED drop rental funds, so we are going to give this a shot. I appreciate all the detail in your response!


 *@StephanieW* Even though I was with a shop in Canada, only once can I recall having the budget for a fibre optic star drop with four or five sequenced MR16 light sources, the drop was for Tussaud's wax museum on the main strip in 'Vegas. One of the economy star drops was for a pro' theatre in my Canadian neighborhood and the other two were both for local amateur theatres, one a musical company and the other a straight play. Very labor intensive but pretty cheap 'n cheerful, even good enough for a thirty minute preset with the box fans gently blowing and adding twinkle; that way it wasn't quite so static and boring. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 2, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> *@StephanieW* Even though I was with shop in Canada, only once can I recall having the budget for a fibre optic star drop with four or five sequenced MR16 light sources, the drop was for Tussaud's wax museum on the main strip in 'Vegas. One of the economy star drops was for a pro' theatre in my Canadian neighborhood and the other two were both for local amateur theatres, one a musical company and the other a straight play. Very labor intensive but pretty cheap 'n cheerful, even good enough for a thirty minute preset with the box fans gently blowing and adding twinkle; that way it wasn't quite so static and boring.
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard



I have 21 kids signed up for my lights and sound crew, so we have the hands. Haha! Do you think we could get by without a scrim? I'd be hanging this on a lineset in front of a black velour traveler upstage.


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I have 21 kids signed up for my lights and sound crew, so we have the hands. Haha! Do you think we could get by without a scrim? I'd be hanging this on a lineset in front of a black velour traveler upstage.


 * @StephanieW* Space around the stars, both US and DS, is your friend when it comes to blasting them with intense cross lighting while keeping your cross-lights off your black drop (and black scrim if you have one) The matte black fishing line will show in the cross-lights and the black scrim's main use was minimizing visibility of the supporting fishing lines. Keeping the fishing lines clean and matte is a plus, dust and dust bunnies on the line are NOT your friends. 
Good luck and please post a few photos of your finished efforts. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Van (Oct 2, 2019)

Sounds like such a cool Idea. I've only ever done them with Fibre optic. I would love to see photos of the finished product!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I have 21 kids signed up for my lights and sound crew, so we have the hands. Haha! Do you think we could get by without a scrim? I'd be hanging this on a lineset in front of a black velour traveler upstage.


 @StephanieW A couple more thoughts for you.
On one hand, people think 6 x 9 ellipsoidals will cover more stars vertically.
-* a*; they will but
- *b*; they'll also be wider US / DS thus requiring more side shuttering wasting more light and creating more heat and BURNING the heck out of your shutters.
- For the above reasons, a greater quantity of narrower angle ellipsoidals put more light where you want it, on your cheap 'n cheerful stars.
- Another consideration; whatever the beam angle of your ellipsoidals, they will illuminate less vertical height on their near side where your stars are closer to the lenses, thus they'll be somewhat more intense on a few stars on their near sides while they'll cover appreciably more vertical height on their far sides, although with a loss in intensity due to distance and inverse square law. When I've done this, the exposed width was approximately 50' in the pro' venue and about 40' in both the amateur spaces. In all cases we had a black velour traveller U/S, a black scrim D/S and black velour legs to hide LX booms behind along with to hide where the beams fired off into their opposite wings.
Please do post photos, CB'ers _LOVE _ pictures.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 2, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> @StephanieW A couple more thoughts for you.
> On one hand, people think 6 x 9 ellipsoidals will cover more stars vertically.
> - a; they will but
> - b; they'll also be wider US / DS thus requiring more side shuttering wasting more light and creating more hear and BURNING the heck out of your shutters.
> ...



This is really all so helpful. Thank you! I will definitely take pics of the process and the finished product.


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> This is really all so helpful. Thank you! I will definitely take pics of the process and the finished product.


When it came to attaching the little Rosco mirrored mylar bow ties to the matte black fishing lines, I've tried two methods: 
- *1*; Someone was sure glue was the answer but NO; the little bow ties unwound and became thicker in their centres, this was _NOT_ a good thing. 
- *2*; Tieing overhand knots in the matte black fishing line proved to be the better answer as the matte black line tended to keep the mirror mylar tighter in its centre. 
One last thought for you: Matte black fishing line is fairly economical; DON'T make the mistake of pre-cutting your vertical lengths too short. 
Every time you tie an overhand knot or two around a star, you'll consume length. 
Every time you tighten an overhand knot and break the line, you'll have to purse your lips in front of your students. Tieing knots to add more line is another No, No.
Every time you tie an overhand knot or two around a star, your line will get shorter and shorter resulting in your weights on the lower end rising higher and higher from your stage floor. Having your pendulous weights in sight of your paying patrons, and intensely cross-lit too, is a SERIOUS loss of points. 

Pre-cut your Matte black fishing lne MUCH longer than you anticipate, and then do your best to keep it clean while it's lying on your floor since much of what's resting on the floor is going to end up higher and in view. You can always cut off excess when you've completed your master-piece.
Pictures; yes, pictures _PLEASE!! _ 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## RonHebbard (Oct 2, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> This is really all so helpful. Thank you! I will definitely take pics of the process and the finished product.


 *@StephanieW* Another thought for you: 
When it comes to the Rosco mirrored mylar, *don't cheap out*. 
No the aluminum foil from your kitchen cupboard won't work anywhere near as well. 
Neither will the foil wrappers from candy bars or pieces of metal cut from tin cans. 
Yes, the Rosco mirrored mylar was costly. (But compared to any other shiny, glistening, highly reflective foil, it's truly phenomenal.) 
No, you won't need much. If it's still too pricey, beat on your friendly Rosco rep' for a tiny sample: Even a small sample can be cut to a fair number of stars. 
Don't make your stars too large. 
Don't make all your stars identically sized. 

Variety's the spice of life, it also leads to better, more realistically convincing, stars. 
BEFORE you pour hours and hours into this, create one string 8' to 10' long, dangle it from a pipe a foot DS of your black velour traveller, cross-light the heck out of it, turn off the work lights, and the house lights, then closely scrutinize your efforts. Learn from your efforts, then proceed or find a new direction depending upon your initial results. This is a good time to begin your experiments with home-made donuts and carefully finessing their hole sizes. 

When your production's over, save your stars. Don't bother trying to save the matte black fishing line, you'll frustrate yourself trying to wrap it meticulously for future use when untangling it will be even more problematic. 
Toss your stars in a shoe-box for posterity, this'll keep them clean and ready for the next time. If they get crumpled due to handling, worry not; in the case of mirrored-mylar stars, a few extra wrinkles can be a good thing. I won't try to convince you the same is true for maturing. BTW; NEVER grow old, maturing's O.K. but _NEVER_ grow old, there's very little in aging's favor. (Don't ask me how many decades it's taken me to learn this.) 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 3, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> *@StephanieW* Another thought for you:
> When it comes to the Rosco mirrored mylar, *don't cheap out*.
> No the aluminum foil from your kitchen cupboard won't work anywhere near as well.
> Neither will the foil wrappers from candy bars or pieces of metal cut from tin cans.
> ...



I'm in. I ordered some Rosco Cinegel 3801 Roscoflex Mirror and some fishing line that looks matte black. We'll see. The kids and I will do a test run as soon as that stuff comes in! I'll report back.  

I can't thank you enough for all the detail!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 3, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I'm in. I ordered some Rosco Cinegel 3801 Roscoflex Mirror and some fishing line that looks matte black. We'll see. The kids and I will do a test run as soon as that stuff comes in! I'll report back.
> 
> I can't thank you enough for all the detail!


 *@StephanieW* When you take the photos of your finished masterpiece resplendent with its cross-lights, DON'T take flash pictures, I'd prefer not to see the matte black supporting lines.
Not shooting flash photos seems obvious but sometimes you wonder.
Decades ago, our local university had Canada's first astronaut as a guest speaker. McMaster U. rented our largest soft-seater and Mr. Garneau arrived with a 16mm film; I drew the projectionist straw. The bulk of the audience were engineering students and their professors. You wouldn't believe how many audience members whipped of their SLR's with their strobe flashes ON!!! I hope they liked their photos of the blank white screen. Too dumb for words d'ya think*? 
@ruinexplorer* I suspect this is old hat to you. *@sk8rsdad* you're close enough to Ottawa, have you had this experience*??* *@Ancient Engineer @FMEng ??? *
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard


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## z2oo (Oct 4, 2019)

Just because I love sharing this video and the howyadidit... 
Painted an old drop, poked a massive number of holes, and then added a bunch of circuits of string lights poking through (glued, taped, safety pinned). Super cheap and looked pretty cool in person! The northern lights were a bunch of seladors uplighting a ratty navy blue scrim with no bottom weight and some fans blowing on it—with a nicely dressed black scrim in front to make it all disappear.


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## FMEng (Oct 4, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> *@StephanieW* You wouldn't believe how many audience members whipped of their SLR's with their strobe flashes ON!!! I hope they liked their photos of the blank white screen. Too dumb for words d'ya think*?
> @ruinexplorer* I suspect this is old hat to you. *@sk8rsdad* you're close enough to Ottawa, have you had this experience*??* *@Ancient Engineer @FMEng ??? *
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard



Years ago, and artist friend and I created a projected Christmas star for_ Amahl and the Night Visitors. _After every show, I was asked to light up the star for photos. Invariably, someone would take flash photos. That was back in the days of film cameras, so they would not have discovered their error until the prints came back. At least digital cameras offer a second chance sometimes.


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## jonares (Oct 9, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I've been researching some low-cost ways to create a star effect, and found a few references (including on here) to using filament and bolts/washers/foil with side lighting.
> 
> If you've created this, can you share any photos of it (in use in production or BTS)?
> S



I did the filament (though I think it was black nylon thread) and nuts (wrapped in foil) gag for "On The Verge" many-a-year-ago... http://www.arescreative.com/design/on-the-verge/ 
Looked awesome, but was very time consuming hanging all the stars! We used ellipsoidals from the floor, in the wings, cross-lighting the stars. Later, a student of mine, using the stars in another event, re-lit the stars using fresnels with barn doors, and it looked even better - more evenly lit, interestingly. So if I do this trick again, I'll start with fresnels instead.
- Jon


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## ScenicKatie (Oct 9, 2019)

We did the lowest of low budget options for our production of Wendy and Peter Pan. Fishing line with balled up pieces of aluminum foil tied every 18 inches hung from our back catwalk. We had a source 4 leko on a boom on each side shuttered to hit in a strip. It looked decent for how quickly we rigged it up.


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## curtis73 (Oct 14, 2019)

Just getting into this a little late.

I have done two (alas, no pictures)

The first one I did with Styrofoam 1" balls wrapped with crunched up mylar and lit them from booms in the wings. I threaded some black braided fishing line through them and it mostly disappeared. Shooting light from straight on the side didn't produce the effect I wanted, so I moved the booms one entrance downstage to the next legs (10') so I was shooting about 15-20% upstage. I was able to shutter off the cyc.

The second time I just bought a ton of those LED string lights. Search Amazon for "led fairy string." I think I probably had about 20 of them. They are usually either 3 or 5 volt, so a carefully chosen transformer got me the voltage I needed and it was enough to power about 20 of them across the batten in parallel. I put a 1/2oz weight on the bottom of each string, and covered some random LEDs with gaff tape so it wasn't such an even pattern. Fly it in behind a scrim and the slight motion you'll get from the strings moving a wee bit will make them twinkle as the LEDs pass behind the fibers of the scrim. It should be noted that this effect is great for lower-lit scenes. It gets pretty easily washed out if you have a bright scene.

If you want to get a bit more labor-intense but still cheap, buy bright diodes in bulk and make your own strings. I would assemble the strings on their own support... that is to say, don't just hang a bunch of soldered connections by their own conductor.


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## StephanieW (Oct 17, 2019)

ScenicKatie said:


> We did the lowest of low budget options for our production of Wendy and Peter Pan. Fishing line with balled up pieces of aluminum foil tied every 18 inches hung from our back catwalk. We had a source 4 leko on a boom on each side shuttered to hit in a strip. It looked decent for how quickly we rigged it up.



Thank you for sharing that photo! Looks good!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 25, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> Thank you for sharing that photo! Looks good!


 *@StephanieW * How did your stars work out or have they not shone yet*??* 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 25, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> *@StephanieW * How did your stars work out or have they not shone yet*??*
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard



We've been making our little twisties and we'll start putting them up this week.  Photos to come...


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## RonHebbard (Oct 25, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> We've been making our little twisties and we'll start putting them up this week.  Photos to come...


 *@StephanieW* Don't make all your stars the same size and don't make them TOO large. When it comes to cross-lighting them, there's no such thing as too much cross-light as long as it's all firing off-stage into the opposite wing and NOT showing on either the black velour U/S or the black scrim D/S our your stars. 
Be sure to block entry from the sides, even during off hours. A custodian passing through toting a folded 12' ladder on his shoulder can demolish your work and scarcely notice, as can the lads from the football team when someone asks them to collect a hundred stacking chairs from backstage and tote them to the cafeteria. 
When you've got your first one or two vertical strands of stars hung and weighted, try cross-lighting and viewing them in the dark. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## Gavin Fearon (Oct 29, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> The matte black fishing line will show in the cross-lights and the black scrim's main use was minimizing visibility of the supporting fishing lines.
> Ron Hebbard



Hi guys: I’m pleased to have come across this thread just as I, too, am researching low cost star drops. I’m finding the fishing line to be *very* visible in a couple of tests, even behind scrim. @RonHebbard do you remember having success with a particular brand? I’ve tried two braided options and am about to go looking for black minofilament.


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## RonHebbard (Oct 29, 2019)

Gavin Fearon said:


> Hi guys: I’m pleased to have come across this thread just as I, too, am researching low cost star drops. I’m finding the fishing line to be *very* visible in a couple of tests, even behind scrim. @RonHebbard do you remember having success with a particular brand? I’ve tried two braided options and am about to go looking for black minofilament.


 *@Gavin Fearon* No Sir, sorry I don't. I think I purchased it at Canadian Tire and went with the mattest black I could find. Keeping it clean and dust free was important. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 29, 2019)

RON.

IT WORKED.



We need to work on spacing, because when you tell high school kids NOT to evenly space things suddenly they're ready to lay something out in the most precise grid you've ever seen. We will play a bit, but the director went OOOOOOH when we did our test today. It's gonna happen!


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## StephanieW (Oct 29, 2019)

Gavin Fearon said:


> Hi guys: I’m pleased to have come across this thread just as I, too, am researching low cost star drops. I’m finding the fishing line to be *very* visible in a couple of tests, even behind scrim. @RonHebbard do you remember having success with a particular brand? I’ve tried two braided options and am about to go looking for black minofilament.



I bought fishing line from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0791CF98X/?tag=controlbooth-20
This one is pretty matte. Seems to be okay!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 29, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> RON.
> 
> IT WORKED.
> 
> ...



*@StephanieW* Thoughts: Add a few, cover a few with something matte black and / or remove a few depending upon how you attached them and how easy they are to remove. Intentionally make your stars different sizes; smaller stars create the illusion of greater depth, even when they're all hanging on the same threads from the same fly-pipe. Did you use a fan or two running quietly on low speed? 
I gather you're liking the Rosco mirrored mylar, it's spendy but a little goes a long way. You can always store your stars in a shoe box and haul them out again another year. I tried wrapping the strings of stars onto 6" x 12" pieces of old corrugated cardboard to save them complete and intact but it was less then successful. I found it better to save the stars themselves and create new strings when next required. 
Congrats, I'm glad this is working out for you and THANKS for your photo. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Oct 29, 2019)

RonHebbard said:


> *@StephanieW* Thoughts: Add a few, cover a few with something matte black and / or remove a few depending upon how you attached them and how easy they are to remove. Intentionally make your stars different sizes; smaller stars create the illusion of greater depth, even when they're all hanging on the same threads from the same fly-pipe. Did you use a fan or two running quietly on low speed?
> I gather you're liking the Rosco mirrored mylar, it's spendy but a little goes a long way. You can always store your stars in a shoe box and haul them out again another year. I tried wrapping the strings of stars onto 6" x 12" pieces of old corrugated cardboard to save them complete and intact but it was less then successful. I found it better to save the stars themselves and create new strings when next required.
> Congrats, I'm glad this is working out for you and THANKS for your photo.
> Toodleoo!
> Ron Hebbard



I'll update with a "finished" photo when we've got it all done. Thanks so much for all your advice and help! I kept telling the kids "This guy Ron from the Internet says this will work." And then when it DID, they were like, "RON!" Haha! Appreciate you taking the time to teach!


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## RonHebbard (Oct 29, 2019)

StephanieW said:


> I'll update with a "finished" photo when we've got it all done. Thanks so much for all your advice and help! I kept telling the kids "This guy Ron from the Internet says this will work." And then when it DID, they were like, "RON!" Haha! Appreciate you taking the time to teach!


 *@StephanieW* Another couple of thoughts: To breakup the regularity of the pattern, either shorten the tops of a few strands at random and / or lengthen the tops of a few strands or both. Adding a few tiny stars on the same strings between your existing stars will do a lot for you and create the illusion of much greater depth. Twisting the mirrored mylar into little bow-ties is important. 
Congrats on your good work, keep the caretakers and football team out of your upstage area until you're finished with your stars; don't ask me how I learned about gym teachers and football teams: Suffice it to say it wasn't pretty when we rolled in at half hour for our next performance; 'nough said. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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## StephanieW (Nov 17, 2019)

Photo from tech rehearsal! The black traveler didn't look as nice as the blue cyc. Photographer was pretty close to the stage (up on a ladder in the pit). It looks nicer from the house! I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I'd totally do this again.


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## RonHebbard (Nov 18, 2019)

*@StephanieW* Glad it worked to your satisfaction. I read your reply when you posted but I'd become a 'non-member' with CB's recent upgrade and could neither like nor reply until a couple of hours ago. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


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