Shoestring Stage Design - Part 4

4. Where do I find materials???

Your local hardware store. No seriously. Lowes or Home Depot are a great resource for throwing something together for your stage at a decent price, especially if you have someone in your church who’s handy with a hammer and saw. More than likely you have someone in your volunteer team who fits that description, and if you don’t maybe it’s time to start broadcasting that you need a volunteer to fill the shoes. I bet if you offer it you’ll get someone. Put it in the bulletin (a concise but explicit description of what you’re looking for) or on your website.

"Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It's a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy."
Erik Adigard

Second depending on your need you may find local distributors of products in your area. In Houston I found a warehouse distributor that sells corrugated plastics and other sheet materials of the like. This stuff has no bounds for creative uses. It’s cheap too, $10 for a 4ft x 8ft sheet, and it lights really well (previous entry with the heart is what it is made from). Most of these places have a will call for you to come in and pick up whatever amount of material you need, and they work with tax exempt organizations too. Call around, ask when you find a place on line if they have a local distributor to you

If a local resource is impossible or hard to find there are always the big wig companies. See if you can deal direct though rather than through a re-distributor. Usually going this route will shave a few bucks off of your end cost because you’re cutting out the middle man. Get you’re own personal representative within the company that you deal with directly. Form a relationship with the person during your phone calls for orders (a working relationship people). Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. I don’t know how many times people get on the phone and just take face cost. Most of these companies can fudge a little bit in your favor. Don’t be afraid to ask “what can you do for me here” or “what options do you have that could cut the cost down”. Unfortunately the phrase “in today’s economy” works in your favor a lot of times because these companies are just eager to have business, especially if you’re project is a little on the larger side (yes price negotiation is possible almost anywhere, you don’t know until you try).

Are you looking for lighting gear? this is a good time to start shopping around. Don’t go to a place necessarily because it’s local. Some of these places especially for tech needs like lighting, or simple consumables like gaff price gouge you. Same deal goes for sound gear, or any other gear or consumables. When you’re looking for materials such as plastics or wood, look at it’s reuse possibilities.

Don’t throw scraps away unless there is no possible use for them. Buy in bulk if you can help it and see a use for the left overs in the future. Bulk usually gets you a hefty discount in most arenas. Your church budgeting council (whether its one person or a whole team) will thank you later even though the bill might be a little more daunting to hand them. Also with most companies you can create terms with them for payment, kind of a credit with the company. This ensures you get your product quickly and they bill you for it later. It makes for ease of future purchases, and potentially can help with costs later down the line assuming you pay on time according to your payment terms.

Finally, look around your church. Someone is usually a pac-rat there are always scraps of this or that, in the youth building i found scraps of corrugated metal that I used to face that platform and podium pictured above. That helped tie it into our stage well. There is usually scrap wood, material and various odds and ends that can be used to piece together some creative stage stuff. A little gaff tape or solder and viola....a unique work of art you can be proud of.