MANSFIELD CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
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MANSFIELD CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
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Decoration Construction Welcome to the decoration construction page! Here we'll go into more of the specifics of the construction of the various items used in this years display. All of these are homemade, using materials available from your local home improvement stores. The letter boards used for the Merry Christmas display were bought from the local Litehouse Pools store and make it incredibly easy to spell words. I used 100 light strings which slide easily into each position of the letter board and can then be super glued in to secure them, leaving the bulbs free so they can be pulled out and replaced if they burn out. The cross was made of a sign material called Coroplast, which is corrugated plastic. It's easily bendable and can be cut to any size with nothing more than an Xacto knife or razor blade. I obtained that material from a local sign company. It comes in pre-cut sizes and can also be bought in a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet. Marty Slack of Christmas Utah uses this material for all of his animated figures. First, I primed and painted the front of the sheet with a grey primer and a flat black paint. I then laid out the outline for the cross with a ruler and permanent marker on the back side (remember it's in reverse here), then decided on the light spacing and marked each location on the outline. I made the holes for each light using a nail setter purchased from the local Lowes Home Improvement store. Be sure to not make the holes too big when punching them. You'd want the lights to fit snuggly in each hole. I then attached the finished design to a frame made of 1x2 treated lumber which had been treated with Thompson's Water Seal to resist moisture and warpage. The small mini trees were made from 3/16 inch steel rod. Each piece was 3 foot long and three are secured together at one end by two small hose clamps. I then made 6 inch long pieces of the same rod and bent each end up 90 degrees, about 1/2 inch long. These small pieces were the secured to each vertical rod to form a tripod and adjusted for the proper shape and spread for each tree. Granted you can buy forms for mini trees from Wowlights Production, but at about $20 each, they were a little pricey for right now. I think I ended up with less that $10 in each tree, including the lights. If you don't feel comfortable working with raw material like I did, these are an excellent alternative. When the tree frames were completed, I wrapped each frame, for about 2 feet of its length, with two 100 light strings. I have one gold, two red, three green and four blue trees in this years display. PENGUIN PICS The Penguin pictures are front and rear views, showing the attachment of the 1 inch I.D. PVC pipe to the rear of the penguin. I used cable ties for this. the base consists of a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of exterior grade plywood which has been treated with Thompson's Water Seal, then grey primered and painted flat black. The support pieces for the penguin are two 14 inch sections of 2x4, screwed together and the screwed, from the back of the plywood, to the plywood piece. Two holes were then drilled for the PVC pipe and two additional slots were drilled to allow for the pieces for the wire frame to sit down in the base support. A screw will then be driven in from the side of the upper 2x4, through the wire frame hook, to secure the penguin to the base. These penguins (there are four of them) was purchased through the local Meijer's store for $24.95 each.
SPIRAL TREES The spiral trees used in this years display (there are 10 of them) were purchased through the local Litehouse Pools store on clearance following the Christmas of 2007. I paid about $10 each and they are 6 foot tall. The base consists of a 2 foot by two foot exterior plywood piece with two 2x4 blocks screwed together and the secured to the plywood with screws driven in from the back side. A 5/8 inch hole was then drilled to accommodate the three piece rod assembly which holds the tree in it's extended position. The bottom end of the tree (the outside ring) is secured to the base with two 3/4 inch sheet metal screw and 5/8 inch flat washers.
MERRY CHRISTMAS SIGN The Merry Christmas sign consist of a frame, three vertical supports and a base, all made from 1 in I.D. PVC pipe and various fitting (elbows, T's and couplings). The frame is approximately 4 feet deep by 7 feet wide and approximately 5 feet high. There will be hooks located in both sides of the top of the sign as well as facing up in each corner of the base. I will be using low tension bungee cords here to secure the upper sign to the base and prevent swaying and to eliminate stress on the verticals and base junctions. The lights were then attached to the letter boards as I've described above. The MERRY is in red and the CHRISTMAS is in green.
MISCELLANEOUS PICTURES The remainder of these pictures will be of the cross, the mini tree harness and the blue and white rope light assemblies. I will be adding more as I get closer to completely finished.
ACCOLADES No display construction project would be complete without paying homage to those who created it. Here are the pictures of myself and my wife, Lynn. She has been a tremendous help to me in building all the creations you see above. Her help, ideas and constructive criticism have made this display what it is.
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