Let There Be Blacklight r

le1 lxexe Be... Bla CX1iGX1 vamen BY toDD liesenov & Dave Paivm eDmD BY lil ')lonSeGGeJI

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One Way Stred

Copyright ro 1998 One Way Street. Inc. PO Box .5077 Englewood. CO 80155

let lxexe Be... BlaCXliCiXl vsmen BY loDD liesenO'lf &: Dave PRiveu eDneD BY Liz YonSeliGen ISBN 1-58302-136-1

Copyright tn I �198 Om• Way Strcf't. Inc. PO Rox 5077 Englewood. CO 80155 (30:!) 790-1188. 1-800-569-4537 I 11 lp://V\ "w.onewaystn•et.rom Pt>rmis�ion is granted to the purchaser or rhi!. book to mak(' ropiP� ncressary for your pt>rsonal use in your own c hurrh or rni11isrry. J\.11 other t0pying i!o, prohibited. Permi!>sion is NOT grantC'd for ml' as hand o uts in sC'minars or workshops.

le& tXtBe It... Blacklight

iaB1e 01 Comems Introduction

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Blacklight Puppetry

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4 5

Blacklights .......................................................................................... 5 Performance Area

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Getting Started ................................................................................... 7 Making a Prop Rack

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Preparing the Performers ................................................................. 9 Fluorescent Materials

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Lettering

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Finding Fluorescent Materials

Protecting Your Props

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Fluorescent Paints ............................................................................ 13 Working with Fluorescent Paint .................................................... 13 Puppets, Props and Scenery

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Special Fluorescent Materials

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Coating on Flexible Solid Surfaces ................................................. 19 Choosing Performance Material ..................................................... 20 Resource Helps

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UV Puppetry Resource List .............................................................. 22 One Way Street Resources

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Fluorescent Sun Puppet Pattern ..................................................... 24

Lei ixe1e Be... Blacklight

3

Introduction Many yPars ago at a Fel\ow�hip of Christian P up pPl eer's conference. Marilyn Watkins from Norrh Carolina and her ream performed a lively

blackligh1 puppet version of �This Little Light of MineH usi11g singing lightbulb puppets.

It w as so impressive tha t it captivated thf' audi­

e

ence! This t>x peri en ce o p ned my eyes to how

powerful a quality blacklight presentation r.an be.

Sincf> then. our puppet team and many orher pup­ pet teamf. around thf' or l d have used this song

w

and other songs to WOW audiences and drive

home 1he n1cs�age.

Over the years. we have used blacklight regularly

w providt> cxrilemcm and variety to our perfor­ mances. Wp'w seen audiences of 1.000 or more dolkfr•·•• .,,,I would likf' to thank Marilyn the use

Watkins for her creativity in pioneering

of blarkl i gh 1 with puppets. Her book A lkwi/ffl C.:uidt 10 Blarklig/Jt Puppetry has hel ped rhousands 8illn 1nro1111at1on 011 uw eflecllve use or 1Jlack­ ligh1 in puppN ministry. This book is being pub­ lished as an

expanded resource for puppeteers

desiring informution techniques for using

vn

tu11c11l lt':>UUrCt) iHIO

blacklight effect ively

puppet ministry performances.

with

l>di�r Dale Vo n Seggen

Presiden1. Ont:> Way Street. Inc.

II 011111_ Qla�kli9ht

Blacklight Puppetry Oru• of t hf> biggest

lrends in the world of puppet ministry has hf'en 1 lw use of a spec i a l type of l ight ing known i:b b l a c k l i g h t . It i s easy r o s e e w hy. Dlacklight is an ef fecc that is very easy to use. yer it raptures an audif'nce-'s auention l i ke n0lhi11g else. Imagine ynurSPlfsi t t ing in church expectinR a traditional service. But something is different. Today a pup· pct stage sits in thar spot usually occupied by the d1oir. Suddenly the lights go off The room is com­ pletely dark. The music starts. and soon the µup­ pet stage is fil led with puppf'IS amt pro11s glowing brightly. These> puppets are proclaiming the mes­ sage of Jesus Chrisl. and thf'y have thf' full atten­ tion o f every child i n that room. Imagine the impact those puppets will have. Now here's lhe bPst part: adults love i t as much as the kids do.

So what is black light? Let's get tf'chnical for a mo­

ment. Blacklight is the popu lar name for near­ ultraviolet radiant energy. which fal lsjusr outside the visible spectrum. When this light hits ccnain nuoresceni marerials. it rauses them m nuoresce . or emit visible light. The invisible blacklight wave is absorbed by the nuorescem material and is re­ nected at longer wavelengths visible to the eye. The visible wavelengths of thP electromagnetic spectrum range from 380 to 760 nm (or nanom­ etei-. a unit of measurement for lightwaves. One nanometer is one b i l l ionth of a meter) . Wavt:>­ lengrhs longer than 760 nm arf' called infrared light. Wavelengths shorter than 380 nm are call Pd u l traviolet (UV) or black light. UV efficiency Is measured by peak lumen emission from nuores­ cen1 materi a l s . y e l l o w and orange being the brightest. blue and purple the weakest. In common language. blacklight makes nuorcs­ C mam perfor­ mance area of mo�t puppe1 stages cends 10 he be· 1ween six and nine feet in il'ngth. Therefore. about two to three blacklights 011 each performtince level usually does the job. I lowl."vcr. you w i l l want to expcrimem and find ouc for yourself what works besc. You may find tha1 three blackl ighrs do a fine job. but four blacklights m ak e thing� stand out a Jinle better. This is not an exact science. Many puppet teams w i l l have \\·al l to wall blacklighting. covrring every inch or performance area.

eight to tf"n inch1.·s. If the puppets arf" rnuct1 fur· ther away from the blatkliRhl. they will look d i m ­ m e r a n d begin to appear k i n d of ruzzy. maki11g it more din1culc for your audience to focus on thP.m. Pos i t i on i ng t h e puppets roo c l o s e to t h e blackl ights w i l l rr�ate hot spots . These h o l spots will sf"em to wash our some of the bright colors. In all honesty. blacklights work hes1 when they shine down on their subject from abovf". Unfor­ tunately. with 1he type of puppet stages uspd by most teams. this i.s almost impossible to achieve. Therefore. the blacklights are mounted inside the puppet stage. just below the horizontal c:rossbar of the stagt'. This allows the blackl ights to be our of view of the audience. yet close to the puppets and props. A helpful hint when using slg11 props in blacklight is to l i l t them toward the blackligln slightly. This helps them shine a bit brighter. Do not place the blacklights on the noor inside the puppel stagf". This is too far away from the sub jeers to bl' effective. Such blacklight fixturl'S will also be in the way of the puppeteers. If you have a theatrical ligh 1 i 11g system mounced on overhrari supports. you may t h i n k ahout adding a few blackl ights to it. This w i l l allow you to have some blar.kligh1 shining down from above. Howeve�. the distance or lighting Trees from the Stage 1$ usually too great for these blar.klights to be effec­ tive all by themselves. Even sn. such lights can do a nice job of fil l i ng in where shadows may occur.

Mounting the Blacklights There are st>veral good methods for mounting your blacklighrs. The quickest and easiest method i s to . use small metal hooks and simply hang the fix­ tures on rhe crossbar of the puppet st.age. The hook'.'i ran insert into the holes on the back of the J 8-inch fixtures. If your fixtures have no holes. the hooks could be ser.urcd with duct tape. These hooks are available from One Way Strttt. or you

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Positioning Puppets & Props Blar.klights are a finicky breed. To be effective. rhey ny arc lighting. but not coo close. The proper d istance . hecwcen ligh1 and object should he approximately I.ti mat M- Blacklight

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can make your own out of hangers. A drawback to using hooks Is that the weight of the bh1cklights can cause the crossbar to bow. depending on thfl! sturdiness and leng1h or the puppet stage. How­ t>ver. for a quick set.up. lhis is the way lo go. This method should only be used with the 18-inch fix­ tures as largfl!r fixtures are too heavy to hang on most p uppet s1age c ro ssbars.

Another popular method or mounting blacklights is the use or a prop rack. Prop nu:k:. are made or a ligln wood trim ma 1erial . Using U-b o lts . the rack is attached m the vertical poles of your stage. The rack will run horizontally on the inside of the stage. just hf'neath the crossbar that holds the curtain. This type of prop rack also works great

Making a Prop Rack

are using. Now glue and nail three or the' spacers 10 e a ch end or the prop rark. Make sure that you se· cu re them to tht>Ioarr1 nr pns1 ..rl)onrd nrul ..1r ... ply trace the word!i with a pencil.

This same technique can be applied 10 painting. You can trace your ll'lters on 10 a piect• or bro:wn butcher paper. then cu1 out the lencrs. (Tll': Jum che sce11ci/ over ;1nd :;pray with a Uglu coar of spray adhesive co 110/d the stencil in plarf' while y ou arc working.) Now place stencil over your surfac . and . paint tile letters evenly with spray pa1111. This can also work in reverse. place the cur out leuers on

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the surface and paint. the background.

water dro)15 or high humidhy. It will easily creasf'. and the edges will oft.en dent a d �ay. It's n t as durable as plast.ic or wuud, hut 1t 1s E>asy to find. easy to work with. and fairly inexpens v�. Note: regular foamboard does not Ou r sce 1t st'lf un· : . like paper stock. Howpvcr. since 1t is white. ir ac­ . cepts fluorescent p r > l y h o u � t.·

l / 1ough tl1 nuoresccnt props, it's best to paint chem under UV light Fluorescent paints are so bright u11der normal light that one coat looks n11e. until you gN ii under blacklight. Either paint it

under a UV fixture, or have a blacklight nearby in a dark room to check your progress.

light Coats, Straight Strokes Fluorescent paint seems notoriously thin. partially due to irs Lransµa rem narurf'. You can nPver achieve a good even coat of paint in ont> coat. so

Create a Spraying Area Unless you have a workshop space. or your church staff ighbors. This is supposf'd to he ministry. not a lire-or-death prop crusade. Thin plastil' drop cloths arc cheap. easy ro Ond and dis­ posable. Use them. reuse them i f you can. and throw them away. Ne w spa pe r is fine also. but make sure it masks the tabletop or noor com­ plcrely. Taµc ir together. because spray paint of­ ten finds the crar.ks you 111issec1. If ptiinting out­ doors. he> aware thar UV pa irn aurarts insecls. Most nowPrS USf' UV marki ngs to attract hugs for pollination. Your large nuorescent yellow sign looks like the biggest daisy t hat bumblebee's c>ver sel'n. so clu n 'c be surpr ised f f it wanes to land on your freshly paincever's on the surface of thP piece you're pai nting will show through the coat or painl . You rtin use this effoc:r to your advantage. Figure I 4a shows a foamboard s ign chat's been lettered prior lu painting. Overspraying tht> lct­ terin� w i l l crcace a UV reactive sign where the let tcring is still clearly visible. The main reason for lhis "cart before the horse" approach i s thal il"s much easier to get good leccering with a 111arker on unpainted paper. LettPring after pairuing works. hue it"s much tougher o n the marker. gum­ ming up the felt tip with paint You can tilso brush

;u Figure 14b lt1 IXtBt Bf_ Black light

on or marker on black onto lhe oversprayed let. ters (Figure 1 4 b) . This is lhc way to good looking props and seen·

cry using the standard fluorescen1 painl colors. Bui whal aboul special colors? What