sam.henderson Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Hi Guys, Has anyone ever attempted to make there own Star Cloth. What matterial and fairy lights did you use? Was it easy? How much did it cost? Would it be cheaper just to hire one? Was it just 13A plug and ran it off a normal plug or did you connect it to the dimmer and run it off the desk? What did you secure the lights to the cloth with?Tape? Any help would really be appreciated Cheers in advance, Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Can't say I've ever tried it, but most Star Cloths have the lights sewn into them. I imagine you could just use a set of (fireproof) serge drapes, and cut holes into them and poke a set of fairy lights through the holes. If you used one with a slow fading chase option, then you could get a nice twinkling effect. Remember you can't connect transformers for fairy lights to a dimmer. The alternative would be to add several circuits of normal fairy lights (ones that dont run through a transformer) and plug them to a dimmer (via a 15-13 adaptor), giving you control over the speed of the chase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 how about seeing if you could find a set of LED lights... im sure you can get ones without a transformer... (has mental image of a couple of thousand LEDs in series :D ), not sure if youd be able to dim them.. I think you can although they may have a fairly high forward voltage which would mean they might 'snap' on to start with. anyway they might be a good idea cus they dont generate [much] heat oh another idea... you can get prefabricated 'light nets', theyre like fairy lights wired in a grid pattern, cant remeber where I last saw them but theyre fairly readily avaliabe Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 28, 2004 Author Share Posted February 28, 2004 oh another idea... you can get prefabricated 'light nets', theyre like fairy lights wired in a grid pattern, cant remeber where I last saw them but theyre fairly readily avaliabe Tomumm. Sounds like a good option I think I rememember seeing something like that once on TV orr something?? Anyone who knows where I could get one of these you help would be really appreciated! Thanks So far Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimac Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Try this linkNot sure if its exactly what you want. Try B&Q, I know they do fairy lights and they could well have some "light nets".and maplins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Classic star cloths are black durable/inherantly fire resistant wool serge with 28volt miniature tungsten lamps sewn in and parallel wired in three or four ccts with backing cloth. They use a 24volt transformer per cct, lamps are replaceable (just). Use the ceeform dedicated low volts connectors.The NJD 8000 controller is frequently used as it has room for the transformer to be mounted inside and tne dim pack to run off 24V Dont think they are cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagardner1984 Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 To Peter's point about dimming transformers - you can get dimmable transformers, can't you - what do birdies run off. If you could get a 12V birdie transformer - and a set of 12v lights - would that not work? Mind you I remember once getting a whole row of birdies as footlights, and attaching them to the deck, but then they vibrated horrendously whilst they were being dimmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 Bear in mind that making the stars look sufficently "random" is much, much harder than it first appears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 PAR Opti, who are here will sell you the bits you need. They have a system which means you don't need to sew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitlane Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 I assume that you don't want to do a fibre optic star cloth. It's not as difficult as it sounds but might be too expensive. Whenever we've made a starcloth we have used an actual star chart to lay out the star positions. As someone else said it is surprisingly hard to make one up and it look real - or for you to THINK it looks real. My theory is that because our brain is programmed to look for patterns (vision, language etc. all work on pattern matching principles) in any lay out you make, however random, you will start to perceive some kind of ordered pattern (which surely is why the ancients 'saw' the constellations). If you use a real star chart it won't stop you seeing patterns that aren't really their but at least you can tell yourself that it is a real night sky. Plus its kinda fun when someone compliments you on your new star cloth to be able to say that it's a re-creation of the night sky looking from your crew room window on your 21st birthday (or whatever). Star chart software can be found pretty cheaply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted February 28, 2004 Share Posted February 28, 2004 We once made one up cheaply by tag-gunning a load of fairy light strings we had to the front of a full-black then hanging a sky gauze just downstage of it to hide the wiring mess. It worked well, but was however pretty tedious to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.henderson Posted February 28, 2004 Author Share Posted February 28, 2004 OK, Thank You Everyone for your response so far. Still want to ask, Do you think its cheaper to make your own than hire one and do you think its worth the time and effort?? Those who have made them roughly how long did it take?? Thank You Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimac Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 STARCLTH Black serge starcloth. 10’ wide x 20’ drop with low voltage pealamps, inc. transformer, 15A plug 70.00 (from Kave theater services)also Blackout. I have used them before and they have very high standards for there starcloths. I think it is going to be to much effort making it, and you can spend about the same on making it as you can hiring it. (maybe a little more)depending on howlong you neeed it for? a week? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted February 29, 2004 Share Posted February 29, 2004 look at www.starcloth.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mush Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 or running a net or drops of pea lites/xmas lights against black backdrop with black gauze in front, , gives a nice shimmer but needs some depth. Mush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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