Lighting Tips and Techniques

Kits are available as framework only or with lights. Framework only kits don’t include lighting for people who may already have lighting that they can use. Here are some guidelines on our preferred lighting types.

General Notes

The success of your display is how you dress the lights. You can have the best framework in the world but if the lights are not displayed well, it can let the whole display down. Liken it to a well-dressed Christmas tree versus a badly dressed one. The tree might be the same, but the dressing is where the success or failure lies.

We always recommend that the lights are switched on when dressing.  

Start adding the lights from the power supply end, finishing with the end of the lit section.

Dress your infill (string lights) first if your design has infill areas. Space them at approximately 8cm gaps. 

Block Dressing

With block dressing you are forming elongated rectangles as seen in the diagram below .Sometimes you may need a clip part way across as well as at the edges especially if you are dressing the lights horizontally. 

Zig Zag Dressing

This is a quicker way of dressing by simply clipping once at each edge, so you are creating a zig zag pattern. This uses the same amount of lights and clips and means that there is less wire along the route that you will later dress with line out lights (if used in your design).

Wherever possible dress your lights vertically, this will keep the lines straight (avoids sag especially in snow) . You don’t need to be too pedantic as you only see the lights and not the wires when it is dark.  The important thing is to follow the images in the instructions and ensure even coverage.

Line Out Lights

Throughout the instructions you will hear us referring to lineout LED's or ribbon LED's. These are strings that have the LED fixed directly to the cable rather than off to the side at 90 degrees. This makes them a more accurate option when it comes to lining out. If you use normal string lights to line out the effect won't be as sharp as it is with ribbon LED's.  For most designs you only need one set of 35 mtrs (1000LEDs) 

You can buy these lights here. 

These flexibright lights come in 35mtr lengths that has 1000 Leds. Cool white is an excellent colour.

If your design needs line out lights, ensure that you do add them because these define edges and details. Without them your design will lack its desired impact. Some designs such as the Polar Bear don’t need line out lights. Add the line out lights to the edge poles and detailing as you see in the instruction images taking care to follow the design. You choose your own route, and, in some cases, you will go over areas twice. 

As you go you will find that the line out lights will twist, don’t worry about this. Whilst it would be ideal to have all the bright sides facing forward it is ok if sometimes the duller side faces forward. It all evens out in the end. If you try to get every light facing forward, not only will it take you much longer it can put more stress on the wire as you continually twist it. It is better to simply clip them on and accept some natural twists.  

On some designs, you will need to form larger condensed areas of lights. For example, the Cat or Dog eyes. This is done by going backwards and forwards very closely in the best way you can using the line out lights and form a close group or bunch. It will look busy in the daylight but in the dark, you only see the cluster of lights. 

In designs such as the Owl and Angel you will need to put line out lights where there are no poles beneath to create details such as feathers. Once again follow the images in the instructions and clip to whatever poles are available. 

Assume in most cases that the dressing of the lights will take twice as long as building the framework.

Finally, when you get to the end of the light strings attach a marker of some kind, a cable tie from the packaging, a piece of string or similar. This will help you to find the ends easier when you come to dismantle the display.  You will need to take the lights off in the reverse order that you put them on. Starting from the lit end, not the powered end.  The best way to store the lights is to form a ball with the lit end in the middle and the powered end on the outside. This will then mean that the lights are ready to go again next time.

 

IF USING YOUR OWN LIGHTS

Low voltage only
Only use low voltage string lights. These are light in weight and slender enough to fit inside the cable clips. Don’t attempt to clip more than two strings with a single clip. For information on using clips see the Techniques page.

LED LIGHT SPACING

With Festive Frames we are trying to dress the sculptures in the most efficient and time-efficient way. It therefore makes sense to use more densely spaced light strings.

We found the best format to be lights spaced at 2.5 to 3cm. Example 28.77mtr length = 960 Leds. These give a great density for their length.

 

Some string lights have the leds spaced at 7 to 10cm spacing. This was the standard spacing for lights up to a few years ago and will work OK.
If you use these you will need to increase the lengths required in the instruction manual provided accordingly so your light density achieves the same result.
For example. 1 x 25 mtr length 1000 Led at 2.5cm spacing = 3 x 25 mtr length (75mtrs) 1000leds at 7.5cm spacing. This type of long string is not ideal because it adds more time to the task and increases the weight of the lights. However if this is all that you have it will work, even if not as efficiently.

Wider led spacing

HANDLING AND CARE

Taking time to prepare and store your string lights will not only make the job easier next year. It will also help to keep them in good condition.

When removing lights from the framework it can speed the process up by removing the occasional pole. However only do this if you are certain that there is only one set of lights on that particular pole. If there are more than one set it can lead to a tangle.

MORE LIGHTING TIPS

TIP: If unraveling a tangle in string lights don't pull the cable to untangle. this will only tighten the tangle and damage the lights. Shake tangles loose carefully and avoid tightening where possible. You may need to occasionally pass the ball you are forming through a loop in the tangle to resolve it.

TIP:  Whenever possible use dark green or black cable lights. They are not seen in the dark as much as white or clear cable.

TIP: The ideal length of lights are 35mtrs or less. This is because the full ball of lights will be manageable when passing around your sculpture while dressing. Longer lengths make the task harder as the ball of wire will be larger.

TIP: Spend time working out your lighting to make the best impact. This is crucially important. The dressing of the lights nearly always takes longer than the building of the framework. Aim for 8 to 10cm string spacing. In this instance we refer to the spacing as being the distance between light strings when dressed on the sculpture (see block and zig zag illustration above. This spacing will give you an acceptable coverage for larger infill areas. If using more spaced out LED strings as mentioned above use a tighter spacing. Having your lights fitted as neatly as possible will make for a much better display.

Tip: Define areas of your sculpture with different colour lights. Having all the lights in one colour works fine for things like arches or the Polar Bear however for sculptures such as the open top car or similar it is better to define areas in different colours.

TIP: Attach a marker of some sort such as a cable tie to the last LED on the string. This will help you to find the end when it comes to removing the lights. You remove the lights from this end so the ball you create is ready for next season.

TIP: Make a note of the order that you dressed the light strings. When removing them at the end of the season do them in a reverse order

TIP:  If you are using one set of lights to dress two different areas such as the green lights on the car above you will see the the lights where you go from one section to another. To avoid this you need to hide those lights. You can buy transition caps in our lighting section. These are caps that fit over each individual led light that can be pushed on and then removed when you dismantle the sculpture. 

Please note that we do not include dry boxes or mains extension leads that may be required depending on your circumstances.

Lighting Tips

 

 Spacing lights on the framework.

Outdoor weatherproof boxes.

We don't sell weatherproof boxes but depending on where you locate your display in relation to an indoor power supply you may need one. There are many types available online. If you do need one we recommend the large size Dribox - Website here - The large size gives you space for multiple power transformer/timers and is a good safe solution.