Lights

Christmas Lights!

Christmas decorating trends
I honestly thought when volunteering for this assignment that finding out what the big Christmas trends for 2010 were going to be would be easy since it was already March and the season was just eight months away. Surely all the merchants had placed their big orders with the manufacturers and knew what they would be pushing hard for the holidays. Boy, was I wrong. If I was a newbie I’d be concerned but experience has taught me no one really wants to say much, at least on the record, because no one has confidence what the real trends are…
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Professional home display
If you have the time to read this article then you either need more Christmas decorations to put out or you are a really organized enthusiast. Either way I am glad you took the time to visit. PlanetChristmas is dedicated to bringing the best of Christmas decorating news to you and I am honored to be a part of the process. This time of year is extremely busy and I have been running around like crazy with the normal tasks one has during the season. At the same time I’m investing hour-after-hour on a new design for my home display.…
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95 foor Christmas tree in shopping mall
In last month’s PlanetChristmas magazine, I shared some tips on how to get started with a large scale Christmas display at your home. It’s time to follow up with examples of how important planning is in the world of commercial decorating. Perhaps the most common object associated with the holiday season is the Christmas tree. Add animation and musical synchronization to that tree and you have an incredible crowd pleaser. Many shopping centers realize this and are starting to install giant trees within their venues. Unfortunately, most don’t realize the amount of planning that goes into a successful display. It’s…
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Lasers in your Christmas display
Lasers have not been used much in Christmas lighting displays. They are typically viewed as too confusing for the Christmas decorator or the effects were dull and boring. The technology has evolved over the last few years and the laser industry is making systems that are user-friendly and spectacular looking for the Christmas decorator. Lighting designers and everyday Christmas decorators have been using LEDs and incandescent lights effectively. Some of these larger displays are controlled via DMX that make all of the lights on the house seem like they are turning on and off or changing colors to the music.…
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The Rumor Mill
LEDs Light Emitting Diodes. Let me get this straight. These things are suppose to save the world. They last forever, use next to no electricity and are revolutionizing the Christmas decorating world. I only need to say this once. Bah Humbug! LEDs. Lousy, Expensive and for Dummies. We definitely don’t need any new fangled technology up here at the North Pole workshop. After using good old electric light bulbs for the last hundred years there’s no reason to change, especially since they’re proven to work, unlike some of the slacker elves around this place. I can buy 60 watt light…
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Streamlining your display setup and teardown
Time is precious and it becomes more so as the pre-holiday decorating season gets underway. This is my ninth season for an over-the-top display and fourth year of using a synchronized light and music show. As the display has grown bigger and elaborate the set-up has become more time-consuming and complex. The deadline to “turn-on” the lights still looms. Each year I discover new techniques that save time in my display set-up. Some are simple ideas that could save hours of time and some are tested techniques that will not only save time, but make the process easier. Before 1.…
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LED Products for the entertainment market
LED (Light Emitting Diode) technology in the professional entertainment market has been on a fast track in the entertainment industry for the last six years after originally being introduced at the 1997 LDI show (http://www.ldishow.com/) to a crowd that often yawns at unproven technology. It was then that Color Kinetics, a Boston company broke new ground by merging microprocessor control and a network address with LEDs to create and pioneer several new intelligent solid-state lighting devices. Armed with a multi-million dollar Research and Development program and patent upon patent, Color Kinetics brought the entertainment industry into the LED lighting revolution.…
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Recording your own music
It started with Ryan Lissner of Ryan’s Christmas Lights (www.RyansChristmasLights.com) in Salisbury East, Adelaide, South Australia looking for some fresh music for his down-under Christmas display. Off-the-shelf music wasn’t an option but Suite Christmas by Carrie Lyn was a possibility. PlanetChristmas magazine asked Carrie for some DIY advice on recording a Christmas album. Suite Christmas. Rush! That seemed to be the theme of the recording project that lay before me. This was an opportunity to share with the world the talents of the new lineup for Carrie Lyn Infusion, in addition to styling of Carrie Lyn “that violinist” as Ryan…
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Sequencing for a living
It’s finally November. For many lighting enthusiasts we’ve been planning our over-the-top displays for months and are now ready to begin putting up the lights. I know quite a few of the larger displays have already started the outside work. This is the time of year when many newcomers join the decorating community and are dazzled by the elaborate displays. Many do not realize the amount of planning, time and effort that goes into these works of art. There’s another component of our displays some would rather not discuss and that’s the cost. Like many hobbies today, this can get…
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LEDs vs, incandescents
This was supposed to be easy. Determine once and for all if it’s time for all of us to switch to LED (Light Emitting Diode) Christmas lights. Almost everyone has an opinion and are more than willing to share unless it’s going to be mentioned in a magazine article, then they clam up tight. Most are quite comfortable with the tried-and-true incandescent lights and have heard enough war stories about LEDs to not make the jump. Enough! My job is to get to the bottom of the LED versus Incandescent Christmas light story and tell you what to do. Ready?…
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