2. Gather Your Materials

PVC piping, usually used for plumbing, will act as the skeleton of your green screen. The thickness of the pipes will depend on how tall or large you want your screen to be. For our 6-foot-8-inch screen, 1-inch diameter PVC pipe was sturdy enough to keep it standing up straight. To determine the thickness of PVC you should use, test out long pieces of different diameters of piping in the store, making sure it doesn’t wobble excessively at the length you’ve chosen.

Check the measurements on your schematic drawing to determine the lengths of PVC pipe you’ll need. Hardware stores generally stock PVC piping in very long lengths. Try to get long enough pipes so you won’t have to attach two pipes together to complete your structure - this will weaken the frame. Wherever you join two pieces of PVC, you’ll need a connector. You should end up with two 90-degree elbows for the upper corners and four T-shaped connectors (with three connections): two for the space between the side of the screen, the bottom of the screen, and the legs, and two for the bottom of the legs, for the supports.

Next, you’ll need the green fabric. We recommend material with a high amount of polyester, which is less wrinkle-prone than cotton. Measure the amount you’ll need based on the size of the green area of your screen, and add at least two inches to each side - our screen is 60 by 40 inches, so our fabric is 64 by 44. (If you’ve never bought fabric, note that it’s sold by the yard in the United States, but you can often purchase amounts as small as 1/8 of a yard. Fabric width varies too. Standard width is 45 inches, but this varies, so be sure to check.)

Take it from us: Don't start building until you know you have all the right materials.

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