i have been wanting to make my own backdrop stand for quite some time now. i’m not sure why i didn’t get around to it, but i finally did this weekend using this guide as a reference.

it all started with a trip to lowes. i bought the appropriate PWC pipes and went around the store looking for an associate to help me cut the pipes. i was informed that they do not cut pipes for customers. bummer! so now i had six 10′ long pipes that i wasn’t sure how i was going to get back to the house in my car.

i bought the pipes anyway, figuring i’d figure out how to get the pipes home. i bought a hacksaw too, so the worst case scenario would be that i would be cutting pipes in the parking lot.

i had a little trouble getting out of the store, though. see, i picked up a normal shopping cart because i couldn’t find any other cart. the pipes were sticking up in the about 8 feet or so and the doors were much lower than that. i ended up using the lumber exit to get out of the store.

once at my car, i realized just how long ten feet was. it’s a lot longer than what would fit in my accord. so, i did what anybody else would do in my place. i rolled down the back seat window and reclined the passenger side seat. then the pipes proceeded to be shoved into my car. sure, there was about three feet of pipe sticking out of the window, but it wasn’t THAT bad.

i drove home mostly without incident. the last turn i had to make was across a major intersection and at the front of the row of waiting cars going in the other direction was a cop. i was scared that he was going to pull me over for having an obstruction extend beyond whatever the legal limit was…and trust me, i was beyond the limit. i drove on the right hand side of the lane whenever i was driving and made it home.

a couple of hours later, i have assembled the stand and it looks pretty good. i’ll take some pictures later when i have a background to hang from it. i think i am going to make a few modifications to the base, though, to stabilize it some. it’s a little wobbly right now, but all in all, i’m very happy with the results. it sort of looks like a soccer goal, though.