How can one produce a projected electric field? Original question: How can one produce an electric field? I understand that there is a method involving metal sheets and running an electrical current through the parallel sheets. However, is there a simple way to produce a projected electric field?
Edit: It appears as if this question was simply faulty in concept. Contrary to my previous understanding, electric fields do not project themselves outwards like water coming out of a hose. Electric fields occur between two oppositely charged particles. Apologies for the confusion.
 A: It depends exactly what you want this to do. The nearest thing might be a high frequency discharge from a Tesla Coil channeled through an Argon gas stream
A: It sounds like you want to project your electric field a significant distance from whatever is generating it, like a hose sprays water. Unfortunately, you can't. Like static magnetic fields, static electric fields don't have anything that behaves like momentum, so they take the least-energy path from the positive source charges to the negative source charges.
If this isn't what you're looking for, please add clarifying details to your question.
A: Electric fields are all around us. Any atom or molecule is made from protons and electrons (and neutrons too of course) with their positive and negative charges. In most the cases this electric charges are equally distributed in bodies, the bodies are electric neutral. If one uses a battery or an electric generator - they always have a source and a sink and between them an electric potential - and connect the poles to two wires (not connecting the wires to each other) , there will be a separation of electric charges. As you pointed out somehow, two plates separated by a dielectricum will multiply this effect.
It is possible to multiply the effect of charge separation without plates. For this one has to use a source with higher potential. One method to realize such an experiment is a Van de Graaff generator.

On sharp edges the concentration of electrons is much higher than in the other areas of an electric charged body. The highest values one get around a needle tip (St. Elmo's fire). So if you make your charged body with a line of needles in it, you get the somthing like a charged region around.

