Wednesday 1 August 2012

Tweenage Graffiti Door Name


Such is life!

He’s outgrown the “Cars” themed name plaque I made him a few (or more) years ago now but he’s not quite into the “Stay out of my room!” stage. It definitely has to be cool though, “No daggy stuff, Mum.”


A few months ago I was looking for something to cover up the beige waffle texture wallpaper on the wardrobe doors in his room. I found a roll of self adhesive book covering which is thin metal pressed to look like a sheet of stainless steel metal that you might find in a workshop, industrial building or ute tray. I measured it, cut it to fit and stuck it over the top of the old wallpaper to make some pretty cool looking doors.

As luck would have it, I have almost a whole roll leftover. My first thought was that it would look great as a name plaque and match the wardrobe doors. Followed closely by, “It’s not going to show up well on the white door.” And, “It has to look cool!!!!”

As a contrast to the silver metal colour I thought a black outline would look great and that a graffiti type font would fit the needed coolness factor.

The end result is a remarkably easy project that looks spectacular.

I’m going to tell you how to make it.

Note: Although this is for a boy’s room there is no reason why it can’t be adapted for a girl’s room. If graffiti is her style then back it with a bright colour such as purple, fuschia, red, whatever her style. You could also use a different font and use one of the pretty reflective book coverings that feature rainbows, unicorns, fairies, hearts or other pretty girlish patterns for a younger girl.



You will need:

2 contrasting self adhesive book coverings. I used metallic and black.
Double Sided Tape
Scissors or craft knife
Printer
A Font for the letters*
*It is much easier to cut out the letters if the font you choose is thick and bulky with a heavy, thick outline. You can use a font that doesn’t have a thick outline, I will show you how to make the letters from fonts without an outline. There are many fonts online that can be downloaded for free. Google the style you are looking for.

This is how you do it:

To make your letter template

Open a word document and under the page layout menu set the orientation to landscape.

Type in the name you want to use in your project.

Work out how large you want your letters to be and adjust the font to that size.
(I used 450.)

Print out the letters.

Cut them into single letters.


 
We will use one printed letter to cut out BOTH the foreground (silver) and background (black) letters using the outline as a guide.


To cut out the background letter

**** Cut out the background letter first. ****

If you haven’t, don’t despair, just print out another letter to use for the foreground letter.

Choose the background colour and use double sided tape to hold the letter in place.
(The tape will just peel off. If it sticks a little use a soft cloth to rub off the residue.)

Carefully cut around the letter.



Carefully peel the printed letter off your cut out letter without ripping it and remove any tape residue.



To cut out the foreground letter

Choose the foreground colour and use double sided tape to hold the letter in place.
(The tape will just peel off. If it sticks a little use a soft cloth to rub off the residue.)



Carefully cut out the letter using the inside of the thick outline as a guide. You are in fact cutting away the outline and cutting out a smaller letter so that when you put the foreground letter onto the background letter you can see the background colour around the outside of your letter.





 
Peel the printed letter off your cut out letter and remove any tape residue.


***Instructions for using a font without an outline***

Cut out the background letter as per the earlier instructions.

Choose the foreground colour and use double sided tape to hold the letter in place.
(The tape will just peel off. If it sticks a little use a soft cloth to rub off the residue.)

Carefully cut around the letter at about half a cm inside the edge of the printed letter.


You are in fact cutting out a smaller letter so that when you put the foreground letter onto the background letter you can see the background colour around the outside of your letter.

Peel the printed letter off your cut out letter and remove any tape residue.

Assemble your letters

You’re on the home stretch now. You will need a steady hand and a good eye for this part.

Peel the backing off the foreground letter.




Position the foreground letter above the background letter without touching it so that you can see the outline of the background letter all the way around the foreground letter.

Carefully and gently lower the foreground letter onto the background letter and press it down flat so that it sticks on top of the background letter.

If you don’t get the foreground letter in the right position, you should be able to peel it off and reposition it without too much difficulty.

Your letter will look like this:


Finish all the letters in your selected name.


Putting it all together:

The final step is to position the name on the door or wall where you wish it to be displayed.

To help keep the name straight it’s worthwhile ruling a line on the door or wall with a faint pencil which will rub off with an eraser.

Peel the backing off your letters and press onto the door or wall surface, smoothing out any air bubbles with a ruler or soft cloth.

If you wish to centre the name, lay the name on a flat surface such as a table and measure where the centre of the word is. Measure where the centre of the door is and make a faint mark. Place the centre letters of the name onto the door first using the mark as a guide. Then the letters beside those and so on until all the letters are on the door or wall.

Finally, stand back and admire your skill and creativity. Ideally, this should be in front of an appreciative audience you’ve gathered together to marvel at your talents.

 ♥♥♥

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