Stencil Experiment

[warmcanofcoke]

No worries Dave 

A thought occurs - what if I were to invert the stencil?  What if I print a sheet of paper and cut out the letters leaving the paper intact. And then spray paint the paper sheet to make it blue, and then Adhere it to the plastic with the paint?

..... could that work?

I would have to joint two legal sized pieces of paper. If I do this would the join show when back lit?

[Scarfwearer]

My experience with joining abutting pieces of paper and back-lighting them is that yes it will show. Even scotch tape will show. I guess if you're painting them and there's paint in the gap and the paint is opaque, it won't show, but any change in transparency seems to show very obviously.
Here's my last effort: http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=2156
The door sign on my box has a solid back, so the text is printed on two overlapping sheets of paper, and I get away with it.

I should add that this is a really cool experiment!

Crispin (not the Doctor. Noooo...)

[warmcanofcoke]

guess I'll have to find a Print Shop and see If I can get a 15" x 12" print. I suppose it could be 14" x 11" ....


spoonflower will print wall decals 15" x 15" ..... time for some research ... 

[daveninja]

I made my top signs and "pull to open" signs using blue masking tape as a stencil. http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=3390.0#msgx45330

I got a roll of the wide blue painters tape and covered the plastic with it. Then i printed the signs at real size over several sheets of 8.5 x 11 sticker paper. I think stuck the sticker paper over the blue tap and made sure it was all aligned correctly. I think cut along the letters on the sticker paper all the way through the blue tape. Once the cutting was done (which on the "pull to open" door sign took me forever) i removed the sticker paper and blue tape of the part that i wanted black and then spray painted the whole thing with like 3 or 4 coats. finally removing the remaining blue tape/sticker paper.
I used the blue tape so it would be able to be removed from the plastic without ripping and also because it stuck well enough to eliminate any paint "bleed". The main problem with this process is that each stencil is only good for one sign since it gets ruined when you pull it off

[warmcanofcoke]

Nice work David. I may have to adapt my plans. 

[mordrogyn]

Very interesting, though a thought occurred to me while reading this.....

Have you considered using the "blue" painters tape on the back of the plastic, lightly gluing your template sheet over that and then with your exacto knife cut out the letters (leaving them in place) and spraying what is left?
That tape is not supposed to allow paint to bleed under it's edges.

Just a thought.

[warmcanofcoke]

not exactly - but I am thinking of cutting tape to look like the letters. I may need to use my light table for this.

[galacticprobe]

Silly Dino.. The clear problem with that....
I am the Doctor

and I am here to help
now you know

So... now... that makes at least three of us!

All I have to do now is find a way of putting my TARDIS together. Pieces are accumulating, but all too slowly for my liking. And of course as Murphy would have it life just keeps getting in the way!

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

Well this is a learning experience.
today I ran the sign under the warm tap in the bath and that got the leftover stencil out of the sign.
However there were stray bits of blue in the letters. So I used one of my wooden pegs at a tool. I sharpened one end and rubbed away the excess blue. By using wood I would be far less likely to scratch the plastic surface than if I had used my metal tools.





and they I went outside and sprayed some paint onto some scrap card and used the same wood tool to fill in the places that didn't have blue when there should have been blue.
And that worked very well.
Then ....... I sprayed the back of the sign with white spray paint. (same brand as the blue.)


however .... it transpires that spray paint contains a solvent as part of its formula.... I putt on too much in one spot and this happened.



Well sei la vie.  I learned a lot from this project I have two more clear panels to try with and I haven't lost hearts.

[galacticprobe]

Whoa! That's almost heartbreaking to look at. What if you tried something a little different next time with the white? Instead of using a spray paint to paint the back once the blue is done, try using a small roller and some latex or acrylic paint. You'd get the coverage you need, but wouldn't have to worry about that solvent in the spray paint doing that again.

Just a thought.

Dino.

[warmcanofcoke]

That is some good advice. I may just see what it would look like if I just left the stencils in next time.  Or maybe I should just add some white plastic on the back surface. .... Oh well - Let the experiments continue!!!

[Volpone]

Bugger! So close to being awesome. Sorry it messed up in that one spot and I feel your pain. 

Have you done any experiments on backlighting paper?  Because if that gives you enough light transmission, you could just go to Staples or Officemax or something and get something printed up fairly economically.  (My stuff isn't backlighted so that was the route I went.  Also the reason I went with the Brachaki white on black for the lintels instead of the Yardley-Jones white on blue--1/4 of the cost to print b&w!)

[warmcanofcoke]

True - good forward thinking there. I'll be taking my tardis out onto location for film shoots and I don't want to have her caught out in the rain - as much as we try to seal all the gaskets, my fear is that water will get in there one day.

[Volpone]

If you live someplace as wet as I do, it is almost a certainty that water will get in. I mean, I've heard the actual Met boxes were pretty damp inside and the Doctor Who designs generally have a flatter roof.  Mine is a permanent outdoor box and after battling mightily to keep water out I just did what I could to minimize water and provide ventilation to allow it to dry when it did get wet.  Continue to fight the good fight!

[warmcanofcoke]

well I've been busy trying out a few experiments that haven't really born fruit, well not edible fruit at any rate. I tried to cut a stencil that had all the letters cut out and the spaces left filled in. - but the Material was too thick and I messed up an "F" to the point ware I really didn't want co cut all those letters I had already completed out a second time. I took a paper thin plastic and sprayed it white and tried to cut out out little letters - however the plastic would bend with the cuts and not glue flat to the perspex very well ... I tried using masking tape and cut the tape in the shape of the letters on the opposite side of the perspex but I ended up scratching the perspex and I couldn't see the letters very well even with a light table. The tape was too opaque. - I have recently been informed that Artists use contact paper (I'm not familiar with the exact name.) Apparently it lets you transfer the image of the letter to the plastic. .... More on that when I  actually find the stuff ..... all these experiments have left my hands very tired. I suspect I may just have to rest my arms up while I plan my next Stencil ....

I have also printed a Wall Decal from Spoonflower http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/1508070 - that I may use ... but I suspect any sign I make will look better with a variation of the first method I used to make the first sign...

more soon.