Stencil Experiment

[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! ;D ;D ;D

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.

 

[warmcanofcoke]

I'm still planning on trying out the stencil to make the sign but I also printed out an wall decal using my spoonflower account.


OK ... back on track - Today there are winds in the range of 60 mph so I was stuck in the house.




I've decided I would like a slightly darker blue for my sign so as soon as the winds let up I'm off to the Home Despot to get some new spray paint.

 

[evil bob]

Very nice!  ;D

 

[warmcanofcoke]

paint experiment





there are three bands of spray paint on the right of this piece of plastic. The further most band of paint is the same Rustoleum Gloss Blue I used before.
The Band next to that is True Blue Gloss from Krylon - it is closer to the blue I want - it is darker - but there appear to be more air bubbles in the mix. (*also the blue tip on the far left is this color)
The innermost band is Krylon Oxford Blue Satin - and I don't think it works for the Signs. Though it may be right for the police box wood.

I may have to wait till the morning to see what the colors look like in the AM.

I'm trying to make this Tardis :
TYJ

Though I may want to use the color scheme from the Newbery here -

don't want to mess up again - but I must move forward.

 

[evil bob]

I used "True Blue" for my lamp.

 

[warmcanofcoke]

These are the various stencil experiments in different stages of completion. I also have a panel that is just painted blue on one side and I'm thinking of hand painting the letters on to it.







- Krylon doesn't go on as evenly as Rustoleum does. When light is shown through the sign it looks a little derpy. (photos later) I have decided to try a slightly different approach. I have purchased Acrylic paint and intend to hand paint the sign - with the aid of stencils. More on that later.

 

[warmcanofcoke]

Just finished my new - hopefully reusable - stencil. You may note that that this stencil has connecting bits to the centers of letters like for O, B, P etc. And that the instances of the letter "A" are incomplete.

This is because I intend to Finnish off the details by hand painting. This stencil is just to start the process - it will save lots of initial work and hopefully let me repeat my results.

This will save my hands for getting so tired if this doesn't work out the way I want it to. Hopefully.

 

[evil bob]

My hands hurt just looking at it. Great job! 

 

[Volpone]

In college I did woodcut prints. In junior high(?) school it was linoleum block prints.  I wonder how that would work instead of a stencil?  Then you wouldn't need the bits that you hand paint.  And printing on glass instead of on paper, you should get a pretty clean transfer. 

 

[warmcanofcoke]

Nice idea - it may work better

because this full page stencil doesn't work very well - I tried spray-painting it with it with the card loosely on the plastic and got this


(I also used acrylic paint in the color of Ultramarine Blue)

still wasn't happy with it.

so I tried using water to attach the stencil to the plastic and that was a disaster.

so I tried using rubber cement to attach the full page stencil to the plastic and it still wasn't perfect - the stencil has warped a little due to using the water method.

essentially - this is what not to do to make a sign - lesson learned.  :


Right now I have at least 1 passable Pull to open sign from the first method of stencil. I've learned a lot. Hopefully this will help others in the future.

All plastic sheets used in these experiments were obtained by dumpster diving so these experiments have only cost me time, glue and paint. - You learn by doing.

I think the wood block idea sounds like a good approach - however those experiments are for those with the materials and skills that I do not possess. 

 

[warmcanofcoke]

The main problem as I see it - the larger the letter the better it will turn out. So for Top Signs Most People will not experience too much in the way of problems - the smaller and more detailed the letter the ore problems will arise.

The issues I have found with glue sticks are that the glue is an excellent medium for spray paint - the paint will travel along the capillaries of the glue and will sneak under the letter.

I have a jar full of used letters from previous attempts so I'm going to try another experiment but - I don't want to make this my life's work.