ilikewinter
New Member
I hope I'm posting this in the right forum!
I'm hoping to make large art deco marquee letters with light bulbs for a blade sign, similar to what you would have seen in the 20s and 30s on the exterior of a cafe or diner (e.g. "Eat here!" with an arrow pointing to the entrance). I do want to use this outdoors as well.
I've searched a lot of videos and found some great ideas for using styrofoam for different projects, but all of them just say "hardened styrofoam" without giving any idea of what that actually means (e.g. what can the styrofoam hold up to after it's been hardened?).
For my project, the letters would be the part made from styrofoam, and then attached to a metal or wooden board to center them in a row, vertically. RE the backing: I'm not planning on covering the entire back of the sign with the metal/wood board - just enough to give something to attach the letters to and then be able to attach to. This means some parts of the letters would be freely open/exposed to all the outdoor elements.
I'd like the project to be as easy as possible - including easy-to-find supplies (I live in a small town in Canada and shipping supplies here is crazy!).
I'm trying to harden the styrofoam letters enough so that the letters
a. can be able to be attached to a metal rod and not fly off in high winds (screwed in? glue?)
b. will not rip in half in winds or hail; and
c. will be waterproof and fire repellant (since they will have light bulbs in them)
Some denting is okay since it will be high off the ground and can't be seen at eye level, but I want to find a way to make it pretty permanent in whatever nature can throw at it!
Some people in the videos suggested mod-podging or Elmer's glueing newspaper or cloth to the styrofoam; others plaster and latex paint mixed. Not sure if either of these would work in my situation it if there's a better solution.
FYI: I originally planned to try to do this by cutting out a few stacks of letters from cardboard and glueing together, then treating it like wood to finish it, but it seemed super time-consuming. Maybe it's the best way to go, though?
Thanks so much!
I'm hoping to make large art deco marquee letters with light bulbs for a blade sign, similar to what you would have seen in the 20s and 30s on the exterior of a cafe or diner (e.g. "Eat here!" with an arrow pointing to the entrance). I do want to use this outdoors as well.
I've searched a lot of videos and found some great ideas for using styrofoam for different projects, but all of them just say "hardened styrofoam" without giving any idea of what that actually means (e.g. what can the styrofoam hold up to after it's been hardened?).
For my project, the letters would be the part made from styrofoam, and then attached to a metal or wooden board to center them in a row, vertically. RE the backing: I'm not planning on covering the entire back of the sign with the metal/wood board - just enough to give something to attach the letters to and then be able to attach to. This means some parts of the letters would be freely open/exposed to all the outdoor elements.
I'd like the project to be as easy as possible - including easy-to-find supplies (I live in a small town in Canada and shipping supplies here is crazy!).
I'm trying to harden the styrofoam letters enough so that the letters
a. can be able to be attached to a metal rod and not fly off in high winds (screwed in? glue?)
b. will not rip in half in winds or hail; and
c. will be waterproof and fire repellant (since they will have light bulbs in them)
Some denting is okay since it will be high off the ground and can't be seen at eye level, but I want to find a way to make it pretty permanent in whatever nature can throw at it!
Some people in the videos suggested mod-podging or Elmer's glueing newspaper or cloth to the styrofoam; others plaster and latex paint mixed. Not sure if either of these would work in my situation it if there's a better solution.
FYI: I originally planned to try to do this by cutting out a few stacks of letters from cardboard and glueing together, then treating it like wood to finish it, but it seemed super time-consuming. Maybe it's the best way to go, though?
Thanks so much!