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Thread: Alphabet Blocks
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15th September 2011, 10:34 PM #16New Member
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Thanks for all the comments. Progress has been slow due to the demands of the eventual recipient of the blocks...!
The story so far.
I have bought the wood (42 x 42 DAR pine from Bunnings) and done a fair bit of prototyping on the alphabet part. My findings in brief are:
1) Laser printing (single colour letters) on paper, affixed with PVA glue. The quality of image is excellent. The finish is good after enough (14) coats of varnish. Downside is the visible white paper.
2) Inkjet printing (single colour letters) on paper, applied with fixer, affixed with PVA glue. Pros and cons as per laser printing.
3) Painting directly onto the wood. Upside is that there's no need for varnishing. Downside is that I'm no good with a paintbrush so it looks rubbish.
4) Using Fiskars Easy Stamps with ink and paint. Consistent letters and a font I liked. Downside was that they were a bit small and fiddly to apply to wood.
5) Inkjet printing (single colour letters) on transparency, applied with fixer, affixed with PVA glue. I hoped that the varnish would seamlesly blend into the transparency paper so that only the printing was visible. This was not the case and it looked funny.
6) Inkjet printing (single colour letters with black outline) on paper, applied with fixer, affixed with PVA glue. The black border gave me a good solid edge to cut to but the insides fo letters like 'A', 'O', etc were a nightmare to cut out. As a result the letters looked pretty rough
7) Inkjet printing (single colour letters with black outline) on transparency, applied with fixer, affixed with PVA glue. This was the winner. Again, the black border gave me a good solid edge to cut to but this time I could leave the middles of letters thanks to the transparency. The fact that it doesn't quite blend in is not an issue as the two areas are apart.
Using method 7 I made a prototype letter 'C' block which I am quite please with.
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15th September 2011 10:34 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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16th September 2011, 09:07 AM #17regards
Nick
veni, vidi, tornavi
Without wood it's just ...
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17th September 2011, 02:05 AM #18New Member
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17th September 2011, 07:40 PM #19Novice
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Sorry about the late reply Angela.
I was recommended to use Vindo paints by Livos. I think perhaps I must have done something wrong as it went on all oily and the colours were not bright.
Just love the Livos Countertop oil and use that heaps on all the other 'wood grained' items.
Cart turned out fine, well for a novice woodworker with no painting skills. At least I think the 1 year old grandaughter will think it is beaut.
Cheers
Sharon
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17th September 2011, 10:17 PM #20
Hey Banz I can sell you a nice trolley for your blocks standerd one holds 24 at 42mmx42mm but I can make it bigger to hold 26 as per alphabet.
Cheers Phil.
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17th September 2011, 10:28 PM #21New Member
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22nd October 2011, 09:08 AM #22New Member
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Hi Banz,
I make and sell alphabet name blocks and use pine & artist acrylic paints. The lettering is the most time consuming task for the blocks. Try Frisket to create a stencil of the letters you would like to make. You can print the lettering you would like onto the back of the frisket (mirror image) and cut the lettering out with a hobby knife. A painful task but the stencil will give you nice sharp edges. Rub-on lettering also might work but I have yet to test whether it would hold up to being varnished.
Kirsty
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25th October 2011, 10:15 PM #23GOLD MEMBER
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I wonder how the very old ones were done. Somewhere in this house are a set of wooden alphabet blocks that are about 60 years old, I must have a look at them and see.
CHRIS
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