You would think the past two weeks were a flurry of activity and progress, and there was some stuff to do, but still, most of my time has been spent waiting. VIP is now in full possession of the temporary office space and the first task there is waiting for the plumber and electrician to do their thing, which is at least two weeks out! I cannot do much else there besides clean/paint/organize until their work is done and the facility is inspected by the city. I am also waiting on VIP's first credit card to arrive in the mail to start the process of spending some big dollars, but it is really taking its sweet time! FYI, not only is it expensive to become a veterinarian, it is even more expensive to operate as one independently!!! However, I keep reminding myself, "It will all be worth it in the end..." With that being said, in order to keep costs down as much as humanly possible, one way I am saving is by putting my master DIY skills to good use!
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on the first sign for VIP! The whole process was pretty painless and the journey to get there and end-product were surprisingly very similar to my initial vision of the design and how to make it happen. If you know me, my preliminary ideas, their various executions, and the resultant quality the finished product are quite independent of each other. In fact, each phase of my "projects" are highly DEPENDENT on the quality of random task I've decided to assign myself. Abject failure or indefinite postponement are common companions in my various doings. This time, however, everything panned out pretty seamlessly.
As you can see in the gallery, I started off with an 8' x 4' piece of ultra dense foam insulation board. I then used a projector which was hooked up to my computer to project the VIP logo onto the foam board and traced out the letters and designs with a Sharpie. Then, very carefully, using a florist's foam-cutting-hot-knife, I cut out the letters and design from the board at an excruciatingly slow pace. (Please note the structural support pieces left in place to keep the letters in the exact orientation until final placement).
Once the outline had been expertly carved from the foam, small wooden dowels and tooth picks were implanted in several strategic locations on the back side of each foam letter and secured in place by copious amounts of gorilla glue. Once the glue on those engineered connection struts had dried and they were permanently secured, the outline of each dowel and toothpick was lightly transferred onto another piece of un-adulterated foam board. With gentle pressure he dowels and toothpicks were slightly depressed into the board, thus denting and marking the exact location of each support.
Using an overly powered drill and a bit stop, I drilled pilot holes into the indentions left by the design cutout dowels. (The toothpicks were not pre-drilled, they were easily pushed in without drilling). The holes were filled with glue and even more glue was used to cover the backside of the letters. With time ticking and drips of glue doing more than threatening to run, I managed to get each dowel and toothpick tucked tightly into their pilot holes like Jenny finding Forrest in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
On a side note, the toothpicks delivered a very satisfying ASMR experience as they slowly squeezed and squeaked into the foam backing. LOL.
An upside-down ottoman and a 40 pound bag of dog food were used to provide pressure to help fully secure the bond while the glue set. With the final setting of the glue, having bonded all pieces to each other for eternity, the temporary support struts between the various components of the sign were VERY CAREFULLY excised with the foam-knife which afforded a precisely spaced and aligned text with no headache lining up each individual letter.
The next phase was aimed at increasing durability of the strucgture and filling cracks, joints, and imperfections with Bondo. I had never used Bondo before, and was a bit tricky and annoying to work with but really provided excellent results. It is also some pretty tough stuff! After Bondo sets, it is very rough and needs sanding. So much sanding. Getting the bondo into all the tiny spaces was very tedious and slow going but only because Bondo becomes unworkable less than 5 minutes after mixing, and it becomes rock hard 24 hours later. That means I had to work quickly with a messy product, which in my world equals sloppy, and on top of that, my less than fastidious nature (when crafting) means there was a logical reason I ran through so MANY sheets of sand paper fixing my own messes. Oh well.
The last part of the process, if not longest part, was painting. I added a fine grained sand to the paint to also boost the overall durability of the sign and for a cool textured aesthetic. (But let's be honest, textured paint goes a long way in covering up imperfections because endlessly sanding fully cured Bondo is extremely tedious). At any rate, the very last step was applying some outdoor Polyurethane for an even further boost in durability, but, even though it was labeled as a clear satin finish, it did leave a bit of a yellow tinge in some white areas. Eh, I will accept the a little yellowing to keep the rest of the colors from fading.
So, now you have definitive proof that time spent doing arts and crafts really does pay off. I estimate that if I had this done professionally, the cost would have easily been thousands of dollars AND I wouldn't have a good story to tell! Take care for now!
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