Oh Where to begin!
But I had already begun-- last year. I made a prototype Christmas yard decoration which spells out a backlit "JOY," and, on Christmas Eve, even the Baby Jesus' silhouette illuminates. It was constructed out of cardboard, lights, and lots of duct tape. It turned out pretty decent, but alas, it was not weather-worthy, and it was too late in the season to rebuild it properly.
...Fast forward one year...
Inspired by Kazio completed creation, I determined to finish what I had begun last year!
This evening at 5:00pm, I took a chance and hauled my prototype to our neighbor Mike's house to borrow his Jigsaw. I had never before used one, so I was happy at his generosity and confidence in my abilities. At 7:00pm, we took a family trip to Lowes for some supplies: Plywood, paint, lights, wood glue. I also chanced upon a $20 drill and we spent some time browsing the 50% off Christmas decorations isle. We were home by 8:15pm, and I got started about 8:45pm.
See my slideshow of work while in progress.
Those curves are not simple!
In all, this project took all night Thursday and most of all day Friday. Not too much time was killed between paint-dries and such-- the bulk of the time was spent trying 
to get the darned spacers to space: aiming the framing nails one from the top, one from the bottom, replacing split spacers, etc. Wiring the lights was a cinch, b/c I had my old diagram to map it out.
Some lessons learned:
- more brush, less spray.. spray paint is good for quick fixes, but for real, quick, thick coating, use a brush-on paint
- more measuring, less freehand
- I have to learn how to hit the spacers from both end, or, better, to use a really long nail or screw for spacers. Surely there exists a spacer bolt or something?
- I learned that every tool and technique I could conceive of in the world of carpentry has already been invented and proven. Just like with inventions: if I think I have come up with something uniqie, I google it and find it's already been done...
Pictures from the work-in-progress:
| Messy hands | Call It A Night! | ||||
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Oops. .Gonna be tough to wash off spray paint. |
All pieces cut, sanded, and painted. Lots left to do for tomorrow, though.. |
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| Casualties of cutting without a bench | Baby Jesus! | ||||
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Mike, who lent me his jigsaw, also lent me a carrying stool on which to work: when cutting with the... |
Design change since prototype: Julia determined that the first one looked more like Casper than a... |
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| The Holy Family was a tough one | Sanding the wood's edges and surfaces | ||||
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| Ahh, not too bad, eh! | Nifty technique with the jigsaw | ||||
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I developed a nifty technique for cutting sharp edges. It's similar to a three-point turn: Finish... |
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| Brace yourself.. Trace yourself | Short cuts are tougher.. still, I'm pleased | ||||
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| Paint early for maximum speedy dry time | First cuts with the jigsaw! | ||||
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| The stage is set | |||||
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Yard Decoration
How very awesome is your work. You should market your work - as they would certainly sell. I would buy one. BEAUTIFUL!