# Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign



## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

Seems like signs are one of the popular props to make this year. So not to be left out, 
here is the start of the sign for our home haunt (Road's End).


































Started with 2" of backing foam, framed the second layer in 3/4" foam, tacked in the rope lighting for the backlighting, and am now carving the top layer of 3/4" foam with the sign itself. All three layers will be glued together, shaped, and painted.

The light shines through the foam fairly well and once I give it a couple of coats of paint, it should only shine through the carved portions.

I don't know what kind of finish I want to give it, stone or wood. Stone is definitely easier but when is the last time you saw a stone sign? Our theme is very rustic and I'll be working on the wooden signpost next.

Stay tuned...


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Looks good.

What about heat? Don't those rope lights put off heat? Have you left the lights on for an extended period of time (monitoring it of course)?


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## Aelwyn (Jul 7, 2008)

Cool!  How ingenious!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

I like the light showing thru the whole sign.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

lewlew said:


> Stone is definitely easier but when is the last time you saw a stone sign?


Hmmm... dunno... what year did The Flintstones go off the air?


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

That looks really kewl! What a great idea. That will keep me up thinking about other ways foam and rope lights can be used. Thanks for a sleepless night. lol

I've got rope lights in my haunt and they don't get hot, at least not the kind I have.


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

WOW! I never thought of lighting a sign like that so the letters glow. Now I have to re-think how I was planning on doing my sign. Thanks!


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

joker said:


> Looks good.
> 
> What about heat? Don't those rope lights put off heat? Have you left the lights on for an extended period of time (monitoring it of course)?


Thanks for the comments folks. I didn't even think of the heat factor. I did a test last night and lit the sign for 6 hours with it all enclosed and held with clamps. While the lights got fairly warm they weren't actually hot. What was hot were the metal staples I used to hold the lights in place. Although hot to the touch, they didn't seem to melt the foam or the plastic sheath around the lights so I think I'm OK.

Hopefully I'll get to work on it some more this evening. Flinstone's. LMFAO!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

lewlew said:


> Thanks for the comments folks. I didn't even think of the heat factor. I did a test last night and lit the sign for 6 hours with it all enclosed and held with clamps. While the lights got fairly warm they weren't actually hot. What was hot were the metal staples I used to hold the lights in place. Although hot to the touch, they didn't seem to melt the foam or the plastic sheath around the lights so I think I'm OK.
> 
> Hopefully I'll get to work on it some more this evening. Flinstone's. LMFAO!


That's great to here. The only reason I mentioned it was because I didn't think about heat either (originally) and the string lights I tried got hot and melted styrofoam.where it came in contact with the bulbs. I ended up using (2- 12 volt) 15" neon tubes.


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## SpookySam (Mar 27, 2007)

I have something similar in a foam tombstone - I hooked up a dimmer to reduce the light/heat output and haven't had problems.


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## skeletonowl (Aug 8, 2006)

looking good! I really like that glow.


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Great idea using the rope lights! Now I know a great way to use the rope.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

A lot of rope lights are using LED now too so the heat isn't an issue. Still more pricey than regular bulb ropelights though.


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

Worked some on the signpost while everything else is clamped and glued.
Again, I'm going for that rustic look. A little fancy chainsaw work and, voila!


























I'm thinking of finishing this off with some rope lashings at the joints and maybe something perched on the end (crow, vulture, bat). I still have to router a groove for the cords to run down.
I'll hold it up by pounding a 4' post into the ground a foot or more and use round duct clamps to secure it and hide those with more rope lashings.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

nice sign Lew..
it will look great when all set up!

are you going rustic look for a reason?
maybe a tumbleweed at the bottom of the post too.


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## slightlymad (May 25, 2006)

Lookin good lewlew. I to was worried about the heat glad to here it was no prob.


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## widowsbluff (May 24, 2006)

Great idea on the rope light, can't wait to see the finished sign.


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

Lilly said:


> nice sign Lew..
> it will look great when all set up!
> 
> are you going rustic look for a reason?
> maybe a tumbleweed at the bottom of the post too.


That's a great idea but I'll change it to corn shocks at the base. The backstory for our haunt is an old rural graveyard that was plowed up and planted into corn by a nasty scheming farmer by the name of John Pepper.

The residents of the cemetery are now taking their revenge on Farmer Pepper.

(One of the props I hope to build for this year is a Pepper's Ghost illusion where the farmer is getting tortured by ghosts. A nice little inside joke.)


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

*Progress*

Finished carving the sign and got a base coat on the top last night. I went with the old wood look (I hope). 









I don't want this turn into a how-to (or if it does just move it to where it's supposed to be) but I carved some deep grooves with the dremel, used some water and the propane torch to give some texture, and then gouged out some fine grain lines using a coarse tooth saw scraped along the surface.


















I'll come back and lighten the surface to a greyish color and pit some black highlites in the deeper grooves. I also carved a single silhouetted skull on the back of the sign. I hope to get more done tonight if the paint would dry. (Too HUMID!)


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## cerinad (Jun 23, 2008)

That is looking really good!!!


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## lewlew (Mar 15, 2006)

Sign is finally complete except for a few minor touches. Thanks for all the help and the nice comments! It can be seen here:
http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=11756


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